That is the world that has evolved in the almost 23 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted. These deep economic interconnections show why trying to unravel what Donald J. Trump, in last week's debate, called "the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country" would be no easy feat. It would risk disrupting the very underpinnings of industries that employ millions of Americans.

The view among mainstream economists is that NAFTA, over all, has raised incomes in the United States while also costing it thousands of manufacturing jobs. But whether you view the agreement as a net positive or a net negative for the country, the reality is that the United States, Canada and Mexico are now for all practical purposes a single integrated economy. That has wide-ranging consequences — especially if the next president tries to reshape or abandon the deal.

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