Ban cheap imports?

At the Adam Smith Institute blog they deal with a common error in many people's economic thinking, namely that "We should ban cheap imports made possible by low wages and poor working conditions." They open their discussion with the observation that

The opportunity to sell us goods gives some people in poorer countries their start on the road to economic growth. The wages which might look like "subsistence" to us, might look like survival to them.

Exactly. The whole article is well worth reading.