I'm pretty sure the trade unionists thrown out of helicopters appreciate that kind of sentiment.
Or i am certain about how species going extinct to make way for palm oil appreciate a few numbers on a spreadsheet
I'm not saying everything that's happening with international trade is always a good thing. Besides "Or i am certain about how species going extinct to make way for palm oil appreciate a few numbers on a spreadsheet" has a lot more to do with
our methods of production than trade in itself. Whether you export 13 tons of bananas or 160, trade remains trade. The treaties, etc. in place don't change. International trade isn't something new either, it dates back thousands of years. When Romans bought product from
Britannia (or vice versa), it already was "international trade". It didn't mean however that trade was wiping out entire species...
How we produce, our disregard for nature, the race for more profit and profit has a lot more to do
with us than "trade". Free trade is something factual, it is merely the importation and exportation of various resources, it "doesn't concern itself" with the production methods
per se. Trade doesn't even care if you're using camels instead of trucks, it remains "trade". The quantities we trade, or how we produce however varies among States. Hence why for example some States have a worse pollution footprint than others.
We can very well maintain free trade with more regulations for the preservation of the environment and nature. Some States are actually making efforts on that point. Trade and the protection of nature are not mutually exclusive.
Unregulated production/exploitation of resources (oil, goods,...) however has serious consequences.
The problem isn't trade, it's how you supply your clients, how you produce to meet your exportations needs or projected growth.
"Trade" doesn't command you to abusively catch fishes in your net without consideration for the various species' survival, that's human stupidity and its need to sell more, more and more in order to make more money, to "meet expected growth projections".
Next time, do me a favor, don't try to put words in my mouth. Especially when you're talking about something fundamentally different.