Free trade to the founding fathers meant the freedom of the individual to buy from and sell to any country. It did not mean slashing tariffs on imports while other countries maintain restrictions on imports. In fact, the federal government in the 19th century was funded primarily by tariffs.
For those who believe high tariffs are an impediment to economic growth, look at the US economy from 1865 to 1900. Consider the US economy in the 1980’s before the lowing of tariffs in the 1990’s.versus the US economy today. The dismantling of trade barriers under Clinton and Bush has not resulted in economic prosperity for the US. In fact it has resulted in the loss of the manufacturing sector and millions of middle class jobs. Bring back the tariffs and quotas of the 1980’s, lower taxes on profits derived from US manufacturing to zero, and reduce the government regulatory burden. You will see a booming economy as manufacturing returns to the USA.
Globalization of finance has reduced the effectiveness and utility of tariffs. Even the most restrictive countries use other methods to construct trade barriers. They add safety, environmental, and other requirements along with excessive testing and audits, difficult certfification processes and slow document processing to create barriers.
Interestingly, the US is more likely to employ these techniques on domestic producers than their foreign competitors.