Travel Weekly
Airline Consumer Advocates Unhappy With DOT Appointment
Travel 60 Weekly cited CEI President and CEO Kent Lassman and CEI Adjunct Fellow Frances Smith on U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao’s appointment of Smith as…
Politico
Leadership Change-Ups At FAA
Politico cited CEI’s Senior Fellow Marc Scribner on CEI’s adjunct fellow Frances Smith appointment to DOT. CONSUMER RETORT: The Competitive Enterprise Institute shot back…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute Scholar to Champion Consumer Interests on Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce that adjunct scholar Fran Smith has been appointed by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation…
AllOnGeorgia
US DOT Creates National “In-Flight Sexual Misconduct Task Force”
AllOnGeorgia cited CEI’s Adjunct Fellow Frances Smith’s upcoming ACPAC position as consumer representative. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao has announced…
Products
Letter to TEPAC Members Regarding NAFTA
As I briefly indicated, I would appreciate it if the TEPAC letter reflects the fact that it is a majority view of the members. My…
Blog
Groups Urge U.S. House to Nullify Wasteful Catfish Rule
In a coalition letter yesterday, 10 market-oriented groups, including CEI, urged the House leadership to call for a vote on S.J. Res. 28 to nullify…
Blog
Bashing Trade Is a Popular Election Year Target
Pundits are opining that Bernie Sanders’ significant win in the Democratic primaries in Michigan was primarily due to his vehement anti-trade stance. Donald Trump’s surge…
Blog
Permanent Moratorium on Internet Taxation in Customs Bill
Today the Senate voted 75-20 in favor of the conference report accompanying H.R. 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, the so-called customs…
Blog
Trans-Pacific Partnership Signed, Provisions a Mixed Bag
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, together with ministers from 11 other Pacific-rim…
Blog
COOL Ruling Puts U.S. in the Hot Seat
In a move intended to avoid harmful retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico, five Democratic senators wrote to both majority and minority Senate leaders,…
Blog
Text of Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Pact Released
The office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released the complete text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) – a huge trade pact…
Blog
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Covers a Lot of Ground
Trade ministers of 12 Asia-Pacific countries announced October 5, 2015, that they had completed negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP links…
Blog
Thorny Issues in Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations
Trade negotiators from 12 countries left Maui at the end of July 2015 without reaching a final agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade…
News Release
Trade Promotion Authority is Critical for Upcoming Trade Deals
News Release
CEI Statement on TPA House Passage
Blog
Trade Supporters Opt for More Breathing Room
House leadership will delay reconsideration of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)—up to a July 30 deadline they set—to give more time for President Obama to…
The Washington Times
Obama fights for Asia trade deal with relevance hanging in the balance
The Washington Times quotes CEI`s Fran Smith on the TTP negotiations: Some analysts say the administration’s stature on the world stage is hanging in…
Blog
Trade Promotion Authority: What it Is and What it Isn’t
The House of Representatives is poised to vote on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (H.R. 1314). Unfortunately,…
Blog
The Value of Trade
WTO's new video, titled “Trade matters to me,” captures the consumer value of trade on an everyday basis, from pants to…
Blog
Sen. Warren Gets Hit on Trade Issues
Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus (May 20, 2015) took on Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) contention that trade agreements are being negotiated in secret, with…
Washington Examiner
Elizabeth Warren Gets It Wrong, Obama’s Trade Rep Says
The Washington Examiner cites Fran Smith's work on trade agreements: Fran Smith, adjunct fellow at the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, says there is…
Blog
Trade Promotion Authority: Addressing Some Criticisms
Some members of Congress are concerned about Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would fast track trade negotiating authority, but in fact it would be a…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: 3D Printing Cups, Cars, Houses, and Faces
3D printing is a relatively recent technological development that has already begun to revolutionize model-building, structural and other medical procedures, and construction of items from…
Blog
Farm Bill Passes Senate, Goes to President
With the U.S. Senate’s passage February 4 of a farm bill by a vote of 68-32, a nearly $1 trillion (over 10 years) farm…
Washington Examiner
This Farm Bill Stinks
Blog
Schism among Democrats On “Fast Track” to Trade
The trade debate is heating up in the wake of President Obama’s nod to trade in his State of the Union address, the introduction this…
Blog
New Farm Bill Will Deliver the Pork to Farmers
Last night House and Senate conferees agreed on a nearly $1 trillion farm bill that would eliminate long-standing direct payments to farmers but beef…
Blog
Trade Issues Heat Up — A New TPP Leak, “Fast-Track” Bill
WikiLeaks on January 15 leaked another chapter of the negotiation text of a major trade agreement – the environmental chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership…
Blog
Sugar — Congress’ Favorite Sweetener
The sugar lobby’s sweet contributions and their day-in-day-out lobbying means broad bipartisan support for continuing the U.S. sugar program in the 2013 farm bill, as…
Blog
Fast-Track Trade Authority Is in the Works
It sounds like fast-track authority for trade deals is getting some traction, according to an article today in the Financial Times. The FT says that…
Blog
COOL Protectionism Still a Hot Issue
A protectionist meat labeling rule requires complicated labeling of beef, pork and poultry to indicate where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered. Called country-of-origin…
Blog
Wikileaks’ Latest — Draft IP Chapter in Major Trade Agreement
Wikileaks has made another big splash yesterday -- not about spying, but about a multinational trade agreement currently being negotiated. Wikileaks published a draft…
Blog
Enflaming, Not Enlightening: George Monbiot on Investment Treaties
George Monbiot in The Guardian, in his usual hyperbolic and specious way, describes the proposed U.S.-EU trade agreement’s purpose as to attack national sovereignty…
Blog
Corporate Culture Makes a Difference — In Business and in Baseball
Blog
FTC Likely to Approve Office Depot, Office Max Merger
According to news sources, the Federal Trade Commission is likely to approve the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax, the second- and third-largest office…
Blog
Sugar Policy Drives Out Candy Companies
“Cheaper sugar sends candy makers abroad” says a headline in today’s Wall Street Journal (gated). The article noted that increasingly U.S. candy makers are…
Blog
House to Consider Separate Food Stamp Bill Later Today
H.R. 3102, the “Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013’’ will be considered on the House floor later today. The 109-page bill, which…
Blog
Taxpayers Pay High Costs for Crop Insurance Subsidies
Bloomberg on September 9 published an in-depth article on the high costs of federal crop insurance – likely to be increased even more if…
Comment
Balance of Competences Review: Trade and Investment
Full Document Available in PDF Iain Murray is a British citizen who is Vice President at CEI and heads the…
Letters
Coalition for Sugar Reform’s “Sweet Facts”
Full Document Available in PDF Leading Free Market Advocates Say “Zero—for—Zero” Makes ZERO Sense • CATO Institute: “… [T]he sugar lobby, and…
Washington Examiner
Is ‘zero for zero’ a sugar industry ploy?
The U.S. sugar lobby is promoting a supposedly free market idea: to get rid of the U.S. sugar support program if Brazilian producers give up…
Blog
New USTR Discusses Trade Agenda, How U.S. and EU Can Address Divergent Regulatory Regimes
At a forum this morning hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the new U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, discussed the next steps…
Blog
Farm Bill Bloat Should Be Voted Down
Today, CEI sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging a vote against the farm bill, H.R. 2642. The letter pointed out that…
Blog
Is Agriculture Leadership Trying an End-Run?
Today, a coalition of 20 free-market and conservative groups, including CEI, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Boehner urging him to ensure…
Blog
Time for Splitting the Farm Bill?
The Chicago Tribune this morning had an excellent editorial about the House of Representatives’ defeat of the 2013 Farm Bill last Thursday. (See…
Blog
France Wants Culture Out of U.S.-EU Trade Agreement
A New York Times article yesterday points out some of the potential difficulties already evident in early talks on a trade agreement between the…
Blog
U.S.-EU Trade Talks — The Precautionary Principle Rears its Ugly Head
Even before substantive negotiations have begun, a major problem has surfaced in talks on a U.S.-EU trade agreement. Last month, the European Parliament passed…
Blog
Canada Not Happy with New Country of Origin Labeling Rules
Protectionism through non-tariff trade barriers is alive and well in the trade arena, even with the U.S.’s largest trading partner, Canada. New U.S. Department…
News Release
Another Sweet Deal for “Big Sugar” in Senate Vote
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 22, 2013 — In a loss for consumers and taxpayers, Congress once again voted to continue the outdated, wasteful sugar program. The…
Blog
Coalition Urges Policymakers to Reform the “Terrible Twelve” of Farm Policy
Action is heating up on the next farm bill, as the Senate Agriculture Committee today completed its markup of their bill which will go…
Letters
Coalition Letter on the “Terrible Twelve” of Farm Policy
Full Document Available in PDF Washington’s Farm Policy is a nearly trillion dollar tangle of agriculture subsidies, welfare payments and environmental patronage.
Blog
Coalition Urges Reform of Sugar Program
The Hill picked up our coalition’s release on reforming the U.S. sugar program. The letter, sent to all Senate and House offices, was…
Comment
Comments on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
Full Document Available in PDF In what would be the largest trade pact ever, the United States and the European Union early…
Letters
Coalition Letter to House Members on the Sugar Program
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Congressman, Over the next several weeks, policymakers in the House and the Senate will be marking…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Senate on the Sugar Program
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Senator, Over the next several weeks, policymakers in the House and the Senate will be marking…
Blog
Transatlantic Speakers Express Strong Support Of U.S.-EU Trade Pact
A high-level panel of experts yesterday pointed out the mutual economic benefits of a broad transatlantic trade pact between the United States and the European…
Blog
Will EU “Cultural Diversity” Exception Undermine U.S.-EU Trade Talks?
A possible bump in the road toward a U.S.-EU trade agreement emerged today as a parliamentary committee of the European Commission voted to begin…
Blog
U.S. Agrees To Japan’s Entry Into Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
Today, the Acting U.S. Trade Representative announced that the U.S. has agreed to let Japan enter negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, subject…
Blog
NOAA Proposes Tuna-Dolphin Regulations To Comply With WTO Ruling
To comply with a World Trade Organization ruling in a tuna-dolphin complaint brought by Mexico, the U.S. proposed new regulations that would tighten the…
Blog
Retailing As Liberating
Blog
Mercantilism Is An Outdated Concept
There’s an excellent Letter to the Editor in the Financial Times today (“Trade is now about participation,…
Blog
Administration Notifies Congress That Trade Talks With EU Will Begin
Earlier today, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative sent a notice to Congress that the Obama administration would begin negotiating a trade partnership…
Washington Examiner
Secrecy surrounds company suing Consumer Product Safety Commission
“The public does not have a right to know everything. Records are sealed for many and various reasons, generally to protect the innocent,” said Fran…
Washington Examiner
Letter to the Editor: Circumventing the WTO is dangerous
Sir, Jean-Pierre Lehmann’s letter (“Focus on EU-US deal risks further damage to…
Blog
U.S.-EU Trade Negotiations Will Have Some Sticking Points
A Financial Times article today focuses on possible negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union and some of…
Letters
Coalition Letter: Taxpayers Won’t Harvest Farm Bill Savings
Blog
Groups Urge Boehner To Hold Firm And Not Give In To Agricultural Special Interests
CEI joined 11 other groups in a letter today to House Speaker John Boehner urging him not to give in to special interest…
Products
Farm Bill Will Not Solve Drought
Dear Speaker Boehner, We write…
Blog
Read Washington Post’s Sports Section for Great Hit at Justice’s Overreach
Excellent commentary in The Washington Post today on the Justice Department’s overreach. Take note — it appeared in the Sports section in a column…
Blog
China Takes Hard Stance on EU’s Airline Emissions Charges
It looks like it could begin a trade war — in airplanes. China has announced that it may impound European Union airplanes in retaliation if…
Blog
WSJ: Senate May Vote on Needed Sugar Reform Amendment
In today’s Wall Street Journal, an editorial sharply criticizes the U.S. sugar program and urges Congress to vote on amendments that would significantly rein…
Blog
Bhagwati: How the Multilateral Trade System Is Being Eroded
Trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati’s latest article points out dangers to the world trading system of bilateral and regional trade agreements between unequal partners that…
Blog
Carbon Tariffs Again in the Spotlight
Here it comes again — talk of an EU carbon tax. This time it’s a member of the new administration of new French President Francois…
Blog
Tuna-Dolphin Issue — Again a WTO Decision
No, tuna-dolphin is not a hybrid fish, but the subject of a long-standing trade dispute between Mexico and the United States arising from a 1990…
Letters
Letter on Farm Bill Entitlements
Full Document Available in PDF CEI signed a joint letter advocating real reform of…
Blog
Farm Bill Needs Real Reform, Not New Entitlements, Say Free-Market Groups
CEI joined with 10 other free-market groups in a letter today urging Congress to take on real reform of agricultural subsidies in the next…
Washington Examiner
Sugar Program Isn’t Sweet for Consumers or the Economy
Don’t look now, but here comes the farm bill, one of those catch-all legislative behemoths littered with wasteful programs and supported by entrenched special interests.
Comment
Comments Submitted to U.S.-EU High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth
Full Document Available in PDF The path to economic growth and prosperity is not something readily planned from above but rather is…
Blog
Cordray Already on Board — In a Video — At Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Obama administration wasted no time in putting in place – in a home-page video — Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial…
Blog
A “Trade War for Christmas” – EU High Court Rules on Airline Emissions
As expected, the European Court for Justice -- the EU’s highest court -- has ruled that the EU’s plan to charge foreign airlines for…
Blog
U.S., Other Countries Threaten to Retaliate Against EU on Airline Emissions “Taxes”
The U.S. sent a strong letter to the European Union warning them that the EU’s airline emissions trading scheme — set to start in…
Blog
92-Year-Old Former German Chancellor Gets Heat for Smoking on TV
Anti-smoking advocates were in full throttle in Germany after former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt kept puffing on his cigarette during a television…
Blog
Brooks: More Regulations Don’t Have Huge Effect on Economy
David Brooks’ article today in The New York Times belittles the cost of regulation to American businesses and the U.S. economy and praises the…
Blog
Canada Cuts Tariffs, Endorses Free Trade — Imports Good, Exports Good
In a free-trade lesson the U.S. should study, Canada announced that it was eliminating tariffs on imports that Canadian manufacturers use to help spur…
Blog
Hank Greenberg Rises Again — Takes on Treasury, NY Fed in “Takings” Lawsuit
Feisty 86-year-old Hank Greenberg, long-time chief executive of AIG, is suing the Treasury Department and the New York Federal Reserve Bank charging that its…
Washington Examiner
Competitive Enterprise Institute and Americans for Prosperity Join Groups Opposing Ag Committee Proposal
Washington Examiner
Tax Watchdog Groups Urge Super Committee to Axe Wasteful Agriculture Subsidies
Letters
Coalition Letter on Agriculture Spending
Full Document Available in PDF The Competiitive Enterprise Institute signed a…
Point of Law
Mr. and Mrs. Smith Go to Baltimore
Point of Law
Sugar Policy Bitter for Consumers, Manufacturers
Point of Law
Demands Show Protesters’ Naivety
Sir, I was appalled by John Gapper’s column “In praise of Wall Street protesters” (October 6), extolling the virtues and idealistic aims of the…
Point of Law
Cutting Chinese Imports Punishes U.S. buyers
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s opinion column (October 6, 2022) falls into the trade deficit trap that many others do: exports good, imports bad. When he…
Blog
At Long Last, Congress Will Vote on Three Trade Pacts that Unions have Held Up
At long last both the House and the Senate are scheduled to vote on the three free trade agreements (FTAs) that have languished for…
Study
Free Trade Without Apology
Congress needs to stop trying to appease organized labor and approve free trade deals on the treaties’ own merits.
Blog
Looking at TAA Worker Eligibility Last Year — Some Observations and Questions
Now that reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is all but a done deal -- a quid pro quo from Republican leadership to President…
Blog
Sen. McConnell Introduces “Fast Track” Trade Authority; Hits Unions for Obstructing Trade Agreements
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a gutsy statement on the Senate floor today, saying that he was introducing an amendment to give…
Blog
WTO Issues Panel’s Findings on U.S.-Mexico Tuna-Dolphin Dispute
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute panel has found that the U.S. requirements for a “dolphin-safe” label on tuna products are more trade-restrictive than…
Blog
AMA Calls for Trade Agreements to Exclude Alcohol and Tobacco
The American Medical Association is calling for alcohol and tobacco to be excluded in all new U.S. trade agreements. New Zealand’s NZWeek, at the…
Blog
Canada’s PM praises trade pact with Colombia — a good act for President Obama to follow
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with his strong defense of Canada’s trade agreement with Colombia, provides a stark contrast with President Obama’s weak-kneed approach…
Blog