&gt; <i>If TPP was a legit trade treaty I would expect it to have anti-protectionism provisions</i><p>Indeed. An actual free-trade agreement would be really simple to implement. Just stop intervening in trade in any way, and you&#x27;ll have Free Trade.<p>But that would be against a lot of cronies&#x27; interests and very much <i>in the people&#x27;s</i> interests, so it&#x27;s never going to happen.<p>On a related note: Stop intervening in what people do with their property, and you&#x27;ll have a free market.<p>That would preclude taxation though, and so, a lot of people who believe they somehow <i>benefit</i> from someone <i>forcefully</i> taking their money would object.