Given that China does not practice free trade, how does free trade help it? China has opened its markets to FOREIGN trade, not FREE trade. Moreover, I cannot help but imagine that China had shipyards before Nixon's visit. If the US never traded one single thing with China ever, they would still have an aircraft carrier. England, France and India all have one. It ain't that big of a deal, especially as littoral warfare will be the key to a naval war with China.
Japan, as an island nation, always had a long naval tradition. What you are referring to is the introduction of British advisors during the Meiji Restoration. Between 1875-1905, Japan built a fleet that beat Russia, a third rate naval power, at the Tsushima Straits. The US Navy is not a third rate naval power, and China is not an island nation with a warrior class, training from the world's top navy, and a long history of seafaring.
The US GDP has grown mightily since Reagan was president. In that case, might I ask where your evidence of US economic decline may be found? I assume, that you mean the manufacturing sector, as most Luddites do. In that case, manufacturing, as a percent of GDP, has declined only slightly. Let's take a peek at the last fifteen years, as trade with China took off. In 1988, US manufacturing totalled a $888.6B contribution to GDP. By 2000, that number had risen to $1566.6B. Not too bad, eh? The big drop is in manufacturing employment, not output. In that case, I would submit to you that economic development has also caused thousands of blacksmiths and carriage makers to lose their jobs, as well. Should we bring back the horse and buggy to save those manufacturing jobs?
I tried looking up "Cobet" on Google. Most of what came back was for a German university professor. Did you mean "Colbert", the French physiocrat? Or, is there a first name that would help me in my search?
BTW, what does it matter that Ricardo was Jewish? I'd be glad to explain to you the math behind Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage. Can you tell me why he is wrong? Moreover, since when is the freedom to trade with whomever one wishes a left-wing idea? Last I checked, personal economic freedom was a conservative thing.
Last, but not least, I cannot recall from all of my days in Constitutional law class where there is a reference to fair trade and a rejection of free trade. Could you enlighten me?