Dreamer's first to go after independent trade (8)
I believe the answer is:
idealist
'dreamer's' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'first to go after independent trade' is the wordplay.
'first to' becomes 'ist' (I've seen this in other clues).
'go after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'trade' becomes 'deal' (synonyms).
'i'+'deal'='ideal'
'ist' after 'ideal' is 'IDEALIST'.
(Other definitions for idealist that I've seen before include "Person with noble aspirations, perhaps unrealistic" , "philosopher" , "An optimist or romantic" , "One who aspires to perfect standards" , "Romantic sort" .)