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
Reports of American manufacturing’s death are greatly exaggerated
In an op-ed being syndicated by InsideSources, I take on one of the most persistent myths in politics: that American manufacturing is in decline.
Op-Eds
American Manufacturing Does Well Without Washington
The purported decline and fall of American manufacturing is a bipartisan obsession. Despite all their differences, Republican and Democratic politicians favor similar policies to restore…
The Washington Times
Retail industry projects surge in post-Christmas regifting and returns
The Washington Times quoted CEI’s expert on regifting in the retail industry The problem is that regifting ‘can suggest a certain laziness on the part…
Search Posts
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China Mocks U.S. Over Subsidy Investigation
An update to Friday’s post: Bloomberg (and the The New York Times) reported this weekend on China’s response to U.S. accusations…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Facebook in Privacy Breach: “Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting…
Blog
A Potentially Bold Fiscal Policy Experiment in U.K.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron plans to cut 192 independent government agencies in an…
Blog
“Illegal” Green Energy Subsidies
In a move that surprised no one, The New York Times reported today that the U.S. agreed to go ahead and formally investigate…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
Tech: Putting the squeeze on the broadband copper robbers: “When we think of tech crime, we tend to imagine hackers cooking up exploits…
Blog
Why Trade and War Are Different
Over at the American Spectator's AmspecBlog, I highlight why real wars and trade wars are very, very different…
Blog
Morning Media Summary
The following is a roundup of the morning’s media. We hope you will make a daily stop at Open Market to read the latest updates.
Blog
Betancourt: Revolutions Not So Nice
After six years in FARC captivity deep in Colombia’s jungle, Ingrid Betancourt is over revolution and ready for cake. From the NPR story…
Blog
Stimulus Money Went to Prisoners and Dead People
17,000 prison inmates received checks courtesy of the $800 billion stimulus package, notes the Associated Press. $18 million in checks went to dead…
Blog
CEI Weekly: United Auto Workers Shut Down GM Plant
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI staff. This week features Vincent Vernuccio's October 1st interview on Fox Business' Varney &…
Blog
CEI Podcast – October 7, 2010: Trade, Jobs, and Korea
CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith talks about the EU-Korea free trade agreement that takes effect next year, and why the US-Korea FTA stalled, to the…
Blog
Skilled Immigrants: More, Please
For every H-1B position requested, U.S. technology firms increase their employment by five workers. The government's artificial limit on skilled immigration is prolonging the recession.
Blog
EU-Korea Trade Pact Will Hurt U.S. Without its Own FTA
As the European Union signs a trade pact with South Korea, U.S. manufacturers are calling on policymakers to approve the U.S.-Korea Free Trade…
Blog
Job Losses and Productivity Gains
I came across this chart tracking U.S. manufacturing jobs and U.S. productivity over the past 38 years (posted yesterday by Mark Perry). It’s worth…
Citation
No Chickening Out on Trade Retaliation
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Take a Look at U.S. Tariffs – They Raise Costs and Restrict Choice
With so much focus on “unfair” trade vis-à-vis U.S. trade partners, especially China, it’s sometimes sobering to look at protectionist U.S. policies that restrict…
Blog
New EPA Rules Will Cost More than 800,000 Jobs
New EPA rules will cost more than 800,000 jobs, probably far more, according to a newly released congressional report. That includes the EPA’s…
Blog
No Chickening Out on Trade Retaliation
Trade relations between the U.S. and China are heating up, with both countries bringing antidumping charges against the other — some in retaliation for earlier…
Blog
Canada’s Green Energy and Jobs Programs Butt Up Against WTO Rules, says Japan
Do green energy and green jobs mandates run counter to World Trade Organization rules? Japan says “yes” in relation to Canada’s program for renewable…
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 6–Berlin, Germany
One of the teachers at the recently-completed Language of Liberty camps was fond of telling students a certain joke: “Do you know what the…
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 5–Sulejow, Poland
When we left Portugal for the Language of Liberty camp in Poland, we left a wine country for a vodka country. At the supermarket near…
Blog
Tricks Against Trade
Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch is up to its tricks against trade again. Noted for its past expertise in destroying the Seattle WTO negotiations, the…
Newsletter
Creating High-Tech Jobs, John McCain and the Greens, Free Market Scholarships
Ryan Young and Ryan Radia discuss how to create high-tech jobs. Myron Ebell is skeptical that John McCain will return to supporting the environmentalist agenda.
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 4–Sulejow, Poland
On our way to the Language of Liberty campsite in Sulejow, Poland, we were told that religion is the greatest antidote to government power. Our…
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 3–Porto, Portugal
Some things at the Porto Language of Liberty camp are lost in translation. One problem is political labels. They call us “liberals,” meaning classical liberals.
Blog
America Declines in Property Rights, Rule of Law
The World Economic Forum says that property rights are deteriorating in the United States, to the point where America ranks behind third-world countries…
Blog
CEI Podcast: Alex Nowrasteh on Birthright Citizenship
In the latest CEI Podcast, Alex Nowrasteh discusses birthright citizenship.
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 2–Porto, Portugal
The Portuguese Constitution guarantees the provision of many social services, including free health care. The students at the Porto Language of Liberty camp remind us…
Blog
Obama Proposes $50 Billion More in Wasteful Deficit Spending
President Obama has proposed $50 billion more in deficit spending after his original $800 billion stimulus package…
Blog
CEI in Europe: Travelblog 1–Porto, Portugal
On the plane to Lisbon—on our way to our first Language of Liberty camp—I watched the first half of the unwatchable Prince of Persia. Alfred…
Blog
Unemployment Jumps to 9.6%, 54,000 More Jobs Lost
Unemployment went back up to 9.6%, as the nation shed 54,000 jobs in August. Yet Obama calls this “Recovery Summer.” This is…
Blog
Record Federal Spending Increase Due to Wasteful Spending Like the Failed Stimulus Package
Federal domestic spending increased by a record 16 percent this year, thanks to wasteful spending by the Obama administration, such as its “huge economic…
Newsletter
CEI Weekly: Post-Spill Moratorium Worse than the Spill
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…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Post-Spill Moratorium Worse than the Spill
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Ben Lieberman's op-ed, criticizing the deleterious effects of the oil-spill…
Blog
More Mercantilist Claptrap
No wonder people are confused about the trade issue when they read mercantilist articles like the front-pager by Howard Schneider in the Washington Post…
Blog
Sugar in the News Again
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s September 2010 issue of its magazine, “Amber Waves,” has an excellent article on the U.S. domestic sugar program –…
Blog
CEI Weekly: The Union Pension Bailout
CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Vincent Vernuccio's appearance on Fox Business to discuss the multi-billion-dollar…
Blog
A Full-Court Press on Trade? Not Likely
Today’s Washington Times has a lengthy article on the Obama Administration’s trade agenda vis-à-vis the stalled free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 148: Cutting Grass in Cemeteries
In the world of regulation, no good deed goes unpunished.
Blog
Political Pessimism, Human Optimism
If you're despairing over the state of the world, the data are a wonderful cure for pessimism.
Blog
Mexico’s Retaliation — A Good Idea?
Cato’s Dan Ikenson posted today in favor of the trade retaliation measures announced by Mexico in response to the U.S. refusal to open its…
Blog
Government Spends Billions Bailing Out Foreign Firms and Countries, and Replacing American Jobs With Foreign Green Jobs
Our government spent as much money bailing out foreign firms as some countries spent on stabilizing their entire financial system. Much of the money…
Blog
Government-Sanctioned Lying and Reparations Increase National Debt: The Pigford Class Action
There are only 36,697 black farmers in the entire country, but in a class-action lawsuit, more than 86,000 African-Americans claimed to have suffered…
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Oh, the Horror! Budget Cuts Mean Pampered Artists Get Less Government Money to Insult Taxpayers
Thanks to budget cuts under England’s new Conservative coalition government, “London may no longer be ‘a beacon for controversial pieces’ such as last year’s…
Blog
Obama Justice Department Uses Americans with Disabilities Act to Harm the Disabled, Risk Lives, and Undermine Safety
“Amazon.com . . . tried to sell a talking Kindle reader, but” the Justice Department “said it couldn’t because the button to make the…
Blog
131,000 Jobs Lost in July; Obama Aide Abandons Ship; Economists Criticize Obama; More Bailouts
“Non-farm job losses hit 131,000 in July,” on top of a loss of 97,000 jobs in May and June. Another Obama economic advisor is…
Blog
Manuel “Muso” Ayau RIP
Manuel Ayau, known by his many friends and admirers as “Muso,” passed away early this morning, in his native Guatemala — a country he loved and…
Blog
Missouri Voters Overwhelmingly Reject ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate in Referendum
“Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama’s administration and giving Republicans their first political…
Blog
854,000 People Have Top-Secret Security Clearances; Huge, Politically-Correct Security Apparatus Expands
The Washington Post reports that 854,000 people have top-secret security clearances. America’s security apparatus is huge and incredibly costly. Despite all these resources,…
Blog
Senate Passes Financial “Reform” That Leaves Corrupt Bailout Recipients Unreformed, While Harming the Public
Yesterday, the Senate passed a so-called financial reform bill by a vote of 60-to-38, making it all but certain to become law. The bill…
