What they do on their end is up to them. If they want to waste their money trying to prop up industries, that's fine with me, but ultimately they will pay for that (unless, you think communism/socialism works; I don't). By "free trade" I only mean the freedom for Americans to trade with whom they would like. I understand the need for some restrictions (i.e. I support the Cuban embargo) for defense purposes, etc. But the anti-trade crowd here is opposed to trade with China, Mexico, etc., simply to protect their own jobs at the expense of all other Americans.
our industries should go ahead and pay the restrictive tariffs that other nations impose without protest;
we should force our over-taxed and over-regulated industries to compete - without benefit of some combination of tax relief and/or tariffs - with heavily subsidized foreign competition that can hire labor at a fraction of US labor costs;
that because of the cheap working conditions, we should allow America's manufacturing base to move offshore, thereby adding to the unemployment rolls here;
simply accept that since the erosion of American manufacturing is a by-product of "free trade", it's ok (i.e., even though noone will suggest whether, how or why it's a good thing, hey, it's "free trade", so it can't be bad);
and that we should ignore approximately 180 years of American history and tradition and adopt a system that both Adam Smith and Karl Marx predicted would destroy the West (which is why the former opposed free trade, and the latter, wanting to see the West destroy itself, encouraged the US and Britain to pursue it).
Did I sum up the free trade position correctly?