March 01, 2011
A NYT article on President Obama’s trade agenda repeatedly referred to “free-trade” agreements. This is a term that politicians who back these pacts use to garner public support, however, it is not accurate. The deals generally do little or nothing to reduce barriers to trade in highly paid professional services, like physician and lawyer services. They also increase protectionism in some areas, most notably by strengthening copyright and patent protections.
It is understandable that the proponents of these trade pacts would want to dub them “free-trade” pacts to make them more politically appealing. However, the media should not be using such inaccurate terminology.
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