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Mercantilism Is An Outdated Concept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…
Citation
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…
Op-Eds
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…
Op-Eds
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…
Citation
Competitive Enterprise Institute and Americans for Prosperity Join Groups Opposing Ag Committee Proposal
Citation
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