I think most mean fair trade, not free.
Free trade leads to situations like China. They can use forced labour from camps to make things, then sell it. In a normal country, one has to pay for that labour, and usually pay decently for skilled labour. This is not factoring in the costs of materials of course.
"I think most mean fair trade, not free. Free trade leads to situations like China. They can use forced labour..."
I count myself as a true free trader as opposed to fair trader (I don't get into other countries' internal labor laws and such.)
But I do get into how other countries impose tariffs and import restrictions on us. Since this is about the EU, I've always had a major problem with EU's/Germany's sky high tariffs on American autos. To me it's not "free trade" if one side doesn't have tariffs and import restrictions while the other side does. My support as a free trader for an every now and then tariff meant to encourage the other side to drop theirs is like a pacifist who'll support an every now and then military strike if that's the only way to stop someone who's been persistently attacking us.
I was a NAFTA guy until I realized it meant Canada and Mexico can do things like put up huge dairy import restrictions (harming Wisconsin to benefit Canadian dairy farmers) while NAFTA meant the U.S. couldn't retaliate. The same with the "trade deal" talks about China almost always ignoring the fact that China steals 1/4 to 1/2 trillion in intellectual property from us every year. If a few tariffs against them can get them to stop stealing our stuff then I'm for them.