"This all sounds like something for nothing to me."
No, it is the history of the world. Trade has always increased the wealth of societies. Have you ever read anything by Milton Friedman? I suspect that you have not.
Read the following:
http://www.hooverdigest.org/974/friedman.html
and get back to me.
The real question ( and insinuation of ignorance) is not whether I have read Milton Friedman (or Frederick Hayek), but have the trade and business officials of other nations seeking to benefit from free trade through the ruse of cheap labor, read them.