If Congress adopts President Bush's free trade proposals, much of today's grass-roots strategy will become illegal or irrelevant. The Canada-U.S. FTA has been in effect since 1989, so it offers a real example of what free trade means. The EAI is a standing offer from the U.S. to sign a free trade compact with any nation in Latin America. Many EAI negotiations are under way now. The GATT is the biggest free trade agreement, with 133 countries abiding by its rules.
Tariffs are taxes that different countries charge on imported goods.
Non-tariff barriers are things like subsidies that give one country's producers an advantage over another country's producers. But the latest round of GATT talks has much broader goals than reduction of tariffs and NTBs. Today GATT covers only manufactured goods. Furthermore the current GATT talks aim to reduce barriers to investment. Free traders would abolish such restrictions.