Why would a low wage country affect negatively the high wages of a country with trading?

Question

I was reading a book that asked this question. "Does trade with low-wage countries depress wage rates in high-wage countries?"Why did they mention specifically low-high wages countries?

Answer 1

They mention low-high wages countries due to the following common narrative on trade and inequality:

• Globalization allowed low-wage countries to export more labor intensive goods to high-wage countries.
• Less skilled workers in those high-wage countries faced import competition and lost their jobs.
• Bottoming out of the middle class and rise in inequality.
• Leading to a backlash against globalization.

This common narrative suggests development of low-wage countries has come at the expense of low skilled workers in high-wage countries. This narrative has been investigated in many papers and surely in your book!