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.
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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…

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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…

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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…
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Kemp: Clean Up the Planet with Sound Science: The Earth Day Crowd Has It All Wrong
Is mankind the greatest threat to the earth, as Vice President Gore and Greenpeace would have us believe, or the best hope for stewardship?…
News Release
EPA Issues Worst Case Scenario Regulations
Washington, DC, April 26 – “Congress scored only a limited victory for public safety by ensuring that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not…
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From Working Girl to Madam: Julia Roberts Procures for the Trial Lawyers
Julia Roberts played a working gal in her first motion picture hit, Pretty Woman. Her career appears to have reached new heights with her…
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You’ve Got Cancer!
Ladies, Don’t Be Fooled By Those Fear-Mongering E-mails Admit it. You’re deep into the mid-afternoon lull when you hear that carol of…
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The Green Man’s Burden
Call it a new noblesse oblige or the Green Man’s Burden. Whatever you call it, the desire of privileged western-world activists to keep poor,…
Study
Earth Report 2000
Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet Date: 1999 Edited by: Ronald Bailey Published by: McGraw-Hill Earth Report 2000 is a…
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No: Well-Intentioned Boycotts Actually Make the Climb out of Grinding Poverty Even More Difficult
Someone once noted that the law was amazingly equitable – it forbids both the king and the pauper to sleep beneath the bridge! And…
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Africans Have Different Priorities: Ebere Akobundu Op-Ed in the International Herald Tribune
Published in the International Herald Tribune Published in the International Herald Tribune November 26, 1999 Priorities need to…
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More Sorry Than Safe
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Stop Banking on Failure: A Half Century Wasted at the World Bank
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The IMF Beyond Its Time
Recent scandals involving the International Monetary R Fund have prompted Congress to seek ways to reform the IMF’s lending practices. Rather than applying another bandage…
Op-Eds
Third Way Route Jams Trade: Kemp Op-Ed in Financial Times
There is an international movement hard at work to concentrate power over economic decision-making–public, private, and across national boundaries–in a “global elite” that is unaccountable…
News Release
EPA to Release Data on Worst Case Scenarios
Washington, DC, July 20, 1999 – “Unless the House of Representatives acts immediately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will soon release information that essentially…
Study
The Data Access Law: Promoting Accountability and Privacy
With the passage of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, our society decided to promote government transparency: what is done in government’s name…
Study
The Data Access Law: Decreasing Secret Science While Increasing Accountability
As the federal bureaucracy grows and Congress delegates more of its power to the agencies, the need for agency accountability increases. In October…
Study
Alternative to Kyoto Protocol Concedes Too Much
View Full Document as PDF The Energy and Climate Policy Act of 1999, S. 882, has been introduced as an alternative…
Study
The Clean Air Act’s Federal Terrorist Assistance Program
View Full Document as PDF In recent years the United States has experienced the horrors of the terrorist attack of a…
News Release
CEI Blasts EPA’s “Worst Case Scenario” Info Release: Proposed Amendment Can Deter Terrorists, Extremists Groups Want I
Washington, DC, May 6, 1999 – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee may consider an amendment today to the federal Clean Air Act…
News Release
CEI Blasts EPA’s “Worst Case Scenario” Info Release: Proposed Amendment Can Deter Terrorists, Extremists Groups Want I
Washington, DC, May 6, 1999 – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee may consider an amendment today to the federal Clean Air Act…
News Release
Jack Kemp Named Distinguished Fellow At Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, DC, April 29, 1999 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce that the Honorable Jack Kemp has been named CEI’s first…
News Release
Administration Honors Scientist, But Ignores His Work
Washington, DC, April 27, 1999 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today congratulates Dr. Bruce Ames for his receipt of the National Medal of…
News Release
Risk And Environmental Information: Federal Data Mandates, Mandates to Misinform
Information is a valuable tool, but sometimes misinformation is more powerful. As we approach Earth Day 1999, CEI observes the state of environmental information…
News Release
Media Advisory: Earth Day Experts
Most Americans want a clean environment. That is no surprise. What surprises traditional environmental activists is that most people don’t support extensive federal regulation.
Study
The First Family’s Asthma Problems
View Full Document as PDF Both Bill and Hillary Clinton are taking actions that will affect the nation’s six million asthmatic…
Op-Eds
DOJ Gets No Credit For Visa Complaint: Case Will Stifle Bank Card Innovation
The specter of the U.S. Department of Justice as "social engineer" — seeking to shape markets into a narrow and static mold of…
Study
Save Methyl Bromide
A battle is raging in Washington between farmers and environmental regulators. At issue is the chemical methyl bromide, and the outcome could affect…
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The EPA’S Latest Injustice
Convent is a small, relatively poor town in St. James Parish, Louisiana, that lies along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Study
Why the UN Desertification Treaty is All Wet
After his recent visit to Africa’s Kalahari Desert, President Bill Clinton proclaimed himself “a greener person” and called for Senate ratification of the United…
Study
EPA’s Asthma Miasma
Is the Environmental Protection Agency a friend or enemy of asthmatic children? It all depends on which issue the agency is peddling.
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Bail Out For The Foolish
My Daddy always said never get between a fool and his mistake – it would sacrifice the only good that might come from the…
News Release
Mammoth Victory For Elephant Conservation At CITES
HARARE, ZIMBABWE, Thursday, June 19, 1997 — The ivory ban has ended for three southern African nations, despite intense opposition from the U.S. government.
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Precautionary Petard
The Precautionary Principle – the proposition that new technologies or products should not be permitted until we know they won't endanger health, safety, or…
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Chemical Weapons Convention Sell-out
Not since "read-my-lips" George Bush raised taxes and destroyed his presidency has a Republican leader so soiled the GOP's claim to be a party of…
News Release
Earth Day Tragedy: Flawed Environmental Treaty Dumps on Third World
WASHINGTON, DC April 22, 1997 —The Basel Convention, a United Nations treaty which regulates world trade, is due to ban all trade in “wastes”…
News Release
Red Tape Will Hinder Trade: Study Questions Environmental and Economic Benefits of ISO14000
WASHINGTON, DC March 22, 1997—Imposing mandatory uniform environmental standards on industrial firms will result in both environmental and economic harm according to a study…
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Tyranno-Soros
It always makes me queasy when a successful capitalist uses his wealth and talent to sell anti-capitalism. Not because such behavior is a form of…
News Release
Third World Rebuffs Clinton Green Team
The Clinton administration suffered a major setback in its efforts to incorporate environmental restrictions into world trade rules with the completion of talks in the…
Study
Trashing Free Trade: The Basel Convention’s Impact
Executive Summary With the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, free trade should be on the rise. The WTO has been heralded…
Op-Eds
Trashing Free Trade: The Basel Convention’s Impact on International Commerce
Trashing Free Trade: The Basel Convention’s Impact on International Commerce by James M. Sheehan With the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995,…
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Free Trade for All
Massachusetts Governor William Weld, running in a tight Senate race against Senator John Kerry, recently came out in favor of a protectionist trade ban against…
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Message From the President: Unsustainable Policies
In March the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), made up of governmental, environmental and business leaders, presented to President Clinton its final report, Sustainable…
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The Mismeasure of Man
The environmentalist assault on chlorine has taken a recent turn. Organochlorines, we are now told, not only cause cancer, they are capable of altering human…
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Rachel Was Wrong
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring ushered in an era of national concern over the potential effects of synthetic chemicals. Published in 1962, Carson's book suggested that…
Study
Two Years After NAFTA: A Free Market Critique and Assessment
Full Document Available in PDF The debate over the…
Op-Eds
Restricting Trade Will Not Help The Environment
Full Article Available in PDF Format Executive Summary Expanding free trade to include all nations could have beneficial effects…
Study
The Basel Convention
The Basel Convention by Ray Evans …
Op-Eds
Making the Polluters Pay
Environmentalists often call for a world with zero pollution. The response from industry and professional economists is disbelief. Who is right? That depends…
Study
The True State Of The Planet
The True State of the Planet: Ten of the World’s Premier Environmental Researchers in a Major Challenge to the Environmental Movement Date: 1995 Edited…
Study
The Greening Of Trade Policy: “Sustainable Development” and Global Trade
Executive Summary Introduction The Environmental Critique of Trade Free Trade and Environmental Quality Free Markets Are Truly Green Focus on Global Environment Fosters Ecological…
Op-Eds
Trading Away Free Trade
Full article is available in PDF (Liberty magazine, November 1994, pp. 22-26). The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has lowered the world’s…