[calcowgirl]

“Free Trade Agreements” are not about free trade. It’s more like a massive affirmative action program run by more government bureaucrats to demand that businesses have “equal opportunity” in foreign markets, with the government acting as their marketing department and taxpayers serving as their insurance company. I wonder how businesses ever survived without government sponsored “trade missions” /s. Even Milton Friedman called NAFTA “managed trade.”

[ex-snook]

Right you are. ‘Free’ trade is government to government agreements negotiated by lobbyists that our Reps couldn’t even see until they were done deals.

On the question - Is globalism and “free trade” what’s destroying the GOP?

A. You betcha.
Real trade is you buy from us and we buy from you. “Free trade” is we send you American jobs, factories and dollars for cheap expendables. The sucking sound of the ‘Free’ trade winds lost the Reagan Democrats, the GOP margin of victory.

[Mojave]

Even Milton Friedman called NAFTA “managed trade.”

All the RINOs have to do is keep insisting that the 2,000 pages of NAFTA regulations and restrictions are "free trade." Problem solved.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

Even Milton Friedman called NAFTA “managed trade.”

Here is what Milton Friedman said about NAFTA:

On the contrary, as far as NAFTA is concerned, it really is a minor thing, from the point of view of the United States. After all, the United States is a very much larger economy than Mexico. The main beneficiary for NAFTA will be Mexico and the people in Mexico, not the people in the United States. There's no doubt in my mind that that is the net effect. Mexico is doing very well by reducing the role of government, by introducing free market ideas, cutting tariffs, getting government out of business, privatizing banks and other businesses that government had taken over. NAFTA will be a little extra push for them, which will help them much more. It will help us a little, but a trifle. You know, nothing is good unless both parties benefit from it, and both Mexico and the United States will benefit from it.

NAFTA is misnamed, it's not a Free Trade Agreement, it's a Managed Trade Agreement. I supported NAFTA, as a lesser of evils, but it would be better if we in the United States would simply reduce our tariffs across the board for everybody in the world. As far as Latin America is concerned, it's been showing remarkable changes. Beginning with Chile, going on to Mexico, now Argentina, one country after another in Latin America has unilaterally been lowering its tariffs, opening its markets up. If we are sensible, we certainly will go as rapidly as we can to expand NAFTA to include all of the rest of the Latin American countries. I believe that that is what will happen.

NAFTA is not the discussion though, free trade is. NAFTA is a poor attempt; Friedman didn't like NAFTA because it didn't go far enough in reducing tariffs! Apparently you want to increase tariffs which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what Friedman's desire was.