I'm not sure what you mean by Fair Trade, in this context - as
D
Danke42
mentioned, that usually refers to something very different.
MAP is a contractual agreement between a manufacturer and its dealers. The dealer gets to be "authorized", and gets access to buy from the manufacturer at wholesale prices, plus other benefits. In exchange, they agree not to
advertise below a certain minimum price set by the manufacturer, so as to not create a race to the bottom amongst all the authorized dealers.
My understanding (IANAL, YMMV, etc.) is that manufacturers cannot actually specify a minimum
selling price, due to antitrust laws - as in, saying what the dealers must charge for the product is anticompetitive.
So, you'll see listings on websites where you have to add a product to your shopping cart to see the actual price - the dealer can sell it for whatever they want, but can't advertise it below a certain value. In my opinion, it's a silly distinction, but I guess that's what lawyers came up with, as antitrust laws were being developed and tested in court.
Incidentally, GPKnives appears to have stopped listing the prices of many Benchmade knives, and are selling them below MAP - if anyone is interested
Edit:
quick link with more details. I haven't read it thoroughly, but it seems to cover this question.