I dont see any problem with the way "free" has been used by the original poster. And I suspect noone who replied in this thread had a problem in understanding the way "free" has been used here either. As for me, the word "free" in the given context means free flows of good and services with minimal or no entry barriers. If I may quote some words of one poster here, "competitive advantage, fair competition, leveling the playing field, hidden subsidy, dumping, devaluing ones currency" etc all boil down to the same thing: more open trade or freeer or free trade. Of course, the word 'free' does not mean "phokat" here but more open. As far as movement of persons is concerned, well it depends upon how much the agreeing parties are willing to open up. And ofcourse, nothing comes for free (i.e. phokat) in free trade. That is why the thread was posted originally i guess: to discuss its pros and cons.