# Does the U.S. have any 100% free trade agreements with other countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108 "2009-02-23T21:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/1 "2009-02-23T21:38:31Z")
Noting that the supposedly free trade organizations like WTO, are in fact quite detailed and specific on what is allowed in (Certain good is allowed in at 2.35% tariff, but others are at 3.91%, etc, ad nauseum), and how much it is charged, I wonder if the US has any agreements for 100%, no exceptions, free trade? If not, why not? Does any first-world country have this? ---
**Author:** ![Westrogothia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@Westrogothia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Westrogothia)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/2 "2009-02-23T22:05:20Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > Does any first-world country have this? Its the basis of the EU. “Article 25 TC prohibits member states from levying any duties on goods crossing a border, both goods produced within the EU and those produced outside. Once a good has been imported into the EU from a third country and the appropriate customs duty paid, Article 24 TC dictates that it shall then be considered to be in free circulation between the member states.” > **[European single market](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms_(European_Union))** > > The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway (through the Agreement on the European Economic Area), and Switzerland (through sectoral treaties). The single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people, known collectively as the four freedom... ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/3 "2009-02-23T22:46:14Z")
Australia and New Zealand also have free trade between them and freedom of Labor mobility (no working Visa required for Australians in New Zealand and vice versa). Last tariffs between the two were removed in 1990: > **[Closer Economic Relations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closer_Economic_Relations)** > > The Australia–New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, commonly known as Closer Economic Relations (CER), is a free trade agreement between the governments of New Zealand and Australia. It came into force on 1 January 1983, but the actual treaty was not signed until 28 March 1983 by the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Trade, Lionel Bowen and the New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia, Laurie Francis in Canberra, Australia. This was because Malcolm Fraser a... ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/4 "2009-02-24T01:38:09Z")
There are all sorts of limitations on free trade between the US and Canada and Mexico. So I think the answer to the original question is “no”. ---
**Author:** ![WoodenTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@WoodenTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WoodenTaco)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/5 "2009-02-24T02:03:11Z")
Are there any tariffs between the US and Puerto Rico? Depending on your definition of “other country,” that could kinda sorta be an example. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/6 "2009-02-24T15:06:31Z")
I thank you for the EU & Oceanic examples. But my question of course was whether the U.S. has such agreements. And Puerto Rico is not a soverign nation but part of the US Commonwealth. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/7 "2009-02-24T15:11:21Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > I thank you for the EU & Oceanic examples. But my question of course was whether the U.S. has such agreements. By my count you had four questions in the OP, and the last was, “Does any first-world country have this?” – to which the answer is, as given, European Union members have this, and Australian and New Zealand have this. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/8 "2009-02-24T17:47:38Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > There are all sorts of limitations on free trade between the US and Canada and Mexico. So I think the answer to the original question is “no”. Apparently importing into Mexico can be quite the bitch. (Having researched this as an Ebay seller.) Eg, they charge something like 50% duty on clothes. Take a look at this long blog post: [http://www.crispy.com/mt/archives/2008/02/a\_notsoquick\_bu\_1.html](http://www.crispy.com/mt/archives/2008/02/a_notsoquick_bu_1.html) I was surprised. I kept thinking… what about NAFTA? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-have-any-100-free-trade-agreements-with-other-countries/487108/9 "2009-02-24T19:11:42Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > I was surprised. I kept thinking… what about NAFTA? I know next to nothing about NAFTA or international trade in general, but don’t think NAFTA applies to ordinary people who are looking to get across a border for a few days or who are shipping goods to another NAFTA country. I recall heading to the US for a week shortly after the Canada-US free trade agreement went into effect in early 1989, and being handed a pamphlet by Canada Customs which was titled something like, “Yes, we now have free trade with the US; but no, it doesn’t apply to you.” I don’t recall exactly why individual travellers crossing a border for personal reasons such as a vacation could not take advantage of it, but such was the case. I assume it still is. Maybe this is one of the limitations that **Hari Seldon** was referring to. Certainly, it doesn’t seem to be the case in the EU, where goods and people seem to move freely across national borders within the Union. Given how the EU treats the question of “free trade,” maybe NAFTA should be retitled NANQFTA: North American Not-Quite-Free Trade Agreement. 🙂