Pounds as a mass unit are perverse enough. Things like pound force and psi (pounds per square inch) were used only to make fun of old mechanics papers and textbooks. Also, btu. It is quite amazing actually that someone would see the SI and think “no, too simple; I’ll keep my pounds, ounces, inches, and feet”.

Anyway, yes, the proper unit of force is the Newton.

Think like an ordinary person. You know, an ordinary person who would say that they weigh about 80 kilograms. Only science nerds would say that they mass about 80 kilograms, or that they weigh about 785 Newtons. Similarly, anyone who's used to living with US customary (or Imperial) units understands that a pound of force is what a pound of mass weighs and would see no reason, under any circumstances, why anyone would want to divide the gravitational acceleration out of a pound-foot to arrive at a "real" torque value. When the pound value is expressing a weight-equivalent force, that force is the force of a pound under normal gravitational acceleration at or near the surface of the Earth.