I wasn't making a comparison or a value judgement. We're obviously both aware that other countries (and blocs, like the EU) also play the same game.

Rather, I was simply noting that the US' "freedom" branding that the poster was referring to doesn't necessarily apply in the way they were assuming (their point was that the "free" US restricting models more than "authoritarian" China was ironic) given the US' history of economic protectionism.