Uhhh...based libertarians?
(media.kotakuinaction2.win)
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Part of the problem is that we implement free trade while letting the other side use tariffs, which isn't free trade at all.
Free trade is you both drop trade barriers and compete with one another on a level playing field (no currency manipulations or tariffs), or you resort to tariffs until the other side relents.
If we had real free trade then we would either drop regulation that hurts competition or have the other country agree to adopt them. You can't trade equally when you have vastly different legal requirements on manufacturers, different monetary policy, etc.
That's why it is simpler to use tariffs to control things and be independent of any other system. You can only do free trade on a 1 to 1 basis with a similarly advanced country, or you will get undercut by slave labor as you mention.