Do you mean free trade in a theoretical sense of open markets or do you mean free trade of the failed practice that uses the term, yet isn’t truly free as domestic companies are strangled by regulations and taxes that foreign companies don’t have?
Unfortunately, when many on the right talk about stopping free trade, they speak in terms of ‘leveling the playing field’ by imposing taxes and tariffs on imported goods (IE the Pat Buchanan mold). A Conservative approach would not be to tariff imports but to reduce the taxes and regulations on domestic companies so they can compete.
There’s no way we can compete with foreign workers because they are not paid well. My husband has been to his company’s manufacturing plant in China.
The workers are all mostly female and young (20’s). Their hands are small enough to do intricate work. They live at the plant in like dorms, and work something like 12 hour days, 50 weeks a year (maybe more), and 6 days a week. It may be even worse than that. They don’t live with their families, and they have no lives. They also don’t get paid much.
Why would our country want to compete with that????? They treat their workers like dirt.