What happens if we stop buying products reportedly made with slave labor? What happens to the slaves? Does the CCP set them free? Not likely. Maybe they would kill them.
Likewise, what happens to children if people don't buy products made with child labor? Children likely work these jobs to survive.
We only have second-hand information about the bad labor practices in other countries. Claiming the moral high ground by not buying products from countries could create unintended consequences. On what basis can people claim that the result will be positive?
Countries are poor because they have bad economic systems along with authoritarian governments that create those systems. Refusing to trade with these countries doesn't help impoverished people unless you are trying to create a revolution by making people suffer more. However, more often than not, revolutions lead to a different authoritarian in power.
Free trade can help impoverished people, although that depends on how repressive the government is. Free trade also can lead to political change by helping people rise out of poverty.
China is a military threat and that would have to factor in our decision on whether to trade with them. Economic interdependence could prevent war, but it also bolsters an authoritarian regime, That regime is not likely to go away just because we reduce trade with China.
