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What Is Free Trade? The Real Issue Lurking Behind The Trade And Environment Debate, David M. Driesen

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that a fundamental question, "What is free trade?," lurks behind the ongoing debate about the relationship between international trade law and competing legal regimes. It also lurks behind much of the confusion in the Supreme Court's dormant commerce clause jurisprudence under the United States constitution, sometimes mentioned as a model for international trade law. Yet, the literature has remarkably little to say about free trade's definition, although it contains volumes about the reasons for free trade.

This article explores three possible concepts of free trade, trade free from discrimination against foreign companies, trade free from coercion, and …