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
Free the Economy podcast: Tariffs, tax cuts, and trustees with Dominic Pino
In this week’s episode we cover retirement investing, pivoting to India for global trade, new housing on federal land, and priorities…

The Hill
Canada should call Trump’s bluff and drop all of its tariffs
We now appear to be in a full-fledged trade war with our closest ally and neighbor. Canada — so deeply integrated into…

National Review
Trump Transition at FTC Is No Reagan Revolution
Don’t call it a “comeback.” Those hoping for a Reagan-era-like return to economic sanity or regulatory humility in antitrust at the Federal Trade Commission…
Search Posts
Citation
Transportation Security Agency workers in Illinois, elsewhere lose union
Competitive Enterprise Institute labor policy expert Sean Higgins said the agency claimed there were problems of waste and abuse with the practice…
DC Journal
Point: Let Free Trade Work Its Magic
Tariff advocates have three main arguments. One, they raise revenue. Two, they revive domestic industries. And three, they are a diplomatic negotiating tool. Not only do…
News Release
Trump Tariffs on Canada and Mexico bad for the economy, businesses, American trade deal integrity
President Trump plans to make his envisioned 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico go into effect on March 4, to the detriment of the…
Blog
We’re out of the Paris Agreement—again! How Trump can make it stick
On Inauguration Day (January 20, 2025), President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, the global climate treaty negotiated by the…
News Release
Delays and higher consumer prices incoming from US trade conflict with China: CEI analysis
President Trump’s ten percent tariffs on Chinese goods have been met with retaliatory tariffs by Beijing, indicating a trade war has begun. CEI’s senior economist…
Blog
Trump’s unilateral tariffs: Time for Congress to do its job
Over the weekend, President Trump announced 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico, though Canadian energy imports will face a lower 10 percent rate. He…