Free Trade: Good or Bad?

[BusinessAdviser]

NAFTA recently became an issue again in the Democratic primary:

Obama hits Clinton on NAFTA support - Yahoo! News

NAFTA is just one of countless free trade agreements throughout the world. In your opinion, are free trade agreements good or bad? Why?

[creativepower]

Good, I've heard people argue about regulated vs nonregulated free trade, but in my book any freetrade is good. Laissez faire all the way!

[tazman9r]

I think it is important to understand that "free trade" is not necesarily the same as "free market". Any time you experience trade, it is done according to the parameters agreed upon by the parters involved. A free market is also relative to the regulations that govern it.

Having said that, free trade is good, so long as it beifits both parties. Unfortuantely, the U.S. often finds itself participating in trade agreements that are designed to foster "good will" (a politically expedient way of saying we are letting ourselves get fleeced to attain some political objective).

I believe in as free a market as possible. A totally free market leaves, I think, too many dangers to the buyer in the realm of quality (google "largest meat recall in history"). Operating free trade with a free market mentality would allow for a greater quality of goods to be traded, and an improved quality of life for all. Cruddy products are a fact of life, and a free market will always weed those out, so long as the cruddy products are not subsodized and other alternatives quashed.

[BusinessAdviser]

Are low quality products necessarily a bad thing though? Might there be a demand for low quality, low price items?