free trade

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR free trade ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

trade between countries, free from governmental restrictions or duties.

international trade free from protective duties and subject only to such tariffs as are needed for revenue.

the system, principles, or maintenance of such trade.

Chiefly Scot. smuggling.

RELATED WORDS

capitalism

Nearby words

free territory of trieste, free thought, free throw, free throw lane, free throw line, free trade, free trader, free university, free variable, free variation, free verse

Origin of free trade

First recorded in 1600–10

Related forms

free-trade, adjectivepre·free-trade, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for free trade

The new guidelines do not impinge on the free-trade agreement or other agreements governing cultural and sports exchanges.
Business Is Personal: Why the EU's New Guidelines Could Hurt Israel's Economy|Bernard Avishai|July 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
President Bush first submitted the Colombia free-trade deal to Congress in April 2008.
What Mitt Got Wrong in His Foreign-Policy Speech|Daniel Gross|October 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama are marginal contributors to this growth.
What Mitt Got Wrong in His Foreign-Policy Speech|Daniel Gross|October 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
For much of the early part of the Obama administration, the free-trade agreements languished.
What Mitt Got Wrong in His Foreign-Policy Speech|Daniel Gross|October 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST

When Obama was struggling to negotiate a South Korean free-trade agreement, “I remember a story above the fold.”
Inside Obama's Tax-Cut Gamble|Howard Kurtz|December 8, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The free-trade party was led by Daniel Webster, and the tariff party by Calhoun.
A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year|Edwin Emerson
It seems as certain that free-trade principles are at last to be established in Britain, as that there is a sun in the sky.
Leading Articles on Various Subjects|Hugh Miller
The error and folly of protection have been very fully exposed, but the free-trade agitation has not won ground.
Folkways|William Graham Sumner
Benjamin Disraeli, and other less prominent leaders of the opponents of free-trade, especially in corn.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III.|E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
They all had much to say about protection and free-trade, and we found that Henry George had been among them.
Our Journey to the Hebrides|Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell

British Dictionary definitions for free trade

free trade

noun

international trade that is free of such government interference as import quotas, export subsidies, protective tariffs, etcCompare protection (def. 3)

archaic illicit trade; smuggling

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Culture definitions for free trade

free trade

Unrestricted trade among nations without government tariffs or customs duties on imports.

free trade

noun

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of free trade

Related forms

Examples from the Web for free trade

British Dictionary definitions for free trade

free trade

noun

Culture definitions for free trade

free trade