In that case I would have to answer >Is sentiment more important than correctness, or is the opposite true? by saying that there's no advantage to punishing C

In that case I would have to answer >Is sentiment more important than correctness, or is the opposite true? by saying that there's no advantage to punishing China unless the punishment is connected to the human rights abuses. If the US was saying "stop the abuses and we'll lift the tariffs" then that would be good. But they're not, so it isn't. The fact that the governments are committing abuses doesn't make it an inherently good thing that their citizens are being punished.