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The week in regulations: Library pictures and aerobatic airplanes
The Iran war entered its fourth week. ICE agents might be reassigned to airport security. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. President Trump expressed…
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Idaho’s successful regulatory reform
Over at National Review, my colleague Hayden Stolzenberg and I examine some of Idaho’s recent regulatory reforms, as outlined in a recent CEI paper.
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The week in regulations: Music royalties and avocado maturity
The Iran war continued to raise oil prices. The Trump administration took steps to raise tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, but…
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Good and bad trade news: Jones Act suspension, but more tariffs on the way
Two conflicting bits of trade news came out yesterday. The good news is that the Trump administration is considering temporarily suspending the Jones Act,…
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The week in regulations: Shellfish inclusion and paper manifest sunsets
The labor force shrank by 92,000 jobs in January. Oil prices spiked. Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s Section 122 tariffs.
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The week in regulations: Fusion machines and suspicious health care
President Trump launched a preemptive war with Iran, leading many to question the true worth of the FIFA Peace Prize. The 2026 Federal Register topped…
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The week in regulations: Grandfathered driver vision and socializing dogs
The Supreme Court declared President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs unconstitutional. The White House responded by enacting a 15 percent global tariff under a different statute. The…
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The week in regulations: Beet food coloring and crab housekeeping
Culture warriors got upset over the Super Bowl halftime show. A mini-shutdown over ICE funding delayed some labor market indicators. Agencies issued new regulations ranging…
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The week in regulations: Reimagining education and underground mines
Kevin Warsh is President Trump’s nominee for the next Federal Reserve chairman. The Fed held interest rates steady at its most recent FOMC…
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The week in regulations: Homework gaps and cannabimimetic agents
At Davos, President Trump withdrew his threats to invade Greenland and tariff European countries. The Supreme Court appeared skeptical about his attempt to fire Lisa…
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The week in regulations: Neck floats and glazed bus portals
President Trump opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He also proposed capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent, effective January…
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The week in regulations: Taconite and label shapes
President Trump deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and embarked on a nation-building project. ICE agents killed an American citizen in Minnesota. Agencies issued new regulations…
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Politicians need to think beyond stage one on credit card price controls
President Trump, in a Friday news dump on social media, proposed price controls on credit card interest rates. He wants to cap annual rates…
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New CEI study: Zero-based regulations
A new CEI study by Alex Adams looks at a regulatory reform approach that succeeded in Idaho: zero-based regulation. The idea is similar to…
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The week in regulations: 2025 year-end special
Happy New Year, everyone. The final numbers for 2025’s regulations are in. The first half of this post summarizes those numbers and compares them with…
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Best books of 2025: Johan Norberg’s Peak Human
Johan Norberg’s latest book, Peak Human, is a history of golden ages. After starting in Ancient Greece and then Rome, Norberg tours the Abbasid…
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The week in regulations: Neck floats and stablecoins
Unemployment went slightly up, and inflation went slightly down. President Trump gave a primetime speech, and earlier in the week commented on Rob Reiner and…
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Time to end the Christmas tree tax
Fun holiday fact: the federal government has a Christmas Tree Promotion Board. It works a bit like a trade association does in the private…
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The week in regulations: Fuel casks and water beads
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. President Trump proposed $12 billion in giveaways to farmers harmed by his tariffs. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from…
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The week in regulations: Cable television rates and estate sales
President Trump announced an easing of vehicle fuel economy standards. Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. and HBO. The Defense Secretary is in…
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The week in regulations: From postal possession to foreign atomic energy
It was a four-day week due to Thanksgiving. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from postage pricing to non-endangered woodpeckers. On to the data: Agencies issued…
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The week in regulations: Airport fees and pesticide fragrances
September’s jobs report came out after a shutdown-related delay. The FTC lost its antitrust case against Meta. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from postage pricing…
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Shutdown lesson: Depend less on DC
The record-length shutdown showed how dependent many Americans are on Washington. This is one of the biggest flaws in the ongoing nationalization of politics. In…
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The week in regulations, the final shutdown edition: Manifest mailing and broken trash incinerators
The federal shutdown is over. Since the Federal Register has a few days’ lag time for publishing agency documents, it will likely take until this…
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Swiss trade deal could be a good start towards mutual recognition
Switzerland’s government announced today that it reached an agreement on a trade framework with the United States. America’s Liberation Day tariff rate on Swiss…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Medicare payments and arms trafficking.
The Supreme Court held oral hearings for the V.O.S. Spirits tariff case. Former Vice President Dick Cheney passed away. Democrats had a very good election…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Student loans and foreigners’ biometric data
President Trump announced a trade deal with China. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. The continued federal shutdown meant another slow week in the Federal…
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Rare earths and China: Choose deregulation, not price controls
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to implement price controls on unspecified goods if China continues to restrict rare earth mineral exports. Over at the…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Visa fees and regional haze
President Trump demanded that the Justice Department pay him $230 million. He also cut off all trade negotiations with Canada because of a tv commercial…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Mackerel and helicopters
The continuing shutdown made for another slow week in the Federal Register. The four-day week’s total of five proposed regulations, six proposed regulations, and 131…
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A Nobel for human progress
This year’s economics Nobel Prize went to three students of the two most important questions in economics: Why have living standards in rich countries improved…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Pot gear and hot air fuel
Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize. The partial federal shutdown meant there were no proposed regulations and five new regulations…
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The week in regulations: Poultry improvement and painful scars
The federal government shut down on Wednesday. Thursday’s Federal Register had 60 final regulations; normal is about 10. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew in hundreds…
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The week in regulations: Airplane seats and Irish potatoes
President Trump signed an executive order to effectively end the H-1B visa category for high-skilled immigrants. He also raised tariffs on pharmaceuticals, argued without evidence…
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New tariffs for pharmaceuticals, furniture, and trucks
On the night of September 25, after markets closed, the Trump administration announced on social media that a new bevy of tariffs will take…
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The week in regulations: Sausage colors and patriotic education
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened to prosecute hate speech. ABC pulled late night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air…
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The week in regulations: Date taxes and manifest mailing
Political commentator Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking at an event. While the Producer Price Index went down in August, the Consumer Price Index climbed…
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The week in regulations: Coachella air quality and yogurt vitamins
The Federal Register, which tracks daily regulatory activity, has become less transparent. Jobs numbers for August were disappointing and actually shrank in June for…
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The week in regulations: Deepwater ports and ASCII relays
A court ruled President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs unconstitutional. The case now moves to the Supreme Court. Countries around the world stopped shipping parcels to…
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The week in regulations: Bird hunting and food coloring
The Federal Register’s website became less transparent about rule counts and other data. President Trump threatened to send the military into a third city. The…
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The week in regulations: Import paperwork and postal possession
The 2025 Federal Register topped 40,000 pages. President Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The Producer Price index rose at its fastest level since…
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July CPI: Inflation still above target, politicized clouds on the horizon
Today’s CPI report is not apocalyptic, but still concerning. This is in line with expectations. The CPI rose 0.2 percent during July, and 2.7…
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The week in regulations: Blue food coloring and pipeline recordkeeping
The Liberation Day tariffs took effect on August 7. The president continues to announce new tariffs on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and more. Republicans are proposing gerrymandering…
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The week in regulations: Nuclear coolant and medical food
President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs are set to take effect on August 7 for countries he did not strike deals with. He is also ending…
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Rail merger does not create monopoly
Union Pacific has proposed buying Norfolk Southern in what would be the largest railroad merger in history. Regulators have not yet approved the merger. The…
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EU tariff agreement could be worse, still not the final word
In January, Americans paid an average tariff of under 5 percent on European products. Similar to his recent Japan agreement, President Trump’s new agreement…
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The week in regulations: Cable TV and paper straws
Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, and Chuck Mangione passed away. President Trump issued an Executive Order on artificial intelligence and announced a tariff deal with Japan.
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New bill would repeal the Jones Act
Over at the National Interest, Paige Lambermont and I take a look at the Open America’s Waters Act from Sen. Mike Lee…
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The week in regulations: Subsistence fishing and electric borrowers
Regulators focused on cleaning up mining regulations this week, with more than 20 rules revised or rescinded. Inflation crept upward as tariff-related price increases worked…
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The week in regulations: Deep seabed mining and recreational gulf gag
A massive flood in Texas killed at least 120 people. President Trump announced new 50 percent copper tariffs which will take effect on August 1.