But critics contend the efforts amount to a race to the bottom, syphoning jobs away from the U.S. while trapping Mexican workers in a low-wage cycle of poverty.
This is not true, any more than it was true when the U.S. stopped being the textile capital of the world. Free trade is really an issue where progressives need to pull their heads out of their asses. Every economy goes through phases of increasing technology and complexity of work. What was Made in USA becomes Made in Korea becomes Made in China becomes Made in Indonesia. As all of those economies grow, they transition their workforce into better, more complex jobs and let emerging markets do the manual labor.
We shouldn’t want all of the ink-pad-making jobs - we should move on to higher-paying jobs in emerging industries*. Just like we did when we (mostly) got out of the T-shirt and sock-making business. Not every loss of a U.S. manufacturing position is a bad thing, though it seems painfully difficult for progressives to accept that.
We absolutely should have laws and processes in place to detect and prevent exploitation of workers in foreign factories, with the understanding that “paying that country’s equivalent of a minimum wage” does not equal “exploitation.” I’m not saying a low wage can’t be exploitative, just that a person in another country making significantly less per hour than an equivalent U.S. worker is not necessarily an example of it.
I can’t recommend this book strongly enough: https://www.amazon.com/Choice-Fable-Free-Trade-Protection/dp/0131433547
*Note that I am strongly in favor of government programs to help former ink-pad-makers transition to new, better jobs. Paid for by taxes on the corporations using foreign labor.