The premise that trade is beneficial to every participants regardless of how the rules are played derive from the fact that trade allocates resources efficiently so people & firms will produce goods and services at the lowest opportunity costs. In another word, trade allows everyone to have more goods and services at the same amount of input.

Put simply,even if only US allow free movement of goods and services and everyone else pegs their currency to the US and has high tariffs against US products and services, US's economy will improve.

Specifically, as someone mentioned, US helped not just the Asian Tigers to become industrialized, but also Western Europe after WWII, and reciprocally they helped strengthen the US economy as well since they become a vibrant market for American economy.

The great expansion of trade has been one of the cornerstone policies that helped make the First World countries as wealthy and developed as they are today.

And as for causes of the American recession are many and the argument to place blame on trade is weak and inrigorous.