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
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…
Newsweek
US Industrial Output To Be Worst Hit Globally by Trump Tariffs
Newsweek cited CEI’s expert on tariffs Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, previously told Newsweek: “Tariff-related shipping slowdowns will cause a regional cascade…
News Release
Economy shrinks following Trump tariffs: CEI analysis
America’s GDP shrank during the first quarter of 2025 following President Trump’s spate of trade tariffs imposed on various countries in his first 100…
Search Posts
Blog
Socialized Health Care Feels Like it is … Socialized!
Want to nationalize American health care? Just compare what it’s like to be treated in America and in Britain. Writes F. Brinley Bruton: A…
Blog
Eurocrats Push European Consolidation
Nothing horrifies the New Class of bureaucrats, intellectuals, politicians, and activists than an aroused public dedicated to defeating their plans. The Irish vote against the…
Blog
Blame Canada (arts funding)
In any list of programs that could be easily cut without much disruption -- except to a small rent-seeking elite -- is arts funding. It…
Blog
South Park’s “signs of extremist activity”
Few people have validated Saul Alinksy’s “Rule” that “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon” better than South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt…
Blog
Europe: The PC Paradise
People have a lot to say about advertising, much of it bad. Many ads are stupid, insulting, silly, nonsensical, counterproductive, etc., etc. Some are even…
Products
CEI Planet: September – October 2008
View the new Montly Planet by downloading the PDF of the issue. Below you’ll find previews of the articles in this issue:…
Blog
Loose Money Follies
The Federal Reserve has been keeping interest rates low and inflating the currency, to bail out irresponsible people who’ve borrowed more than they can afford, and encourage…
Blog
War in Georgia Goes Cyber
A follow-up to Hans Bader’s informative post on the Russia-Georgia war: Ars reports that the war is going on in cyberspace as well.
Op-Eds
The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Deserves a Vote
Free trade is in trouble, as protectionist politicians in the U.S. and elsewhere demagogue against it. Especially egregious is the U.S. Congress’s decision to delay—indefinitely—voting…
Blog
Is Green Fanaticism on its Way Out?
Maybe so. At least, that’s what Alice Thomson argues in the Times of London: Julie Burchill can’t stand them. According to her new book,…
Newsletter
Whole Foods Merger, Ethanol’s Impact and Health Savings Accounts
A federal court calls into question the recent merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats natural food stores. South Asian leaders meet to discuss food…
Newsletter
Ethanol’s Sins, Menthol Cigarettes and Property Rights
USA Today details the troubling side effects of using corn-based ethanol as an auto fuel. Legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration authority over…
Op-Eds
Bailing Out Kelo
Of all the unintended consequences of the housing bill that passed the House on Wednesday, the most ironic and far-reaching may be this:…
Newsletter
Online Gambling, Fannie Mae Bailout and WTO
Congressman Barney Frank sponsors legislation to legalize online gambling. President Bush endorses the taxpayer bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. India raises…
Blog
Smoking: A Religious Rite?
It’s a sign of the times. To get around indoor smoking bans, Dutch smokers are joining “The Only and Universal Smokers Church of God,”…
Newsletter
Expensive Regulations, Fannie Mae Bailout and Baseball Stadiums
Americans for Tax Reform marks the annual “Cost of Government Day.” Plans to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue mortgage companies Fannie Mae and…
Citation
The $50 Billion Bipartisan AIDS Boondoggle
Newsletter
Banking Crisis, Globalization and Internet Poker
Federal officials charge that a letter from Sen. Chuck Schumer sparked the run on deposits that triggered the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history this…
Blog
Free Trade Brings Hope and Prosperity, Transforms Lives
There’s a story in the Washington Post today about how freer trade lifted millions of people out of poverty in Colombia, especially in the…
Citation
the Benefits of the Columbian Free Trade Agreement
News Release
Free Trade with Colombia Deserves a Vote
Congress should stop stalling and move quickly to approve the pending free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia, according to a…
Study
The United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Deserves a Vote
Sound trade and foreign policy is being held hostage to politics.
Newsletter
Global Warming, Farm Protests and Homelessness
The Senate debates global warming legislation sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA). The Argentinian government faces widespread protests from farmers. The…
Op-Eds
Science benefits from attracting more skilled foreign workers
Sir, Bob Greifeld (“America cannot afford to drive away talent”, May 30) articulates many economic reasons for increasing the number of annually issued H-1B…
Newsletter
Vaclav Klaus, Fingerprint Registration and Free Trade
The Competitive Enterprise Institute publishes a new book by Czech president Václav Klaus on the future of environmental policy. The Senate Banking Committee approves a…
News Release
Farm Bill Deserves a Veto
The Competitive Enterprise Institute applauds Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer’s announcement yesterday that President Bush will veto the Farm Bill that the House-Senate conference…
Newsletter
Net Neutrality, Poultry Wars and Disaster Insurance
The House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee holds a hearing on proposed rules for “net neutrality.” The European Union refuses to lift a ban on the…
Newsletter
Bush’s Climate Plan, Carcinogens in Plastic and Free Trade
President Bush outlines a new plan for national climate policy. A new study raises concerns about a connection between plastics and cancer. Democratic leaders in…
Op-Eds
The Catch-22 of Immigration Reform
The SAVE Act and the New Employment Verification Act pose threats to American workers and to nationsl security.
Op-Eds
No right to impose carbon tariffs
A new argument has emerged among policymakers, economists and trade activists seeking regulatory or direct taxes on Canadians in the name of "global warming." The…
Blog
How Al Gore Fostered Famine, Food Riots, and Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Ethanol subsidies have led to hunger and food riots across the world, by diverting critical farmland from food production to fuel production. While in…
Blog
Food Riots Spread in Haiti, and Across the World, Fueled by Ethanol Mandates
Food rioting has spread in Haiti, endangering the government of its “U.S.-backed president.” “A desperate appeal from the president Wednesday failed to restore order…
Newsletter
Global Health Threats, Foreclosure Relief and Food Riots
Members of Congress hear testimony on whether global warming will become a threat to human health. Senators agree on a foreclosure relief plan for mortgage…
Newsletter
China Under Fire, Free Trade and High Gas Prices
Demonstrators disrupt the Olympic torch ceremony in Paris to protest China’s human rights record. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi objects to the U.S.-Colombia trade agreement negotiated…
Newsletter
Al Gore’s Ads, Cultural Diversity and the Farm Bill
Al Gore launches a $300 million ad campaign to promote his global warming agenda. The Maryland legislature moves to mandate “cultural diversity” programs at all…
Blog
Crazy Immigration Rules Revisited
Earlier, I wrote about how immigration authorities were poised to deport Saman Kareem Ahmad because he belonged to a group that rose up against Iraqi dictator Saddam…
Blog
Some things are supposed to be private….
Anti-biotechnology activists managed to leverage sunshine laws in Europe to get the EU government to release research information that was supposed to be confidential.
Newsletter
Recession, Trade and Home Ownership
White House advisors cite the slowing economy as part of their call for tighter regulation of mortgage lenders. U.S. exports…
Blog
Danish Government Pays Scientists to Dispute Lomborg
The Danish Energy Department paid a researcher to promote their climate policy strategy in debates with Bjørn Lomborg. Peter Laut billed about 500 hours…
Blog
Britain Cares for Animals Better than Humans
Britain’s National Health System is notoriously underfunded. The government makes ends meet by denying service. The elderly don’t get transplants. People pull their own teeth.
News Release
Supreme Court Rulings Good for Investors
Washington, D.C., February 20, 2008—The Supreme Court this session has made two important decisions that will greatly benefit investors. Both today’s ruling in LaRue v.
Newsletter
CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News 1. INTERNATIONAL President Bush receives praise for public health aid from crowds on his trip to Africa. CEI Expert Available…
Blog
Eco-Terrorism leading Britain to decrease transparency
Repeated sabotage attacks by eco-terrorists in Britain have ruined several years’ worth of field trials of plants bred with molecular plant breeding methods. Now the…
Op-Eds
Stay Poor
It's bad enough when European and American politicians desperate to "do something" about global warming appear willing to sacrifice economic growth in their own…
Op-Eds
Transforming Korean Peninsula
The Bush administration’s attention is focused on the Middle East, but the Korean Peninsula also requires attention. The impending inauguration of conservative Lee Myung-bak,…
Op-Eds
Trade Makes Intellectual Pursuits Possible
Many opponents of free trade like to appeal to a higher ideal. They see material progress as vapid and unimportant. But what about intellectual…
Op-Eds
What Race to the Bottom?
Free trade creates new opportunities, jobs, and value for consumers. Now will someone please tell Congress? As it begins its new session, Congress’s agenda…
Op-Eds
Discontinue Subsidies
Regarding “Family farming Ladue” (Jan. 14): U.S. farm subsidies are so corrupt, so distorting and so harmful to poor Americans that they should be…
Op-Eds
Fix H1-B Visa Program
The Dec. 11 story “Immigrants wait years for green cards” accurately describes a tragic situation compounded by anfractuous immigration laws and bad public policy.
Blog
The Cuddly Europeans Threaten Climate Penalties
The Europeans may harp on climate change, but the U.S. actually has done better at slowing emissions growth without ratifying the Kyoto protocol. No matter.
