Correct, but not long before Reagan,
By the mid 70s the US's competitive advantages in multilateral trade(WTO) had begun to wane so it was decided to shift to bilateral/regional agreements. If Ford had won his election, it probably would have begun with him.
First was with Israel, then the Caribbean Basin Initiative which was very much like the Maquilladora agreement with Mexico that would be replaced under GW Bush by CAFTA. NAFTA started as a bilateral with Canada, then morphed into a trilateral
Redistribution of wealth goes back a lot of years and both parties can take credit for it.