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free trader

American  
Or free-trader

noun

  1. a person who advocates free trade.


free-trader British  

noun

  1. a person who supports or advocates free trade

  2. archaic a smuggler or smuggling vessel

"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

Etymology

Origin of free trader

First recorded in 1690–1700; free trade + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Among the party’s score of contenders, here’s a prayer that one will evoke its greatest free trader, President Woodrow Wilson.

From Washington Post Jun. 21, 2019

He is also—contrary to Trump as well as some of his rivals in the upcoming primaries, notably Sen. Bernie Sanders—an unabashed free trader.

From Slate May 2, 2019

At a high-level summit promoting the project China’s President Xi Jinping on Sunday portrayed the country as a committed free trader and pledged more than $100 billion in new financing and assistance.

From The Wall Street Journal May 14, 2017

So we need people— I’m a free trader.

From Time Jun. 16, 2015

He was, in fact, a free trader, believed in the policy in force in Great Britain, and opposed every form of protection to American industries.

From Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet An Autobiography. by John Sherman

Milei is a passionate free-trader, and Argentina is a member of the South American trading bloc Mercosur, which also includes Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

From BBC Dec. 13, 2024

In the beginning, he also spoke and voted as one would expect a free-trader to do.

From Seattle Times Jan. 1, 2021

And finally, from an ardent free-trader whom I pressed about supporting someone who would impose tariffs, spark trade wars and potentially trigger a global depression: It’s okay — he can’t win.

From Washington Post Jul. 21, 2016

When it comes to trade, Pence is a solid and uncompromising "free-trader."

From US News Jul. 15, 2016

He left business and entered politics as a thoroughgoing Liberal and a convinced free-trader long before free trade became England's national policy.

From The Winning of Popular Government A Chronicle of the Union of 1841 by Archibald MacMechan

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