Democrats and Republicans have been divided in recent years on the issue of free trade. Republicans generally view free trade as promoting economic growth. Republicans largely hold the economics profession’s view that free trade results in an increase in the efficiency of both the U.S. and global economies and results in more output being produced at a lower cost. The result is increased standards of living in both the U.S. and global economies. The bottom line from the Republican point of view is that consumers as a group are better off.

Democrats, by contrast, have adopted the view that free trade increases economic inequality. They note that since the 1980s, a period of declining barriers to international trade barriers, a majority of Americans’ real incomes have not increased by much. They also note that the share of wage and salary income has declined from 56 percent of national income in 1980 to about 51 percent in 2009. This group is largely made up of workers in the middle class. Between 1975 and 2009, the share of money income before taxes for the top 20 percent of households increased from 43.2 percent to 50.4 percent. Finally, Democrats note that free trade is not truly fair because such nations as China, India, and Mexico do not have the same labor standards and environmental protection laws that exist in the United States. These standards and protections raise the costs that U.S. businesses must pay compared to these countries.

Sebastian Malloby, writing in The Washington Post, notes that countries such as Mexico could adopt all of the labor and environmental protections and still have lower wages than are paid in the United States. The results of free trade for labor-intensive industries and their workers would not change. The real reason Democrats oppose free trade, according to Mr. Malloby, is that some workers are harmed by globalization, the operation of specialization and trade along the lines of comparative advantage.

What is the name of the argument made by Democrats against free trade or attempts to increase free trade?