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
At minimum, keep the de minimis import exemption
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has just issued its recommendations for China policy. One of them is to eliminate the de minimis…
Blog
Tariffs are lousy revenue generators
President-elect Donald Trump has proposed cutting income taxes and raising tariffs to replace some of the revenue. Economists of all political stripes have been…
News Release
Boeing machinists strike ends, but union should face financial reality
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers in Seattle have ended their strike, as members approved a company pay raise offer. CEI labor policy…
Search Posts
Newsletter
Hemispheric Diplomacy, Greenhouse Gases and Anti-Tax Protests
President Obama attends the Summit of the Americas with other leaders from North and South America. The Environmental Protection Agency declares greenhouse gases to be…
Op-Eds
Treaty Supported by State Nominee Coddles Pirates
Quin Hillyer is right to criticize Obama’s nomination of Harold Koh to be chief counsel for the State Department. Koh’s appointment would make…
Blog
Whither Hemispheric Trade?
In his post-Summit of the Americas remarks in Trinidad and Tobago today, President Obama stated his administration’s commitment to improving relations with countries around the…
Blog
Tech is Key in Ideas Battle
Earlier today, Competitive Enterprise Institute President Fred Smith delivered an informative but lively, entertaining speech about the role of NGOs. The speech was delivered at…
Blog
The Liberal War on Science
Christina Hoff Sommers writes about a looming liberal war on science. Based on a campaign promise Obama made to feminist groups in October…
Blog
We Wouldn’t Have Teaparties If It Wasn’t For Rentseeking
Those who say we tried the free market and it failed should research the history of the Boston Tea Party a little. We didn’t even…
Blog
Federalism and Opposition to Illegal Immigration Are Signs of Subversion, Obama Administration Claims
The Obama Administration’s Department of Homeland Security has developed new profiles of potential terrorists. Its definition of “right-wing extremism” is so ridiculously broad that…
Blog
Sacrificing Safety and Freedom for “International Law”
Piracy has flourished in the crucial shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia partly due to a treaty that the U.S. has not…
Blog
Supreme Inconsistency on Foreign Law
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says that American courts should look more to foreign court rulings in interpreting our Constitution. But she herself does so…
Blog
Liability Gone Haywire Down Under
An 82-year-old Australian grandmother says she is prepared to go to jail rather than pay a A$1-million (US$731,000) bill to clean up toxic chemicals…
Blog
LOST to Pirates
The celebrations and congratulations over the U.S. Navy’s rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips are well deserved and proper all around. Yet even after the…
Blog
Liberal Bootlicking
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently visited Cuba and licked Casto’s boots, calling him an “inspiring” visionary and an “amazing human being.”…
Blog
One Down, Six to Go!
Oh the Worries of Our Modern Malthusians! In Washington this week, the Anarctica and Arctic Councils met for…
Newsletter
Green Tariffs, Foreign Aid and The End of Environmentalism
India warns the U.S. and EU not to enact “green” tariffs on products that create carbon dioxide emissions. President Obama’s foreign aid policy receives criticism…
Blog
India calls carbon tariffs protectionist
At the Bonn, Germany, UN meetings on global warming issues, India urged rich countries not to use “green” protectionism by imposing carbon tariffs on…
Blog
The Growing Chorus against Foreign Aid
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady takes on the Obama administration’s approach to foreign aid, which, she argues, amounts merely to maintaining…
Blog
That G20 Communique
Yesterday’s communiqué from the leaders of the G20 – a motley collection of democracies and dictatorships – has some good points, but in general…
Newsletter
G20 Stimulus, A Plan for Carbon Dioxide and Mark-to-Market Reforms
World leaders pledge to spend an additional $1 trillion to stimulate the global economy. Global warming activists call for policies to lower the concentration of…
Newsletter
Cancer Drugs, Voting Rights and Cap and Trade Controversy
Author Virginia Postrel details her successful battle against breast cancer. The Justice Department re-considers whether the proposed D.C. voting rights bill is constitutional. States with…
Blog
Obama Follows in Hoover’s Footsteps
During the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover damaged the economy, and impoverished the American people, with costly, artificial attempts to stimulate the economy through…
Blog
Energy bill — “first shot” in carbon trade war?
In the wake of the release of the Waxman-Markey energy bill, many commenters have pointed to the drastic restrictions on domestic energy use to…
Blog
“Robbery of the American People”
“Nobel Prize-winning liberal economist Joseph Stiglitz points out that the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plan to have the government subsidize investments in ‘toxic assets’ creates…
Blog
Capitalist-David rally versus Goliath-protests for Socialism
During the G20 summit something like 40,000 plus protesters slated to descend upon London. Of that number, there is a small but growing and…
Blog
Cap-and-trade and carbon tariffs — the economic downside
Today the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal takes a hard look at some of the negative economic consequences of touted cap-and-trade programs…
Blog
Torture Caused Bogus Orange Alerts
Many of those bogus orange alerts that inconvenienced and alarmed travelers since 9/11 had an unsavory source: torture. The Bush Administration, with the tacit…
Blog
Policymakers’ letter asks tough questions re carbon tariffs
Yesterday Ranking Members of both two House committees and two subcommittees wrote to the new U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and asked him to…
Newsletter
A Reverse Tea Party, Geithner’s Insurance Plan and Trade War with Mexico
Environmental activists pour bottled water into Boston Harbor to protest “water privatization.” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner proposes a vast expansion of federal regulation of financial…
Op-Eds
Obama’s China Syndrome
It is looking less and less likely that President Obama will be able to institute his vaunted cap-and-trade scheme for greenhouse gas…
Blog
Can he terminate protectionism?
It seemed like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t have guts, despite his super-macho screen image. Yesterday, however, he wrote to members of the California…
Blog
Losing talent in these perilous times
We’re beginning to see the talent exodus from TARP-funded financial institutions. Yesterday in an op-ed Jake DeSantis of AIG-Financial Products wrote his “resignation letter”…
Blog
Obama’s Policies Are “A Road to Hell,” European Leader Says
“The president of the European Union on Wednesday slammed U.S. plans to spend its way out of recession as ‘a road to hell.’…
Newsletter
Carbon Tariffs, Union Organizing and Geithner’s Toxic Plan
The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on the impact of global warming on international trade. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announces that he…
Blog
Obama for global financial governance?
With the G-20 meeting looming in the midst of a worldwide recession, President Barack Obama sent an essay published today in about 30 newspapers…
News Release
Global Warming Laws Could Sabotage Free Trade
Today members of the House Ways and Means Committee gathered for a hearing on how future legislation on global warming could end up affecting…
Blog
Human Achievement Hour
This week CEI announced the creation of Human Achievement Hour (HAH) to be celebrated at 8:30pm on March 28th 2009 (the same time and…
Blog
Alarmists turn blind eye to global warming benefits–again
Tomorrow, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the national security threats from melting Arctic ice. Greenwire (subscription required), the Online environmental news…
Citation
Herbert Obama: Obama’s protectionism and tax increases compared to Herbert Hoover’s
Blog
Will talent flee to the City?
A different take on possible effects of lawmakers’ rabble-rousing on TARP bonuses. Jeffrey Goldfarb at breakingviews.com says that driving out talented financial…
Blog
NYT soft-balls trade protectionism
A New York Times editorial today urges the Obama Administration to take a stronger role in supporting open trade, more specifically, to reinstate the…
Blog
A Global Green New Deal – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Showing that he believes Al Gore’s typical misunderstanding that the Chinese word for crisis is made up of the characters for threat and opportunity (…
Blog
Show Your Work!
Fiona Harvey of the FT is one of the better journalists covering the environmental beat, but I’m afraid that is a bit like saying that…
Blog
Ron Kirk confirmed as USTR — vowed trade “enforcement”
The U.S. has a new U.S. Trade Representative — former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk. Kirk was confirmed by the Senate today in a 92-5…
Blog
Tit-for-tat: Tariffs and trucks
It’s no empty threat — Mexico will be slapping high tariffs on almost one hundred U.S. products beginning tomorrow, according to its economy minister. …
Blog
More on carbon tariffs
For more on the insanity of carbon tariffs, there’s an excellent 2008 article by the National Post’s Terence Corcoran appropriately titled “Blowing up the…
Blog
Carbon tariffs quid pro quo?
Just as the World Bank put out a report on increased trade protectionism in the world, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu…
Newsletter
Beach House Bailout, Voting Rights and Trade War with Mexico
Congress to likely consider a controversial plan for taxpayers to subsidize disaster insurance in risk-prone states. Attorney General Eric Holder keeps quiet about the recent…
Blog
Mexico wants to keep on trucking
Mexico said it would impose tariffs on about 90 U.S. exports in retaliation for a recent bill that violates the North America Free Trade…
Op-Eds
Silvia’s Ecuador Trip Diary: Entry Two
The conference began with remarks from Gustavo Pinto, president of the Geologists Association, who commented on the need to develop mining in mineral-rich Ecuador,…
Blog
Trade and special interests
A National Review Online editorial today takes President Obama to task for catering to Democratic special interests opposed to free trade. The…
Blog
Obama Insults America’s Allies, Endangers Economy
Not content with endangering the economy by pushing through $8 trillion in bailouts and welfare, Obama has now insulted the…
Blog
Remaining ‘Swiss’ No Longer An Option
In a running theme, I again cover the topic of the U.S. government’s heavy-handed dealings with swiss…
Blog
Obama Administration’s trade agenda released
According to President Obama’s 2009 Trade Policy Agenda, trade policy in his Administration will be used to promote “social accountability” and make…
Blog
Dambisa Moyo: Zambian Author Takes on Foreign Aid
The celebrity parade calling for more foreign aid to poor countries has become so ubiquitous — and accepted — these days that critiques of it…
Blog
More on Environmental Policies and Protectionism
Marlo made three interesting arguments yesterday contending that cap-and-trade would generate protectionist outcomes. I want to add another, pervasive, yet oft-neglected reason.
Blog
Is cap-and-trade inherently protectionist?
Yes, for three reasons. (1) Companies in carbon-constrained countries will demand carbon tariffs to “level the playing field” vis-a-vis firms in non-carbon constrained countries. (2)…
Blog
Gold is King Among Investors
Gold prices are skyrocketing—recently closing at over $1,000 an ounce, the highest in almost a year—while inflation fears continue rising and the dollar weakens. This…
Blog
More protectionism on the horizon?
Good article today by Bloomberg columnist Michael Sesit, who lays out the protectionist actions many countries are taking in the midst of…
Blog
UBS agrees to deal with the devil
I revoke my previous apology to the Swiss, and reiterate my previous disapproval. As evidenced by the…
Blog
Obama in Canada — where U.S. protectionism is an issue
President Obama is in Canada today to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a range of issues – chief among…
Blog
Fraud in More Ways Than One
The news of the federal fraud charges against billionaire Texan financier Sir Allen Stanford (he got the knighthood from his dual citizenship from Antigua)…
Blog
Craft Brewers leeched by Oregon Regulators
Why legislators think it is a good idea to put their heels on the neck of the most productive industries is beyond me. Perhaps following…
Blog
The Juche Weather Idea
North Korea’s official propaganda organ, the Korea Central News Agency, reveals the real cause of global warming: The snow in the area of Jong…
News Release
Statement on Judd Gregg Withdrawal as Obama Commerce Secretary Nominee
Statement on Judd Gregg Withdrawal as Obama Commerce Secretary Nominee Statement by Wayne Crews, Vice President of Policy for the…
Blog
European Environment Agency–stuck in a mental rut
In a report titled “Beyond Transport Policy,” the European Environment Agency (EEA) bemoans the fact that European transport sector CO2 emissions increased by 26% during…
Blog
Environmental Policies Kill – Again!
One of the main themes of my book, The Really Inconvenient Truths, is that misguided environmental policies often lead to humanitarian and environmental disaster.
Blog
The Prince and the Paupers
I still regard myself as a loyal subject of Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, but it’s hard not to come over all Cromwellian when…
Blog
Tilting at Food Safety Windmills
Unfortunately, as long as the world's food production system continues to be highly decentralized and fragmented, there will continue to be foodborne illness outbreaks like…
Op-Eds
Protectionism is the embrace of fear, the rejection of hope
In the context of America’s $17-trillion economy, $12-trillion national debt and $4-trillion federal budget, a few billion dollars worth of international trade doesn’t sound…
Blog
Support for Stimulus Collapses Internationally
Rasmussen reports that support for the borrow-and-spend plan is falling rapidly: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the…
Newsletter
Stimulus Trade Wars, Smart Grids and Bank Nationalization
Lawmakers propose applying a “buy American” restriction to projects funded by the economic stimulus package. Energy companies lobby for subsidies for a national “smart” electrical…
Blog
Stimulus Plan Repeats Mistakes That Spawned Great Depression
The European Union is threatening a trade war over provisions in the $800 billion “stimulus” package backed by Obama and Congressional leaders. The Great…
Blog
Liveblog of Al Gore Climate Hearing
No TV station seems to be covering this live, but you can watch here. Kerry in his introduction says “if there was a…
Blog
When the Irreversible Effects Meet the Immovable Policy
Apparently, global warming is now irreversible. Or, at least, it is if you don’t consider any of the policy options that might, you know,…
Blog
Stimulus to Hunger
Great. Now USDA head Tom Vilsack is saying the US ethanol industry needs to be protected in the borrow-and-spend bill, and beyond:…
News Release
CEI Unveils Agenda for Congress
Washington, D.C., January 26, 2009—With the incoming Obama administration and the opening of the new Congress, the House and Senate are…
Blog
Waste Not, Want Not … Or Else!
The British government is looking after its people, in a motherly sort of way. It plans to send government officials door-to-door to tell people not to…
Blog
The Daddy Knows Best Inaugural Address
Fatal conceit alert! Here’s the text of the Inaugural Address, with some comments from your humble servant. For everywhere we look, there is work…
Blog
Britain Prays for Obama Miracle
With a trillion dollar national debt, a currency crisis and their own bank bailout having conclusively failed, Britain is on the edge of bankruptcy. That…
National Association of Manufacturers
Obama and the Keynesian Revival
The National Association of Manufacturers discusses Iain Murray's National Review article on Obama's Keyenesian revival. Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute makes…
Blog
Ecuador’s Mining Law and the 70% WFT
Ecuador, the only Latin American country that lacks large-scale mining operations, is passing a new mining law that will lift a six-month ban on mining…
Blog
Elephantine Mistake
In the 80s and 90s, Zimbabwean elephant management was a magnificent illustration of how property rights and markets combine to protect and even…
Blog
The Bureaucratic Mind at Work
In an increasingly rare example of investigative journalism, the UK Times finds a ‘ghost bus’ designed to spare ministers’ blushe. The bus, which is…
Blog
Amazing How Many People in Europe are Sick
Europe has a very generous social welfare system--basically, just say you aren't feeling quite right, and you get paid. Surprise, surprise ... people take advantage…
Blog
Soderbergh: Historically Illiterate or Willfully Ignorant?
In a new interview, Steven Soderbergh, the incredibly overrated Hollywood director whose new paean to the disgusting Che Guevara is getting a lot…
Blog
Thousands Die After Zimbabwe Dictator Nationalizes Water Systems
Thousands of people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe after the country’s left-wing dictator Robert Mugabe nationalized municipal water systems to seize their revenue,…
Blog
Nationalized Health Care: Growing the Nanny State
Advocates of the Nanny State have long been with us. What was Prohibition but an early manifestation of government treating everyone as children to protect…
Blog
The EU Propaganda Machine
Government propaganda is always irritating, especially because that means politicians are taxing citizens to pay for a snow job for those same citizens. The European…
Blog
More Money For Your Mattress
America's biggest maker of mattress springs has been hard at work...in Washington. After all that work, the Department of Commerce is in bed with the…
Blog
On Stalin’s Endurance
In a recent poll conducted in Russia on who is the “greatest” Russian ever, Joseph Stalin came in third (after Alexander Nevsky, who repelled…
Blog
Remember, the Government Wants to Manage Your Health Care!
Just think how wonderful it would be if government guaranteed everyone health care. Just like in Great Britain! Just ask Lynne Neilson what she thinks…
National Association of Manufacturers
15 Years of NAFTA
Products
CEI Planet: January – February 2009
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue: From The…
Blog
Gold Is Not the Enemy – Poverty Is
National Geographic magazine has published an article titled The Price of Gold focusing on the high price of gold and the…
American Spectator
The Myth of Buying Local
Buying local has always been a popular sentiment, but the movement has picked up steam in recent years. Especially this holiday season, consumers are being…
Blog
Ron Kirk’s Texas origins may temper trade stance
Selecting former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative sends a signal that perhaps President-elect Obama will temper his anti-trade…
Blog
Killing Without the Smile
The National Health Service loves to save money. Too bad that means denying essential medical care and killing patients. But what’s a bureaucracy for? The…
Blog
How Do Regulations Stack Up as a Small Firm Grows?
Tomorrow, electric utilities and green groups team up at the National Press Club to ask for billions of new spending on what they term energy…
Blog
Solis: Could have been worse…but not much
According to the Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis’s voting…
Blog
China’s Economic “Boost”
Recently, the Chinese government released a plan to “boost” the Chinese money supply and stimulate the economy. Unlike Americans, people in China actually save…
Blog
EU Climate Agreement All Smoke and Mirrors
So if the EU has just put together an agreement to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020, why are the climate alarmist groups calling it…
