James,
I don't think we should mention free trade and NAFTA in the same
sentence.
NAFTA is what we used to call a customs union - a term that may
have gone out of fashion.
Perhaps we shouldn't mention free trade without the prefix
'unilateral'. Free trade is not a result of political
arrangements - as are customs union. Rather it is the deliberate
decision of a country to abandon restrictions on imports.
It's not even an economic policy. Trade has been normal
throughout the history of Man. On the other hand, protection -
the deliberate restriction of imports - is indeed an economic
policy, or at least a political policy though nowadays the
distinction is often unclear.
How the simple exchange of goods has become of the years a matter
of global negotiations might be an interesting part of the
history of economics.
Harry Pollard