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
Why do so many countries have tariffs?
Over at the Center Square, Iain Murray and I ask an overlooked question: If tariffs are so bad, then why does nearly every country…
Center Square Opinion
Why do so many countries have tariffs?
If tariffs are so bad, then why does nearly every country have them? It’s a fair question, and many Trump tariff defenders are asking it.
Blog
That didn’t take long: Tariffs shrink economy in just two months
The US is halfway to a self-imposed recession, and tariffs are to blame. A healthy economy started shrinking even before President Trump’s Rose Garden…
Search Posts
Blog
It’s Complicated
Journalists have a tendency to present overly-simple explanations of current events that often turn out to be false. Part of it is due to the…
Blog
Obama Slaps Unconstitutional Gag Order on Critic of His Health Care Plan
While Obama ally ACORN attempts to gag whistleblowers who exposed its role in a recent scandal, the Obama administration is trying to gag…
Blog
Hard-Left Obama Policies Draw Criticism for Undermining Democracy, Security, and the Rule of Law
In his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama talked a lot about “bipartisanship,” but in office, he has governed from the far left, on both domestic and…
Blog
Funny, That
An article in today's New York Times laments the difficulty of "building momentum for an international climate treaty at a time when global temperatures have…
Blog
Obama Speech to the UN: The Data
Myron has already pointed out how most of what the President claimed were the threats from global warming are exaggerated. Here’s the data to…
Blog
Finding Something to Praise in Obama’s Speech Today
While this speech is mostly hogwash, I am surprised and delighted to be able to find one thing to praise in it: Later this…
Blog
Obama Speech to the UN
President Barack Obama’s speech on global warming to the United Nations today is based on fantasy. Here are some quotes from the speech followed by…
Blog
Chevron Plaintiff Lawyer’s Least Favorite Writer
In Forbes yesterday, New York lawyer Steven Donziger, consultant attorney for Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the suit against Chevron, criticizes my article,…
Blog
Democratic Governor Criticizes Deficit-Exploding Obama Health-Care Plan; Middle Class Faces Huge Health and Global-Warming Tax Hikes
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen (D) is criticizing Obama’s health-care plan as “the mother of all unfunded mandates,” saying it will force states to spend…
Blog
Firing Blanks on FOIA Part II
In his update to his post, Declan McCullagh notes an objection by the Center for American Progress: The fourth objection is the most compelling.
Blog
Obama Wants to Extend PATRIOT Act
One may be a Republican and the other a Democrat, but make no mistake. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod.
Blog
Another Hoover on trade?
President Obama’s slapping of tariffs on tires imported from China is the latest in a series of protectionist moves by the U.S. that threaten the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 50: Tires from China
The burden is on tariff supporters to explain why they think people who live in one country are more deserving of economic opportunity than people…
Blog
Scientist Who Saved a Billion Lives Dies; Congress Blocks Reform of Law Based on Junk Science
Norman Borlaug, the scientist who saved a billion lives by fathering the Green Revolution, died Saturday at the age of 95. His work…
Blog
The Man Who Fed the World
Norman Borlaug was an American agricultural scientist and plant breeder whose work sparked what is now known as the Green Revolution. He was recognized with…
Blog
Do Corporations Have Human Rights?
Intel’s defense in its EU antitrust case has taken the surprising line that the company’s human rights were violated. Over at Real Clear Markets, CEI…
Blog
New Paper Shows Staggering Cost to Americans of Waxman-Markey
There’s a new cost:benefit study from New York University Law School’s Institute for Public Integrity that, its authors claim, shows that, “From almost…
Op-Eds
Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes. The Wall…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 47: Irish Potatoes
It is bad policy to keep perfectly good food off the market because of its shape, especially during times of recession and high food prices.
Blog
‘The Times’ it is a changing
On Saturday, The Times of London published a news article under the headline "Organic food is a waste of money". The hard-0copy print edition of…
Blog
Racist, Communist, America-Bashing Obama Adviser Resigns, Over Wacky 9/11 Conspiracy Theory
Obama’s racist, communist, America-bashing Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, has resigned after revelations that he was a 9/11 “Truther,” who believed that George Bush…
Blog
UN Declares Dictator Fidel Castro a “World Hero”
The UN has declared Fidel Castro, the longtime Communist dictator of Cuba, the “World Hero of Solidarity.” Castro killed thousands and thousands…
Blog
CEI Weekly: CEI’s 9/12 Intellectual Ammunition Workshop
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features CEI's workshop for the 9/12 March on D.C., and a…
Blog
India’s CO2 emissions to triple by 2030
India and China talk the Al Gore talk of climate Armageddon and the necessity for urgent action — yet their emissions keep going up and…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 46: Chemical Weapons
If your company exports chemical weapons, make sure you keep good records. Every year, on company letterhead, you have to list ten things for the…
Blog
Obama Imposes Sanctions on Impoverished Nation of Honduras, Despite Loss of Legal Basis for Doing So
The Obama Administration formally cut off aid to the impoverished nation of Honduras today, and announced other impending sanctions, to pressure the country to…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 45: Wooden Crates
Even the humble wooden crate cannot escape the government’ watchful regulatory eye.
Blog
Obama’s Sanctions Cause Suffering, Malnutrition, and Unemployment in Honduras
Earlier, I wrote about how the Obama Administration has imposed sanctions on the people of Honduras, such as blocking travel to the U.S.
Blog
The EU’s Silly Ban of the 100-Watt Bulb
Starting this week, it will be illegal to make or import 100-watt light bulbs in the European Union. And for what? New Scientist reporter…
Blog
Will Support for Cap-and-Trade Energy Tax Melt Away? It’s Costly and Won’t Help the Environment
In the name of cutting greenhouse gases, the House passed a cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme backed by the Obama Administration in June. But the bill…
Blog
Video Evidence Suggests Chevron Lawsuit Riddled With Corruption, Santacruz Comments on the Case
A major scandal has arisen in the biggest environmental lawsuit in history - the $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron oil company brought by a lawyer…
Blog
Obama to Cut Off Aid to Honduras, Based on Legal Mistake and Misreading of the Law
The Obama Administration is about to cut off aid to Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Earlier, the Obama Administration…
Op-Eds
Obama Keeps Lying About Health Care, Even After Being Caught
You just can’t trust President Obama’s claims about his health-care plan. He keeps on lying even after he is caught lying and his lies…
Blog
Obama Punishes Small Country for Court Ruling Refusing to Reinstate Bullying Ex-President and Would-Be Dictator
The Obama Administration has decided to block travel by the people of Honduras to the United States to punish their country for its Supreme…
Blog
Germanic Hoards
The old central powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary) seem to have come together again in opposition to plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs in…
Blog
More Legal Experts Say ObamaCare Is Unconstitutional
More legal experts are questioning the constitutionality of ObamaCare. In today’s Washington Post, two former Justice Department lawyers, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, argue that…
Blog
Bank Robbers for Transparency!
The news that the Federal Government has forced UBS to give up the details of 4000 of its customers’ transactions has other financial institutions…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 36: Buying American
The $787,000,000,000 stimulus contains a provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to buy american textiles. Basically, that means TSA uniforms will go up in…
Blog
UBS Deal Only a Partial Victory for the Feds
Today, after a long and protracted battle between the U.S. and Swiss government, Swiss bank UBS AG agreed to turn over the names of at…
Newsletter
Health Care Compromise, Growing Deficits and a Sugar Shortage
The White House signals a willingness to compromise on health care reform. The federal budget deficit hits $1.27 trillion. Major food companies warn that the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 33: Pressure-Sensitive Plastic Tape
Ending the levy would “likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping,” so it’s here to stay. Domestic tape producers must be pleased. Consumers,…
Blog
Obama Backs Costly Health-Care Status Quo, and Limits on Choice and Competition
Germany is a lot smaller than the U.S., but it has a lot more health insurers to choose from, and cheaper health-care costs. One reason…
Blog
Recession Ends in France, Without Massive and Costly U.S.-Style Stimulus Package
The recession has ended in France, which avoided adopting a massive stimulus package like Obama's $800 billion stimulus package.
Blog
Sugar on the table again
Sugar got front-page notice from the Wall Street Journal today. The article focused on a letter sent to the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the…
Blog
UBS and IRS reach an “agreement”
Yesterday my colleague at CEI, John Berlau, released a statement about the recently announced deal between Swiss bank UBS and the…
Blog
UBS-IRS deal — U.S. Constitutional liberties, privacy rights at risk after Obama bullies the Swiss
Lawyers for the U.S. government and the Swiss bank UBS AG have announced that they have reached a deal…
Blog
They Can’t Even Keep Drugs Out of Prison?
Armed guards. All the bad guys behind bars. Under constant supervision. And Mexico still can’t keep drugs and drug dealing out of its prisons.
Op-Eds
Perverts Get Stimulus Money, Not Roads and Bridges
“Join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun,” urged a recipient of more than $250,000 from Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package, which received…
Blog
Why Intel’s Billion Dollar Fine Violates Human Rights Convention
Intel alleges that its due process rights were violated by a massive $1.45 billion fine recently imposed as a result of a one-sided antitrust investigation…
Blog
“Millions of jobs are at stake on both sides of the border”
So says British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. At a meeting of Canada’s provincial premiers held in Regina, Saskatchewan, last week, slapping retaliatory tariffs on…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 29: Protecting Us from Cheap Foreign Goods
Sometimes (but not always), when a foreign producer sells goods to U.S. consumers cheaply, the U.S. government takes action to put a stop to it.
Blog
Deficit Rises $880 Billion to Record $1.3 Trillion, Due to Massive, Unprecedented Government Spending
The federal budget deficit has already risen by $880 billion to an unprecedented $1.3 trillion. Most of the increase is attributable to recent…
Blog
Inconvenient Evidence Suppressed in EU-Intel Antitrust Case
The EU’s top antitrust regulator intentionally suppressed “potentially exculpatory" evidence in its case against Intel. This is the rule of men, not law.
Blog
Liberal Congressional Leaders Buy Luxury Jets, Trash the Environment
Congress plans to spend $200 million on luxury jets for liberal House leaders, even though it earlier denounced the automakers for having corporate…
Blog
Union Bosses Say the Darndest Things
As described in an OpenMarket post by CEI’s Ivan Osorio a couple weeks ago, the Teamsters union and UPS are currently lobbying Congress to…
Blog
Chuck Schumer: “We’ve Got to Stand Still”
High-frequency stock trading — the markets where sophisticated algorithms running on bleeding edge hardware trade assets using information only fractions of a second old —…
Blog
British Government Pays Lobbyists to Lobby It on Climate Change
More proof that government does things better! In traditional “astroturfing,” a company would pay a PR firm to set up a fake grassroots organization aimed…
Blog
The Right to a Green Job?
Demand for wind turbine blades in Europe has slipped, apparently, so a British company that makes them, Vestas, has plans to let go 625 workers…
Blog
Turn out the lights, the party’s over… and tomorrow start the same old thing again.
Cuba has become more and more destitute since the revolution and has fallen on hard times since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a period…
Blog
Billions More for Wasteful Auto Bailouts
The auto bailouts keep expanding. Billions more are going to be spent on wealthy auto-dealers, cash-for-clunkers, politically-correct cars few people will buy, and excessive benefits…
Blog
Penn and Teller on Organics
The irreverent and hilarious comedians Penn and Teller have produced another episode of their television show Bullshit about organic foods. Friends of CEI, Ron Bailey…
Blog
The Obama’s Administration’s Strange Double Standards on Hate Crimes, Terrorism, and Health Care: Soft on the Guilty, Cruel to the Innocent, Unfair to Taxpayers
When black panthers were caught on videotape menacing white voters in Philadelphia, using nightsticks and racial epithets to drive them away from the polls,…
Newsletter
The Microhoo Deal, Food Safety Bills and Free Trade with Korea
Analysts speculate about the future of the Microsoft’s rivalry with Google in the wake of a major new deal with Yahoo. Food safety bills move…
Blog
In Which Greed Is Good
The great economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote that "[F]ree trade is the cement that holds together the idea of peace." His logic is sound. Commerce gives…
Blog
Russia introduces strict new antitrust law
Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev has signed into law amendments that will bring increased penalties for price collusion and unfair competition. The new amendments will allow…
Blog
UBS v. IRS saga continues
Today, Wall Street Journal reports that a Miami court has set meeting Friday between the IRS and UBS to look at…
Blog
Movement on the U.S.-Korea FTA?
It looks like things may be moving – slowly — on the trade front. The U. S. Trade Representative has published a notice in…
Blog
Obama Backs Imperial Presidency
Obama is backing an imperial presidency in Honduras. When Honduras removed its ex-president and would-be dictator, Obama demanded his reinstatement, even though he…
Op-Eds
Now an Obama Adviser Criticizes Health Care Reform
Obama’s health-care plan is drawing criticism from one of his own advisers, Harvard University’s Martin Feldstein. In today’s Washington Post, Feldstein warns that “For…
Blog
The People’s Phone
Venezuela’s increasingly ridiculous strongman, Hugo Chavez, would be funny if not for the misery and repression he continues to impose upon his own citizens. From…
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Would Take Away 5 Important Freedoms, CNN Says; Obama Would Also Raise Taxes, End Affordable Plans, and Break Promises
CNN notes that there are “5 freedoms you’d lose in health care reform” as promoted by the Obama Administration: the freedom to choose your…
Blog
The Washington Post’s Conflicted Take on Honduras and the OAS
That the Organization of American States has squandered whatever credibility it had should be obvious to all by now — and it’s not just right…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Attack of the National Broadband Plans
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI's fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday.
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Destroys Cheap Health-Care Options, Raises Taxes, Breaks Promises
In 2008, Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. But he is now breaking that promise by…
Blog
Santacruz in Forbes: “Toxic Revenge”
In today’s Forbes, CEI Warren Brookes Fellow Silvia Santacruz talks about the lawsuit against Chevron-Texaco in Ecuador.
Blog
1+1=2
By introducing new regulations the Congress together with major airlines are discouraging us to travel. While the Congress is deciding on how to regulate the…
Blog
In Which the Case for Antitrust Action against Telecoms Weakens
New research finds that U.S. telecoms are charging, on average, ten cents less per minute than their counterparts around the world. Tell me again why…
Blog
“Farming” for dollars in the EU
Most of us knew that the European Union’s system of farm subsidies, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) gives out huge amounts to farmers in the…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Response to EPA Cover Up Increases
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI's fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in the…
Blog
Yeatman: “A Real Choice on Climate Change: Do Nothing”
In today’s RealClearWorld, CEI Energy Policy Analyst, William Yeatman, talks about international attempts at climate diplomacy. Read…
Newsletter
White House Science Czar, Catfish Imports and Gingrich’s “Real” Stimulus
Critics question the controversial beliefs of White House science adviser John Holdren. U.S. catfish producers try to block inexpensive fish imports from Vietnam. Former House…
Blog
Cold friendship
It has been almost 20 years since the end of the Cold War yet the agenda of the U.S.-Russia summit remains unchanged. In the middle…
Blog
Fishy Politics May Harm US Consumers
The various US attempts to hobble the Vietnamese farmed-catfish industry is no less underhanded. And, in order to prevent a trade war with Vietnam, it…
Blog
Obama’s “Willful Disregard of Political Oppression” by Anti-American Dictators Is Admitted by Liberal Washington Post
Obama has demanded that Honduras allow its anti-American would-be dictator, Mel Zelaya, to return to power, arguing that President Zelaya’s removal by the Honduras…
Op-Eds
What About Trade
RE: “Obama and Medvedev pledge to scale back nuclear arsenals" (Page A1, July 7). It has been almost 20 years since the end…
Blog
Church Leaders, Senators Oppose Forcing Honduras to Reinstate Ousted President and Would-Be Dictator
Honduran church leaders, and 17 U.S. Senators, are now opposing outside pressure on Honduras to reinstate the corrupt president that it ousted…
Blog
Forza Italia!
Italy’s Senate has overturned a 1987 ban on nuclear power, passed in panic after Chernobyl. This is good news for Italians, as they face…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Firsthand At the Tea Party
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI's fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in the…
Blog
Leading trade lawyer: real problems with carbon tariffs
Leading trade lawyer Gary Horlick testified yesterday on carbon tariffs before the Senate Finance Committee. As the Senate prepares an energy suppression/global warming bill,…
Blog
Obama Nominee: Corrupt Foreign Rulers Have Right to Remain in Office Until They Receive “Judicial Process”
Arturo Valenzuela, Obama’s nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State, falsely claims it was an illegal “coup” for Honduras to remove its corrupt would-be…
Blog
Igniting Agricultural Innovation
"Biotechnology applied to agriculture has enormous potential to enhance our ability to develop seeds for improved crops and for enhanced livestock to enable us to…
Blog
Antitrust Irony
Microsoft is having a tense antitrust discussion with the EU. Meanwhile, Google is readying an operating system to directly compete with Windows. Compare and contrast.
Blog
Blight Hits East Coast, Capitalism Saves the Day
There are many reasons for free-market advocates to be unhappy about current affairs. With numerous pieces of legislation being proposed to put shackles on our…
Blog
Obama: “Universal Principle” Gives Presidents the Right to Keep Ruling Even If They Violate the Law
Honduras removed its would-be dictator, President Mel Zelaya, for violating his country’s constitution by seeking to extend his term in office, and replaced him with…
Blog
Killing Bill
In today’s Washington Examiner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ran an ad where its President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue warns that the Waxman-Markey climate…
Blog
Regulation of the Day: The Price of Shrimp
The ITA has been upset for some time that a Thai shrimp exporter is selling shrimp cheaply; hungry consumers have had no complaints.
Blog
Will Obama Blackmail Honduras Into Installing Would-Be Dictator?
Obama is quite wrong to claim that the removal of Zelaya was "illegal." The Honduran president forfeited his right to rule under the Honduran Constitution.
Blog
“Obama stands with tyrants,” “Sides with Chavez, Castro against Honduran Democracy,” Newspapers Say
“Obama stands with tyrants,” writes the Washington Times. “When thousands of Iranians flooded the streets of Tehran protesting a rigged election and were…
Blog
Alexis Arguello, RIP
Three-time champion and Boxing Hall of Famer Alexis Arguello was found dead of a gunshot would this morning, at his home in Managua, Nicaragua, of…
Blog
Obama Backs Dictatorship in Honduras
Honduras removed its bullying, autocratic President after he began behaving as a dictator, and its Congress replaced him with a less power-hungry member of…
