&gt; you should be asking yourself why a free trade treaty is so important when we already have free trade<p>Depends on your definition of &quot;free trade&quot;, but we don&#x27;t have completely free trade; many countries have high tarrifs, for example Japan&#x27;s rice tarrif.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.wsj.com&#x2F;japanrealtime&#x2F;2015&#x2F;10&#x2F;06&#x2F;tpp-deal-expected-to-shake-up-japans-agriculture-sector&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.wsj.com&#x2F;japanrealtime&#x2F;2015&#x2F;10&#x2F;06&#x2F;tpp-deal-expec...</a><p>(OK, this is TPP, but I&#x27;m sure the same point applies).