From Neena Shenai of AEI:
Fundamentally, the Obama administration doesn't really get free trade and entirely misses its importance to U.S. national security. Free trade isn't just about economic gains--it is also about reinforcing strategic political and security ties with key allies.
As is occasionally the case, I feel like I'm being nit-picky here, but I have to disagree with this statement. It may be true that trade policy is about "reinforcing strategic political and security ties with key allies," or about supporting any number of policies with only a tenuous connection to trade. But free trade, I would argue, is a specific economic policy, with no inherent connection to these other policies.
