As a result, CEI experts have encouraged and supported trade-enhancing policies and treaties over the years, including “fast-track” Trade Promotion Authority, specific trade deals, and multilateral efforts such as the Doha round of the World Trade Organization. We have opposed increased tariffs, attempts to increase regulation through trade deal language, and the trend toward bilateral rather than multilateral deals. CEI continues to make the case for free trade in the face of increased bipartisan hostility to the idea.
CEI’s experts also work with like-minded colleagues abroad to oppose harmful initiatives, such as working with British colleagues to stop that country’s competition agency from blocking mergers between American firms based on speculative reasoning.
Featured Posts
Blog
Steeling politics
Politics ruins everything. Right now, it is ruining America’s steel industry. The Biden administration, with plenty of bipartisan support, has announced it will block…
The American Institute for Economic Research
Did the Bank of England Set Britain on the Road to Ruin?
“The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street” is the affectionate nickname of the Bank of England, as respected an institution as Britain ever had. Calling something…
Blog
Price signals and virtue signals
It’s a divisive election year, but all of us still have some things in common. Since the pandemic began, inflation has devalued the dollar by…
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Comment
CEI Submits Comments on Conflict Minerals Rules of Dodd-Frank
The Competitive Enterprise has submitted comments regarding the implementation of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which attempts to…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 22, 2011: E-Verify
E-Verify is a program that checks the immigration status of new hires. The House is expected to vote on legislation that would make E-Verify mandatory…
Blog
Senator Hatch: Good Reasons Not to Extend TAA
With Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) scheduled for a vote today, in debate on the measure yesterday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) gave a spirited speech outlining…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 197: Planking
Threats to freedoms even as trivial as planking should not be taken lying down.
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
The Establishment Turns Against Democracy!
The Financial Times‘ lead editorial today, “Democracy’s Slow Cure for the Euro,” illustrates a growing willingness of “experts” to argue that people are too…
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…
Forbes
Two Cheers For A Big U.S. Trade Deficit
News that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed this summer has brought the usual cheers from commentators. The Associated Press celebrated, noting, “[A] narrowing…
Forbes
Anti-Immigration Laws Hurt Economy
Arizona’s immigration laws — Senate Bill 1070 and the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) — were designed to drive undocumented immigrants out of the…
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
Obama’s Job Creation Proposal Will Be Ineffective, Experts Say
Despite its massive price tag of $450 billion, President Obama's recently-proposed American Jobs Act seems like a useless dud to experts who've analyzed it, and the…
Forbes
Immigration is Not Charity
The biggest misconception about immigration is that it is a zero-sum game–that there is a finite number of jobs which immigrants “take” from the…
Blog
The “Overhead Smash” Of ITAR
Over at Beltway Confidential today, Tim Carney asks if one of the unintended (or perhaps not-so-unintended) consequences of Dodd-Frank will be to…
Forbes
Trade Restrictions Will Not Help Underpaid Chinese Workers
Re: “America’s economic troubles are deep-seated,” From Readers, Sept. 6 Madeleine Soudee laments that China, India and Vietnam are “intensely competitive by ignoring human…
Forbes
Alex Nowrasteh on Alabama’s Immigration Law
CEI Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh discusees the economic harm from tight immigration restrictions such as Alabama House Bill 56.
Blog
Obama Administration Violated Federal Laws in Operation Fast and Furious, which Led to Killings of Americans and Mexicans
The scandal over Operation Fast and Furious, in which the Obama administration funneled thousands of guns to violent Mexican drug lords in an abortive, mismanaged…
Blog
Free Trade vs. Protectionism
If international trade barriers create wealth, why stop there? Every state should have its own trade barriers against every other state.
Blog
Many New Job-Killing Regulations from the Obama Administration
Andrew Stiles describes "Ten Job-Destroying Regulations" from the Obama administration that will wipe out hundreds of thousands of jobs. Another job-killing regulation is the…
Forbes
Should We Charge For Immigrant Visas?
Forbes
Immigration Tariff: Reforming a Broken System
America’s immigration system is broken. Years of overregulation aimed at micromanaging the system has produced nearly 100 different types of visas, each with its…
Forbes
Rekindling the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. is now memorialized with an imposing statue on the D.C. National Mall. While the honor is long overdue, his legacy should…
Blog
A Letter to the Editor about Natural Rights and the Cuban Economy
In an editorial last week Mary Anastasia O’Grady wrote about a supposed “economic revolution” happening in Cuba. It seems the Cuban government has just liberated…
Blog
What the Berlin Wall Represents
In response to Jacob Heilbrunn’s August 12 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times entitled, “Berlin Wall: A blessing in disguise,” I submitted the…
Blog
Europe’s Woes No Excuse for Abysmal U.S. Growth
Today, once again, the market is crashing largely due to events in the European Union. President Obama and other policy makers wring their collective hands…
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…
Forbes
Dodd-Frank Side Effect: Devastation of Congo.
Study
In America’s National Interest—Canadian Oil
Full Document Available in PDF Canada now provides more oil to the U.S.
Blog
The “Obama Law” Devastates Impoverished People in the World’s Second Poorest Country, The Congo
People are going hungry, pulling their children out of school due to poverty, and joining criminal gangs to make ends meet in the poorest region…
Blog
Obama’s Uninspiring, Empty Response to the Downgrade of America’s Credit Rating
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down a massive 634 points after Obama gave an uninspiring address in response to the downgrading…
News Release
New Study Touts Benefits of Expanded Oil Trade with Canada
Washington, DC, August 9, 2011 – Canada now provides more oil to the U.S. than all Persian Gulf countries combined, lessening America’s so-called “dependence” on…
Products
Fred Smith and Pat Buchanan discuss the Bush administration’s handling of steel tariffs on CNBC
Copyright 2003 CNBC, Inc. CNBC News Transcripts SHOW: Capital Report (9:00 PM ET) – CNBC November 11, 2003 Tuesday LENGTH: 1487 words HEADLINE: Fred Smith…
Blog
Free Trade Agreements: Braking through the Barrier
Finally. It looks like Congress will actually be moving to approve the three pending FTAs after it returns from the summer recess according to a…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 4, 2011: Liberalizing Trade
Congress is expected to take up stalled free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea when it returns from its August recess. Adjunct Fellow…
Blog
Gender Quotas Spread in Europe, Mandated for Corporate Boards
After Norway adopted gender quotas for corporate boards -- requiring companies to have boards of directors comprised of at least 40 percent women -- large…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 28, 2011: Immigration Reform
President Obama made a speech on immigration reform this week. Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh dissects several bills already in Congress that would do just that,…
Blog
Thousands of Jobs and Billions in Wealth Wiped Out by Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Provision
Thanks to the "conflict minerals" provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, thousands of the world's poorest people will lose their jobs. Why? Simply because they…
Forbes
Senate Subcommittee Concludes- Immigration Reform Imperative for Economic Growth
Forbes
Alex Nowrasteh on the Benefits of the DREAM Act
CEI's Alex Nowrasteh offers reasons to support the DREAM Act. While he does not support the federal funding aspect of the bill, he believes that…
Forbes
Easter Egg in Dodd-Frank
Blog
Aim for Multilateral Trade Pact — Bilaterals Replete with Protectionist Demands, says Bhagwati
In yesterday’s New York Times, trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati takes the Obama administration and Congress to task for letting the World Trade Organization’s Doha…
Blog
British Social Workers Tear Apart Happy Families, Seize Children from Loving Parents
In Britain, social workers and child-protective services are tearing apart happy families, and seizing children from loving parents "for no good reason," notes Christopher…
Blog
Stimulus Dollars Funded Mexican Coffin Industry through “Operation Fast and Furious”
Not content with just using American tax dollars to subsidize foreign "green jobs" that replaced U.S. jobs, the Obama administration used stimulus dollars…
Forbes
Business Leaders & Conservatives Agree That E-Verify Is a Disaster for America’s Economy
Blog
Keeping the “Free” in Free Trade
Yesterday, Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Finance Committee meeting to consider free trade agreements (FTA) with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. The reason? President Obama…
Blog
Setting the Record Straight: Trade Creates Wealth
In his article “…
Blog
Trade Pacts to Have “Mock” Mark-ups in Senate — Drafts Include Trade Adjustment Assistance
As summer heats up, so does Congress as it looks at legislation that should be considered before the August recess. The three pending Free Trade…
Blog
Stealing You Blind: The Fate of Greece
Rioters have taken to the streets in the Greek capital of Athens. While not as unusual an occurrence as it is in Athens, Georgia,…
Forbes
Immigration: The DREAM Act Is Not A Nightmare
Today Senate Democrats are holding hearings about the controversial DREAM Act. Last week, Senate Democrats also introduced a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that entirely…
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on the Proposed Inspection System for Catfish
Full Document Available as a PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 23, 2011: Bunker Fuel
Bunker fuel is a heavy fuel used by large ships around the world. Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at new environmental…
Blog
What Really Makes “Postcards from Hell”
Foreign Policy just ran another “Postcards from Hell” feature detailing the worst of the worst from their “Failed States Index.” It’s worth a look.
Blog
The Few, The Proud, The Greek Liberals (It’s Lonely Being a Libertarian in Greece)
As the crisis in the eurozone continues to spiral out of control, I’ve sometimes thought about what must be going through the heads of…
The Hill
The Need for an Immigration System Worthy of America
Blog
Government-Subsidized Murder: Cannibal Ph.D Candidate Studies Homicide at Taxpayer Expense
"While pursuing a PhD in “homicide studies” at the British taxpayers’ expense, a man with a long history of criminal violence became a…
The Hill
The Exceptional Children Of Skilled Immigrants
Much of the debate over increasing legal immigration and work visas, such as the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers, has centered on the…
Blog
Obama Administration Votes Against England, Supporting Argentine-Backed Resolution on the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are English-speaking and have been part of the United Kingdom for generations. Although Argentina unsuccessfully tried to conquer them in 1982, they…
Blog
Failures of Auto Bailouts Hidden by Deceptive Accounting and Bogus Jobs Figures
Mounting evidence shows that the auto bailouts weren't worth it. They have been far more costly, and less successful, than claimed, as even liberal…
Blog
Top 3 Myths about Immigration
According to Ben Powell, the three most common immigration myths are that immigrants are a drag on the economy, they steal our jobs, and that…
Blog
Liberalize High-Skilled Immigration
Over at the Daily Caller, Alex Nowrasteh and I tell the story of Jeffrey Lin. He is a Ph.D student at CalTech who holds three…
Daily Caller
Immigration Reform Can Jumpstart Economy
Jeffrey is a talented electrical engineering PhD student at CalTech. He already holds three patents. One of his inventions may cure glaucoma. It is…
Blog
Sen. Hatch Questions Illogic of Holding Three Trade Agreements Hostage to TAA
Consideration of the three pending trade pacts -- with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea -- presents a conundrum. The administration is saying that these Free…
Blog
Trade Week: Why I Learned to Hate Civilization
When I first played the strategy game Civilization -- on an Amiga computer in the early 1990s -- I was instantly hooked. I was a…
Blog
Is the U.S. Serious About Trade and Economic Growth — Or About Currying Favor with Trade Unions?
Is the U.S. serious about trade or does the Obama administration just want to cater to union supporters and set up more obstacles for trade…
Blog
Trade Week: Fair Trade Isn’t Fair
As I passed by the Commerce Department on my way in to work this morning, I saw the bureaucrats had erected a banner for…
Blog
Fighting for its Life: Absolute Poker Makes a Deal with Feds
In 2002, four fraternity brothers from the University of Montana founded an online gambling platform that became one of the most popular online casinos for…
Blog
Greenland Flourishes Due to Global Warming and Climate Change
Alarmists have been decrying the effects of global warming on Greenland for years, even though Greenland was greenest during the Medieval Warm Period, and Greenland’s Vikings,…
Blog
Temporarily Buoyed by Japanese Earthquake, General Motors Looks for Profit Overseas
"GM sees China as a road to profit," reports the Washington Post today. "GM last year sold more cars in China than in the…
Blog
Is Trade Adjustment Assistance a Pre-Condition for Pending Trade Agreements?
Today, at the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the committee chairman, ranking Republican, and the U.S. Trade Representative’s…
News Release
Obama Gives Half-Hearted Speech on Immigration Reform
Washington, D.C., May 10, 2011 — The Competitive Enterprise Institute is cautiously optimistic about President Obama’s call for comprehensive immigration reform. Some of his…
Blog
Progress on Free Trade — With Strings Attached
Looks like there could finally be some progress on long-pending free trade agreements (FTAs). Yesterday U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said that the administration…
Blog
Free Trade Agreements Don’t Kill Jobs
Over at the Daily Caller, I look at employment data and find out that the labor force has grown by 23 million people since NAFTA…
Blog
Free Trade: A Step Towards Revitalizing the Economy
According to Chris Frates’ article this morning in Politico, After years of wrangling, labor and business groups are gearing up for an epic showdown…
Daily Caller
Free Trade Agreements Don’t Kill Jobs
The U.S. is slowly working towards free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. After years of wrangling, they might even pass this…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 170: Kinder Eggs
Kinder eggs are a type of candy that enjoys worldwide popularity. They are also illegal in the United States.
Blog
Washington Post’s Royal Class Snobbery Against Middletons
Thanks Iain, for your kind comments on my Wall Street Journal op-ed celebrating the Middleton's entrepreneurship and for the great info on how…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 28, 2011: High-Speed Rail
Land Use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner looks at China's experience with high-speed rail, and finds that it may not be a very good…
Blog
Obama Subsidizes Job-Killing Outsourcing, While Attacking Job-Creating Outsourcing
In his 2008 campaign, Obama demagogued about “outsourcing,” but his own policies have outsourced thousands of American jobs, at taxpayer expense, as I…
Blog
Ideologies Undermine Attorney-Client Relationship, National Sovereignty, and Protection Against Crime
At the Washington Examiner, I discuss the implications for the attorney-client relationship of a law firm’s decision to dump a client after signing…
Blog
Biofuels Policy — Death and Disease Follow
The inestimable Indur Goklany has an important new report on biofuels and developing countries. “Could Biofuel Policies Increase Death and Disease in Developing Countries?”…
Blog
China Had a Quarterly Trade Deficit — And it was Hardly Noticed
Here’s a bit of news that didn’t get too much attention — China had a first quarter 2011 trade deficit. It’s the country’s first quarterly…
Blog
U.S. Swipes at Colombia’s Sovereignty with Onerous Labor Requirements
AEI’s Claude Barfield posted an insightful comment on the new labor requirements the U.S. foisted on Colombia in connection with the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade…
Blog
Constipated Colombia Pact
Pres. Obama has made expanding U.S. exports a centerpiece of his economic plan. In his January State of the Union Address, he noted that "95%…
Blog
ReasonTV video on Protectionism at the Smithsonian
ReasonTV just produced an eye-opening video regarding how easily politicians can utilize rhetoric to create economically absurd policies. In the video below, Bernie Sanders works…
Blog
Rep. Levin Wants to Stall Trade Pact — Colombia Needs to Change its Laws, He Says
Okay -- another big roadblock for the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and not surprisingly, it’s coming from Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), ranking member on the…
Blog
Stop the Sweet Deal for Sugar, Says Senator Lugar
There's a great op-ed by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in The Washington Times today telling how Big Sugar’s sweet deal harms consumers, leads to job…
News Release
Sen. Lugar’s Bill to Repeal U.S. Sugar Program to Benefit Consumers, Economy, Developing Countries
Contact: Christine Hall, 202.331.2258 March 30, 2011, Washington, D.C. – Legislation introduced today by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) marks a bold step towards repealing the…
Blog
March Madness
In the closing days of March, not only are sports fans a bit crazy, so also are the electorate. Consider the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg,…
Blog
Obama’s Support of Brazil
President Obama was in Brazil over the weekend: “The United States doesn’t simply recognize Brazil’s rise; we support it enthusiastically,” Obama said in Brasilia,…
Blog
High-Speed Rail Follies: International Edition
Over at the excellent NewGeography.com, Wendell Cox has an article about the battle over high-speed rail investment in Britain. As we've seen in the…
Blog
America Doesn’t Need More College Graduates at Taxpayer Expense
President Obama says that “the best economic policy is one that produces more college graduates.” No doubt this is best for colleges, which have been…
Blog
A Tsunami is Not a Stimulus
Tragedy struck Japan this morning. It will be some time before we know just how many lives the tsunami took, and how much damage was…
Blog
Vintage Friedman in CNBC Ad
This is a current CNBC ad — gasp — produced from a 1979 interview of Milton Friedman by Phil Donohue. Can hardly get a better…
Blog
Pressure Mounts for Three Free Trade Agreements to be Submitted
Bi-partisan pressure mounts for the Obama administration to move on long-pending free trade agreements (FTAs). At Senate Finance Committee hearings yesterday on the trade…
Blog
House Republicans Push for Fast Action on Three Pending Trade Pacts
The new House Republicans are pushing for fast action on the three pending free trade agreements (FTAs) -- with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama.
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Windows Intune hits the street March 23: “Microsoft said today that the final version of its Windows Intune cloud-delivered PC management…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Gmail accidentally resetting accounts, years of correspondence: “If you've got a working Gmail account, you might want to back it up every so…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: London Stock Exchange Hit by Technical Glitch: The London Stock Exchange suffered a second embarrassing system glitch in a week on Friday…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Google launches Apps certification program for IT pros: “Google has launched a program to certify that staffers at Google Apps resellers have specific…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Amazon Rolls Out Instant Streaming for ‘Prime’ Members: “Amazon.com (AMZN: 180.45, 0.00, 0.00%) on Tuesday announced its highly-rumored video-streaming service for customers subscribing…
