Not Buying Free Trade

Re “Trading Up,” editorial, Nov. 18: In principle, and for about 1% of all Americans, free trade works marvelously. Historically, however, “free” trade has created a large-scale cultural, economic and environmental disaster for every single country, including our own, that has bought into the American free trade doctrine. Could the opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement in Congress actually be driven by historical facts and not by political self-interest?

James West

Los Osos, Calif.