Why Are Free Traders So Emotional About Trade?

Why do free traders get so worked up about tariffs and other kinds of trade regulation? Why, for that matter, are there any dogmatic “free traders” in the first place?  Instead of merely criticizing the Trump administration’s particular tariffs, while making the case for some other mix of strategic trade policies, many on the Left, center, and libertarian Right have denounced the idea of any government regulation of trade at all.