Meaning & use
free trade
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
International trade without taxes or limits that restrict imports and exports.
Grammar: No plural and no a/an: free trade helps consumers; not a free trade.
Patterns
- free trade between countries
- free trade agreement
- support/oppose free trade
The two countries signed a free trade agreement last year.
Economists often argue that free trade lowers prices for everyone.
Farmers worried that free trade would hurt local produce.
noununcountable
A policy or system that allows goods to move between countries without government barriers.
Grammar: Often used after prepositions like under or in: under free trade, in a free trade area.
Patterns
- under free trade
- a free trade area
- the benefits of free trade
Under free trade, companies can sell goods abroad more easily.
The region set up a free trade area to boost business.
Debate over free trade divided the parliament.
Common combinations
- free trade agreement
- They are negotiating a free trade agreement with Asia.
- free trade area
- The free trade area covers ten countries.
- promote free trade
- The president promised to promote free trade.
- barriers to free trade
- Tariffs are barriers to free trade.
Synonyms and how they differ
- open trade
- Open trade is less formal and less common; free trade is the standard economic term.
- trade liberalization
- This refers to the process of removing restrictions, while free trade describes the resulting situation.
Opposites
Word family
- free trader noun
- A person who supports free trade.
- protectionist noun
- Someone who wants to limit imports, the opposite of a free trader.
Commonly confused: free trade or fair trade?
free trade vs fair trade
Fair trade means paying producers a fair price, often for coffee or chocolate; free trade is about removing government barriers to trade.
Practice
Which sentence uses free trade correctly?
Choose one answer.
Free trade is uncountable, so it does not take a/an or a plural verb. Options An and D use a free trade, and B uses are with a singular uncountable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “free trade”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.