The principled assumption about free trade we should apply today is that it works for nations that permit it and hurts the ones which don’t. Free trade even works for nations that permit it when it trades with nations that don’t trade freely.
America has made a fortune off China despite their high tariffs. We are benefiting greatly from their cheap products made from cheap labor and their government subsidised steel. They are primarily hurting their own consumers with their high tariffs, but their people don't really see how much better they could be doing because the standard of living for the average China man has skyrocketed over the past few decades because China has steadily moved toward capitalism and away from communism. That’s the continued path we need to go down. Not this dangerous gambit of a trade war to futilely attempt to force them to do what they don’t believe is in their best interest.
They are building a new Silk Road with high speed rail to connect their empire with Eurasia so that they don't need our business. Despite their tariffs, they are cornering the market over there because they are willing to build infrastructure in places where markets don't even really exist today. Meanwhile we are increasing hostilities because our egomaniacal leader wants them to bow to his wishes.
Perhaps it would be different if China’s leaders feared losing their power because their people were hurt by their bad policy. But with the tremendous growth in their economy, China’s leaders have strong support from their people who have increasingly great national pride, and with the recent removal of term limits in an already rigged autocratic system, its leaders are more confident than ever that they will never be dethroned. And now our vulgar, bombastic, belligerent president has given their politburo a perfectly repulsive scapegoat and a boogeyman to blame for everything that might go wrong; a common enemy the people can unify to defeat. This is how wars are started.
American success has always come from freedom and innovation. We didn't wait for our trade partners to become just like us before we began trading with them. Our willingness to buy from whomever gives us the best bang for our buck and our willingness to work with whomever we could make a buck is our great strength. If we can make more money with someone else, we will. We shouldn't start a war with a tenuous ally and trade partner just because we want that nation to let us make more money than we are now. They have as much a right to walk away from us as our companies have a right to say no to them. Our companies aren't walking away from China nowadays because China is, despite their tariffs and silly restrictions, a profitable place for us to do business.
Let's keep it that way.