WSJ News Section Works Overtime for Trade Agreements

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Should we blame Rupert Murdoch for the fact that the term "free trade" appears seven times in a front page article in places where "trade" would have been more accurate? The point of course is that the trade agreements pursued by recent administrations, while named "free trade" agreements for public relations purposes, actually do not promote free trade. They often do little or nothing to reduce the barriers that protect highly paid professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, investment bankers) and actually increase some trade barriers, such as copyrights and patents. Reporters can both save ink and paper and increase accuracy by dropping the term "free."

--Dean Baker

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