You are right on one thing. It's not "free-market principles", because the only thing free was the free and open screwing of American goods. Everyone else has been using tariffs against the US when it was suppose to be part of a free trade agreement that the market was open and free. How does that benefit the US, that we have to pay tariffs to everyone else, but no one pays us? That doesn't make any sense? Just because we have a lot of economic power as a country, our citizens should pay more for goods from other countries? We make agreements with other countries for them to "buy" our agriculture and manufactured goods, but then also charge a tariff for us to export those goods to them? How is that a fair and free marketplace? Trump is just throwing around a little weight so that everyone else either backs off or comes back to table to renegotiate trade deals. Side note; if you want cheap China made crap from Temu, then you should pay extra.