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
Why do so many countries have tariffs?
Over at the Center Square, Iain Murray and I ask an overlooked question: If tariffs are so bad, then why does nearly every country…
Center Square Opinion
Why do so many countries have tariffs?
If tariffs are so bad, then why does nearly every country have them? It’s a fair question, and many Trump tariff defenders are asking it.
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…
Search Posts
The Daily Caller
Solar Industry Prepares for Possible Upheaval as Trade Officials Move on Tariffs
The Daily Caller covers a coalition letter, signed by CEI, urging the Trump administration to not put tariffs on solar panels. The solar industry…
InsideSources
BICEP Companies, Including Nike and eBay, Urge ITC Not to Recommend Solar Tarriffs
InsideSources covers a coalition letter, signed by CEI, urging the Trump administration to reject a tarrif on solar panels. It’s almost Halloween and things…
The Washington Examiner
Ten Free-Market Groups Advise Trump to Reject Solar Tariffs
The Washington Examiner covers a coalition letter, signed by CEI, urging the Trump administration to reject a proposal to place tariffs on solar panel imports.
Letters
Open Letter to President Trump: Avoid Trade Restrictions on Solar Panels
VIEW FULL DOCUMENT AS PDF Dear President Trump, On behalf of the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans, we urge you to…
Blog
Will New Zealand Forget the Benefits of Economic Freedom?
As an Australian, there are two things I have always admired about New Zealand—their remarkable national rugby team and their stunning embrace of…
Blog
An Appreciation: Atlas Shrugged at 60
Sixty years ago this month, Ayn Rand’s monumental novel, Atlas Shrugged, was published. It helped a vast number of people around the world to become…
Blog
Financial Transactions Tax Not the Answer for Africa
French President Emmanuel Macron is advocating for a Europe-wide tax on financial transactions to fund more foreign aid for Africa.
Blog
Celebrate National Coffee Day
In the modern American workplace, many people see coffee as essential to productivity and for socializing around the coffee machine, which makes it unsurprising that…
Blog
Might Australian Financial Regulators Finally Embrace Greater Competition?
Over the past few weeks, I have been rather critical of the state of financial regulation in Australia. A banking scandal earlier this month revealed…
Blog
Human Freedom Is Key to African Prosperity
Earlier this week at a presentation to the Cato Institute, authors Greg Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Dickie Davis, discussed their new book…
Blog
Why Africa Needs Economic Freedom
That is the topic I presented earlier this week as part of the panel discussion, Perspectives on African Development, at the Department of State’s…
Blog
Why Economic Freedom Is the Best Weapon against Poverty
This blog post is adapted from a speech delivered to the Foreign Service Institute at the United States Department of State on August 29, 2017.
Washington Times
Federal Government Needs Major Overhaul to Cut Red Tape, Reduce Costs: Report
The Washington Times covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Shrinking the federal bureaucracy would spur economic growth and reduce costs to taxpayers,…
Washington Free Beacon
Report: Reducing Regulatory Agencies’ Authority Could Boost Economy, Increase Job Creation
The Washington Free Beacon covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Reducing some of government’s regulatory agencies’ authority could boost economic growth and…
Blog
Congress Should Confirm Export-Import Bank Nominee, End Corporate Welfare
The Export-Import Bank is one of the capital’s greatest boondoggles, handing out loans for large corporations at the taxpayer’s expense.
Bloomberg BNA
Trump Team Unlikely to Fight for NAFTA Worker Safety Rewrite
Bloomberg BNA discusses NAFTA with Marc Scribner Worker safety and labor advocates don’t see eye to eye with President Donald Trump on very…
Blog
Conservatives International Brings Pro-Liberty Activists Together
Our friends at Conservatives International published a great short video this week featuring CEI’s own Iain Murray.
Forbes
International Freedom Fighters Organize in Miami
Fans of free markets and limited government have a new place to seek allies. Recently Conservatives International, a new global advocacy organization, was launched…
The Conservative
Trade’s Real Enemy Is Regulation
Free trade has brought countless benefits over the past two centuries. It allows for specialisation among nations that has brought down the cost of living…
Blog
The Key to Prosperity in the Southern Hemisphere and around the World
We have the potential to put developing economies on a path to avoid the mistakes made in America and among our European friends.
Blog
Exiting Paris Should Weaken Carbon Tariff Threat
Will other nations attempt to punish President Trump for pulling out of the Paris Agreement by imposing “border taxes”—aka carbon tariffs—on U.S. exports?…
Blog
Let Private Markets Finance Aircraft Sales
There is no good reason to keep the Export-Import Bank —or its international brethren—around.
Blog
President Trump Should Ignore Advice of Obama Administration Officials on Paris Agreement
Trump’s greatest contribution to American democracy and international energy policy would be to repudiate the politics of plunder, starting with its most grandiose embodiment—the Paris…
Washington Examiner
Conservative Groups Urge Lighthizer to Leave NAFTA Alone
Washington Examiner covers a coalition letter signed by CEI urging U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to stay in NAFTA. A coalition of conservative and…
Blog
Paris Agreement: Carbon Tax Elders Offer More Bad Advice
The same GOP elders who have been pushing what American Enterprise Institute economist Ben Zycher charitably calls “The Deeply Flawed Case for a Carbon Tax”…
Blog
The Paris Agreement and the Imperial Presidency: My Response to David Bookbinder
The Paris Agreement thus casts a long dark shadow not only on U.S. energy producers but our future as a self-governing polity.
Blog
Misdirected Paris Agreement Debate Fixates on Meaning of ‘May’
This being Washington, D.C., the world capital of misdirection, debate on whether President Trump should keep his campaign promise to “cancel” America’s participation in the…
Blog
Paris Agreement: Why Trump Should Ignore Obama Officials’ Legal Counsel
President Trump is expected to decide soon whether he will keep his campaign promise to “cancel” America’s participation in the Paris Agreement.
Study
Polluted Logic Taints WHO Reports on Children’s Health
View Full Document as PDF The world has been getting wealthier in recent decades. That economic growth has enabled millions of people…
Blog
European Populism Is Nationalist Conservatism
As European conservative governments deploy authority and ignore economic forces, it is likely that the problems facing their nations will intensify rather than decrease.
The Spectator Australia
“Buy Ethical” Will Only Harm the World’s Poorest
For the past four years, Baptist World Aid Australia have been releasing their annual Behind the Barcode report into the working conditions of…
Forbes
Reform Bill Trades Foreign Aid For Corporate Welfare
A new foreign aid bill soon to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives looks to substitute U.S. development assistance in favor of private…
Blog
The Future of Liberty and Democracy in Europe
The classical liberal tradition calls for respecting the liberty of individuals and of conscience, the freedom to trade goods and services, and even the mobility…
Investor's Business Daily
World Bank And IMF Get African Development Wrong, Again
It’s springtime in Washington D.C., which, for the uninitiated, means not only cherry blossoms and Nationals’ baseball, but the spectacle of the World Bank’s and…
CapX
Only Economic Freedom Will Keep Africa Growing
Ever since African nations began to gain independence in the 1960s, Western countries have looked to assist their economic development. While the nature of this…
The Huffington Post
Africa’s Economy Needs to Come out of the Shadows
Westerners used to call sub-Saharan Africa “the Dark Continent.” That epithet reflected a willful ignorance of the continent’s civilizations, cultures, and history, and helped justify…
Blog
African Development Requires Economic and Legal Reforms, Affordable Energy
If the African continent is to achieve the prosperity it deserves, then African policy makers and non-governmental organizations alike should strive to implement pro-growth policies.
Blog
White House Should Drop Support for Cronyism of Export-Import Bank
With the Trump administration’s early emphasis on deregulation, there was hope that cronyist agencies such as the Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and Economic…
News Release
Trump Trade Nominee a Poor Choice to Lead U.S. Negotiations
The United States Senate Committee on Finance is expected to soon vote on the confirmation of Robert Lighthizer to be United States Trade Representative. CEI Senior…
National Review
‘The Greatest Deregulatory Endeavor’
National Review highlights Iain Murray’s study on the United Kingdom’s split from the European Union. Iain Murray, co-author of “Cutting the Gordian Knot”…
Blog
Lessons from a Humble Pencil about Economics and the World
On National Pencil Day, we salute this marvel of capitalism and Leonard Read’s classic story about an everyday object.
Blog
United Kingdom Invokes Article 50 to Leave the European Union
In a historic moment, British Prime Minister Theresa May today invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which formally starts the process…
Blog
Time to Repeal the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
FATCA amounts to a fine levied by the U.S. on any of its citizens who have the temerity to live abroad.
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter to Repeal Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
View Full Document as PDF As free-market and taxpayer protection organizations representing millions of Americans, we urge that repeal of the Foreign…
Blog
Federal Budget Must Demand Value for Taxpayer Dollars
Competitive Enterprise Institute Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray responded to President Trump’s budget proposal today.
Blog
Let Africa Power Its Future with Affordable Energy
Economic development in Africa needs affordable, reliable fossil fuels, not expensive, intermittent renewables, as some Western environmentalists demand.
Blog
Trump Should Keep Promise, Withdraw U.S. from Paris Climate Treaty
President Trump should keep his campaign promise and rescind or otherwise withdraw the United States from President Obama’s purported commitment to the Paris climate pact…
Washington Post
Last night, conservatives gave up on conservatism
The Washington Post discusses President Trump’s policy proposals from his address to a joint session of Congress with CEI President Kent Lassman. The…
Blog
Gates Foundation Should Credit Market Reforms for Poverty Reduction
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation should give greater credit to the proven economic reforms that have spurred development throughout the world.
Blog
Failure to Renounce Paris Climate Deal Would Create Major White House Policy Conflict
On the campaign trail, presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would “cancel” U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement. He now appears to be back-pedaling.
Blog
Economic Freedom in the U.S. Fell Last Year Due to Rising Regulatory and Tax Burdens
The United States recently slipped to its lowest level yet in world rankings of economic freedom compiled by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall…
Blog
Trump May Suspend Obama-era Rules on Conflict Minerals
The Dodd-Frank Act’s conflict-minerals rules backfired, and caused malnutrition, misery, and violence in the eastern Congo.
Blog
Response to Mercatus Center’s Dan Griswold on Trade Policy
Fred Smith and Marc Scribner respond to the Mercatus Center's Dan Griswold on the free market approach to trade policy.
Blog
Deregulate to Speed Recovery from ‘Creative Destruction’ of Trade and Innovation
Government regulation limits the ability of individuals and businesses to recover from normal economic setbacks.
Blog
Financial Regulation Executive Order a Step in the Right Direction
A new White House executive order aims to redesign how financial institutions are regulated by the federal government.
Independent Journal Review
I’ve Had A Green Card Since 1999 – Trump’s Executive Order Shows The Overreach Of Presidential Power
Green card holders like me received an unwelcome present from the Trump administration this weekend. In the course of the fiasco surrounding the president’s executive…
Cleveland.com
Ohio lost 120,000+ jobs due to U.S. trade deficit with China: EPI
Cleveland.com discusses with Iain Murray a report that claims Ohio lost 121,500 jobs due to the United States’ trade deficit with China. Iain Murray…
Blog
Congress Should Eliminate SEC Rule that Discloses Company Information to Foreign Governments
Congress should pass a joint resolution of disapproval and block the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule relating to ‘‘Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers.”…
Fox Business
A Trade Policy to Boost American Competitiveness
President Donald Trump’s early actions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, North American Free Trade Agreement, and the nomination of avowed protectionists to key roles have shaken…
National Review
The UK Supreme Court’s Brexit Decision: Probably Right and Yet So Unnecessary
The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament must agree to make Britain’s exit from the European Union, which the British people voted for…
Blog
Trump Moves on Trade: TPP and NAFTA
The decisions to end the failed TPP experiment and perhaps pull the plug on NAFTA may not be the disaster for free trade they seem…
News Release
Statement by CEI Expert on Why Trade Deals Got a Bad Reputation
In response to President Trump’s plans to sign an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the negotiating process of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Daily Signal
Trump’s Opening Shot on Trade, Abortion, Federal Employees
The Daily Signal discusses President Trump’s executive action to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with Iain Murray. Rather than breaking down…
Blog
Iain Murray Addresses Political Fragmentation in the EU
This afternoon our friends at the Heritage Foundation hosted a fascinating discussion of European politics with CEI Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray.
Blog
Questions Senators Should Ask Rex Tillerson
Tillerson is probably the only influential person President-elect Trump would ever nominate as Secretary of State who supports both a carbon tax and the Paris…
Blog
New York Times Misleads on U.S.-China Renewable Energy Trade
The source of demand for Chinese renewable energy exports are countries, like the U.S. and Europe, that have mandated and subsidized green energy.
Reuters
Lighthizer joins Trump trade team crowded with deal makers
Reuters discusses trade policy with Marc Scribner. “USTR will still have statutory negotiation and enforcement powers, but where the big ideas on trade…
Blog
The Future of Free Trade under a Trump Administration
My colleague Iain Murray has an excellent analysis today in Brexit Central of how a future international trade deal between the United States and a…
Brexit Central
How a US-UK free trade deal could revolutionise world trade
While the incoming Trump administration has given much of the world something to fear regarding future US trade policy, for good reason, there is a…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Western and Soviet Politics
In this episode, historian Andrew Roberts and Russian émigré Alexander Markovsky compare Western and Soviet politics.
Washington Examiner
Stop praising Castro for health and education ‘advances’
Washington Examiner discusses Fidel Castro's legacy with Hans Bader. But claims that Castro was some sort of bringer of knowledge and good health…
Financial Times
Castro Inherited Cuba’s Admired Achievements
Paul Hare notes that “Cuba’s education and healthcare are still widely admired in the developing world.” (“Castro’s Legacy Makes Cuba’s Progress Harder,” November 29). But…
CNS News
That Time Obama Promoted Myth of Excellent Health Care and Education in Cuba
In his recent remarks in Cuba, President Obama offered glowing praise to institutions in that communist country that did not deserve it. The president…
Blog
Free Market Opportunities for the Trump Administration
This election has given us one more demonstration that knowledge is dispersed and “trusting the experts” to know the future is foolish. The unexpected success…
Brexit Central
The Trump Presidency could mean a world trade war but Congress may push a US-UK trade deal
Against all the odds, Donald Trump has just pulled off a surprising victory in the US Presidential election. Given that much of his loudest rhetoric…
Blog
Three Ways the Next President Can Help America Out
At this moment, it’s likely the presidential candidates are busy preparing for the third and final debate tonight.
Blog
Back Freedom in the Czech Republic
Here at CEI we are big fans of Czech classical liberals. We published former Czech President Vaclav Klaus’s excellent book on environmental policy,…
Blog
Export-Import Bank Supporters Dealt Setback in Congress
The Export-Import Bank’s supporters and beneficiaries very nearly scored a major victory last week. Ex-Im, as it’s called for short, was shut down for about…
Blog
When It Comes to Trade Our Leaders, Not Other Countries, Are Ripping Americans off
In recent weeks, trade has repeatedly come up in discussions and speeches by presidential candidates. Donald Trump says he would renegotiate NAFTA, while Hillary Clinton’s…
Blog
Precedent on Environmental Pacts: Treaty or “Executive Agreement”?
President Obama claims the global climate pact negotiated in Paris last December—the so-called Paris Agreement—is an executive agreement, not a treaty, hence is not subject…
The Federalist
Britain’s Economy And Politicians Bounce Back In Wake Of Brexit
The Federalist interviews Iain Murray on Britain's path forward after Brexit. Iain Murray, vice president of strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, discussed…
Blog
Climate Agreement Signed: What Can The Senate Do?
Reports circulating this week predict that President Obama will unilaterally “Accept” the Paris Climate Treaty on behalf of the United States, breaking from other nations…
Forbes
Brexit Planners Should Look To The U.S. For Inspiration
In June, British voters voted to leave the European Union, whose bureaucracy had imposed alien laws and regulations on them for decades. The EU system…
Blog
Brexit: A Liberal Britain?
There is a great risk in Brexit Britain.
Blog
Brexit: What’s Next for Trade?
At the moment, Britain is still a member of the European Union, and therefore its trade arrangements are subject to the terms of the EU’s…
Blog
Brexit: What Next?
In our new and revised version of Cutting the Gordian Knot: A Roadmap for British Exit from the European Union, Rory Broomfield and I set…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Brexit and Regulatory Rebellion
In this week’s episode, Julian Morris, Iain Murray, and Richard Williams make the case for Britain’s regulatory rebellion and chart the path forward from Brexit.
Blog
International Tribunal Gets Its First Big Test
The news that the Permanent Court of Arbitration acting in conjunction with the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) have ruled against…
Blog
Opportunities for the Environmental Entrepreneur
I had the honor to chair a panel and speak at the 10th ICREI conference in France on environmental issues last week. This year’s conference…
Foundation for Economic Education
The Prisoners’ Dilemma of Britain and the EU
The world economy roiled following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. Uncertainty was the cause. Even the scope of the potential deal is unknown…
Citation
VIDEO: Iain Murray Discusses Brexit on CNBC
[VIDEO::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7KWZ8gfVbo::aVideoStyle]…
Inside Sources
Brexit Vote Is the End of the Beginning
In the end, it wasn’t close. People had been expecting a clear win for the Remain side in the popular vote on whether Britain should…
USA Today
United Kingdom votes for ‘Brexit,’ toppling government, crashing markets
USA Today reports on Britain's decision to leave the European Union with Iain Murray. Iain Murray, vice president for strategy at the Competitive…
WMAL
[AUDIO] WMAL Interviews Iain Murray on Brexit
National Review
Britain’s Time for Choosing
I’ve steered clear of opining here about tomorrow’s Brexit vote as so many others have been doing such a good job of it, like…
Blog
Interchange Debate Rears Its Head in Canada
The debate over the effects of interchange fees (the charges a bank levies on a merchant when one its customers uses a credit or debit…
Blog
Huge Questions Remain in Brexit Debate
It is now looking as if the June 23rd vote on whether Britain will leave or remain in the European Union is too close to…
Blog
Export-Import Bank Drama Continues
The Senate’s main business right now is the annual Defense Appropriations bill. The Export-Import Bank, or Ex-Im for short, might become part of that bill.
Blog
The Senate Must Confront the President on the Paris Climate Treaty
On Friday April 22, Earth Day, the White House will purport to commit the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Obama administration claims…
Blog
The Truth about the Trade Deficit
This election cycle the issue of the trade deficit has been a topic of great debate, with front-running candidates suggesting that the deficit is an…
