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
At minimum, keep the de minimis import exemption
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has just issued its recommendations for China policy. One of them is to eliminate the de minimis…
Blog
Tariffs are lousy revenue generators
President-elect Donald Trump has proposed cutting income taxes and raising tariffs to replace some of the revenue. Economists of all political stripes have been…
News Release
Boeing machinists strike ends, but union should face financial reality
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers in Seattle have ended their strike, as members approved a company pay raise offer. CEI labor policy…
Search Posts
Blog
The Futility of Religious Profiling at Airport Security Checkpoints
“Obviously, Muslims would be someone you'd look at, absolutely,” former-Senator Rick Santorum said during a GOP presidential debate last year. “Radical Muslims are…
Blog
Carbon Tariffs Again in the Spotlight
Here it comes again — talk of an EU carbon tax. This time it’s a member of the new administration of new French President Francois…
The American Spectator
A Tsunami of Bad Economics
The broken Krugman fallacy. Japan was hit by a tsunami last year on March 11. That’s not news, but the reaction of some economists sure…
Blog
A Fit of Sanity on ITAR
Over at Space Politics, Jeff Foust reports that the House has passed a bill allowing the administration to remove satellites from…
Blog
Give a Man a Fish
Those with an interest in conserving our oceans’ fish stocks and those with an interest in promoting private property should both be interested in my…
Blog
Before Immigration Was Regulated: Pre-20th Century Migration
Early large-scale human migration is the story of dispersal, spreading out as resources were used up and populations expanded past sustainability. The Agricultural Revolution brought…
Blog
Tuna-Dolphin Issue — Again a WTO Decision
No, tuna-dolphin is not a hybrid fish, but the subject of a long-standing trade dispute between Mexico and the United States arising from a 1990…
Blog
Government Lost Tons of Money in the Auto Bailouts, Despite Benefiting from Blind Luck
As John Lott notes, “Having just $34 billion to show after a $100 billion-plus investment would get a chief executive of any private company…
Blog
Let’s Lose LOST
The Law of the Sea Treaty would drastically undermine American sovereignty, giving massive powers to the U.N. (aka the Dictators’ Club of New York), but…
Blog
Cut Military Spending to Prevent Tax Increases; Obama Administration Endangers Anti-Terrorism Efforts by Exposing Undercover Agent
The Cato Institute has identified $17-20 billion in readily-achievable savings to the 2013 military budget. Such cuts can help stave off tax increases. As…
Blog
Greek Tragedy Nears a Dramatic End
With the prospects for a Greek pro-austerity coalition fading rapidly, here is a round-up of the most useful stories on the Greek tragedy: The…
Blog
Immigration and Demographic Doom
America -- the world’s most recent great civilization -- faces a demographic problem that calls for a solution from the dawn of civilization. When civilization…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 10, 2012: Freeing Our Farms
Current immigration policy keeps many immigrants in dangerous black markets, raises food prices for consumers, makes it difficult for farmers to hire workers and create…
Letters
Letter on Farm Bill Entitlements
Full Document Available in PDF CEI signed a joint letter advocating real reform of…
Blog
Austerity Bites – But It Isn’t the Problem
The election results in Europe, we are told, are a vote against the austerity of "savage" spending cuts. Veronique de Rugy, in National Review Online,…
Blog
European Lessons for America
George Will warns that America’s system of competitive federalism is threatened by our own “Greeces.” (“In Illinois the bills are coming due,” April 27). Europe…
The American Spectator
Forget France, the Greek Elections Are the Beginning of the End for Europe
While much of the world’s attention was concentrated on France’s presidential election last Sunday, the real action was in Greece. French President-elect François Hollande may…
Blog
The Great Unanswered Question About the Eurozone
In a column for the FT today, Wolfgang Munchau lays out what may be the only plausible solution to the Eurozone crisis – for…
Blog
H-2A Visas: Open in Theory, Closed in Practice
[caption id="attachment_54582" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="An Immigrant Worker in Idaho"][/caption] “Our immigration problem’s not going away.” That was the title of my article for…
Blog
When Commodities Analysts Should Stick To Commodities
Some analysts at Barclays attempt to understand the business case for Planetary Resources, and massively fail: Their…
Blog
Central Bankers are Playing a Losing Game
The supposed economic “recovery” is faltering. The sugar high of freshly printed money from the world’s central banks is beginning to wear off. In…
Blog
SB 1070 Summary: Read Arizona’s Controversial Immigration Law!
Arizona’s controversial immigration law -- SB 1070 -- heads to the Supreme Court this week. One can only hope that the Justices do a…
Blog
Super Mario Hasn’t Saved Italy’s Entrepreneurs
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is full of optimism these days. He has claimed to achieve “historic” reform in Italy’s labor market and to beat…
The American Spectator
Super Mario Talks a Good Game But Italy’s Entrepreneurs Have Lost Out
ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti recently proclaimed “historic” labour reform and even declared the “financial aspect” of the crisis to be over. But don’t pop…
Blog
One Small Step for Human Spaceflight
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) have been a thorn in the American space industry’s side for almost fourteen years, ever since Congress moved…
Blog
Initial Media Reactions to CEI’s Space Property Rights Paper
On Monday, CEI published an Issue Analysis on a possible new approach to establishing private real estate off planet under the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 29, 2012: The History of American Immigration in Six Minutes
Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh talks about the reasons behind the major historical shifts, and suggests reforms that would make today's immigration system fairer and…
Blog
More Space Socialism From Republicans
Over at the Beyond the Black blog, Bob Zimmerman does what I haven't had time to yet --he excoriates the chairman…
Blog
Agricultural Innovation in the 21st Century: CEI on Capitol Hill
On Monday, I’ll be speaking at a Capitol Hill event sponsored by Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture, which also…
Blog
Downgrading the West
In my column for The Washington Examiner today, I discuss the origins and consequences of our horrific, $15+ trillion debt: For decades, the government has been spending…
Blog
CEI Podcast for March 8, 2012: IRS Moves to Fund Foreign Dictators
A new IRS regulation hits the trifecta of enriching foreign dictators, helping them crush dissent, and would raise no revenue for the U.S. government. Vice…
Blog
New IRS Rule Would Benefit Foreign Dictators, Drive $87 Billion Out of U.S. Economy, Could Cause Bank Failures
A new IRS rule would benefit foreign dictators and drive $87 billion out of U.S. economy, as my colleague, Iain Murray, explains in The…
The American Spectator
New IRS Rule Benefits Only Foreign Dictators
Since when is it the U.S. government’s job to report on the financial activities of foreign nationals to their home governments? It is now. The…
The American Spectator
EU’s Proposed Gender Quotas For Corporate Boards
From Isaac Gorodetski’s post on Point of Law: In recent commentary, senior attorney and counsel for special projects with the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
Blog
European Union Pushes Discriminatory Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards
The European Union (EU) could not keep member states like Greece from cheating on EU budget rules, resulting in Greece's fiscal collapse and the current…
Blog
America Now Has Bigger Welfare State Than Canada, Italy, Denmark, and Austria
America now has a bigger welfare state than most countries, effectively doling out more welfare than Canada, Denmark, Austria, and Italy. As the New York…
Blog
Airline Carbon Taxes: The EU vs. the World
On Tuesday and Wednesday, representatives from 23 nations gathered in Moscow to discuss their response to the European Union’s mandatory airline carbon taxes. CEI’s Fran…
Blog
Constitutions and Democracies
It is the height of hubris to claim that one knows how to build a democracy from scratch. But there are a few common themes…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 211: The Color of Buildings
Officials in Calcutta, India definitely have a favorite color: sky blue.
The American Spectator
Give Greece a Going Away Present, But Go It Must
The rate at which things are deteriorating in Greece now officially exceeds the rate at which desperate Eurocrats weave new fantasies as they try to…
Blog
Taxmageddon Comes Just After the Election
On December 31, shortly after the November election, tax rates will rise across the board in what congressional aides call "Taxmageddon," notes The Washington Post. Not…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 210: Transgendered Air Travelers
Canada is cracking down on the latest terrorist threat to innocent people everywhere: transgendered people. If their appearance doesn't match their ID's listed gender, they're…
Blog
Global Biotech Crop Acreage Up, Plus Clayton Yeutter on the Miracle of American Agriculture
Global planting of biotech crops grew 8 percent last year, to a record high of 395 million total acres, according to…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 9, 2012: The Immigration Tariff
Alex Nowrasteh proposes scrapping the complex and unfair immigration system and replacing it with a tariff. This is a much more humane approach to immigration,…
Comment
Comments Submitted to U.S.-EU High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth
Full Document Available in PDF The path to economic growth and prosperity is not something readily planned from above but rather is…
Blog
Liberal Tax Fantasies Punctured
Some liberals have the unrealistic fantasy that by increasing taxes on the top one percent of the population, the government can finance a radically…
Blog
Liberal Justices Complain About American Law Being Too Protective of Civil Liberties and Colorblindness
Recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who became the leader of the Supreme Court's liberal bloc in his later years on the Court, complained recently…
The American Spectator
Cuba, Where Sheep Are Trained to Venerate Wolves
With the death of Cuban dissident Wilman Villar Mendoza, Cuba has lost one of its precious remaining brave souls. While a sputtering dissident movement…
BBC
How ‘Europe’ Became a Dirty Word in the U.S. Election
Blog
Romney Pays More Taxes Than He Would in Canada and Many European Countries
As an article in the Financial Post noted, if Mitt Romney were Canadian, he'd pay less tax than he does in America. That’s because most of…
Blog
Enr1 Goes Belly Up; Yet Another Solyndra
"After spending $55 million of a $118.5 million grant from" the U.S. "Department of Energy, Ener1, an Indianapolis-based maker of batteries," has just "declared…
Blog
More Phony Comparisons by American Europhiles
American Europhiles love to make comparisons between the entire United States and the rich Nordic countries in order to advocate America's "Europeanization." But comparing these…
Blog
Obama’s False Claims about Outsourcing and Corporate Taxes in the State of the Union Address
President Obama has spent billions of dollars in taxpayer money on subsidizing foreign firms through his failed "green energy" programs, so it was…
Blog
John Kay on the Market Economy
In a truly excellent column for the Financial Times today, John Kay lays out in a few hundred words a clear defense of the…
Blog
The Non-EU Space Code of Conduct
For over a year, there has been concern that the White House would sign an executive order requiring U.S. space activities to adhere to the…
Blog
CEI Podcast for January 12, 2012: Mistaken Deportations
Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh tells Jakadrien Turner's story and what it means for the immigration reform debate.
BBC
Britain’s Future Lies With America, Not Europe
In 1952, then-U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson said that “Britain has lost an empire but has failed to find a role.” Sadly for Britain,…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 202: Farting Pigs
It isn’t often that one sees Nobel-winning economist Ronald Coase’s name and pig farts in the same sentence. Thanks to a recent court decision in…
Blog
NAFTA: North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement?
The North American Free Trade Agreement liberalized trade between the three North American nations -- Mexico, the United States, and Canada -- to great…
Blog
A “Trade War for Christmas” – EU High Court Rules on Airline Emissions
As expected, the European Court for Justice -- the EU’s highest court -- has ruled that the EU’s plan to charge foreign airlines for…
Blog
Butter-nomics: Protectionism and Food Shortages
Norway, a fully industrialized country and ranked first in the latest Human Development Index, a United Nations’ metric that tries to quantify the quality…
Blog
Obama Administration Betrays America’s Friends Overseas
America is now “turning its back” on Iraqis who helped the U.S., contradicting Obama’s rhetoric on the campaign trail. Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical Anti-American…
Blog
U.S., Other Countries Threaten to Retaliate Against EU on Airline Emissions “Taxes”
The U.S. sent a strong letter to the European Union warning them that the EU’s airline emissions trading scheme — set to start in…
Blog
Time to Include Britain in NAFTA?
On Monday, I sent this letter to the editor of the Financial Times in response to an appalling column by former British apparatchik Jonathan…
Blog
In a Nation of Immigrants, Being Anti-Immigration is a Loser
As most of the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination try to outdo each other in blasting undocumented immigrants, they should take a break to…
Blog
Will “International” Norms Override Civil Liberties and Protections Against Violent Crime?
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges to life sentences without parole for teenage murderers, in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson…
Blog
Bernanke’s Dollar Swap Euro “Stimulus”
Here’s a letter I sent to The Wall Street Journal: In “Central Banks Take Coordinated Action” (Nov. 30), Mr. Sparshott and Mr. Hilsenrath rightly…
BBC
Where’s the Money to Save the Euro Coming From? Not Us!
Markets rallied last week on news of central bank intervention to ease indebted European governments’ liquidity problems, but the central problem remains. Europe is in…
Blog
Ben Bernanke: Most Powerful Man in America?
Don’t let his short stature and friendly grandpa beard fool you. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has the power to control the money in your…
Blog
Canada Cuts Tariffs, Endorses Free Trade — Imports Good, Exports Good
In a free-trade lesson the U.S. should study, Canada announced that it was eliminating tariffs on imports that Canadian manufacturers use to help spur…
Blog
What the Super Committee Could Have Learned From Italy
Entitlement reform. Those words alone make politicians’ ears bleed. Or in the case of Italy, it makes their fists literally fly at one another. I…
Blog
United States and China Talk Trade
The annual session of United States – China trade talks was held last week, in the Chinese city of Chengdu. These talks look for…
Blog
CEI Podcast for November 17, 2011: Conflict Guitars
CEI Founder and President Fred Smith talks about why restricting conflict mineral trade can mean more violence, not less. He also discusses why the Gibson…
Blog
Farm Bill Negotiated In Secrecy
The Hill reports that a new “secret Farm Bill” will be included with the super committee’s debt deal. As The Hill points out, legislators…
Blog
U.S. Sugar Program Hurts Businesses and Kills Jobs
CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS 5 reports that a San Antonio candy company, Judson-Atkinson Candy Company, has ceased operations after 110 years of…
Washington Post
A Stake in Financial Markets
Capital standards are critical to the stability of any financial system. However, whether such standards are better achieved by markets rather than political entities…
Washington Post
Immigration Bill Splits House GOP
Blog
“Made In China” Is Good For U.S. Economy
In yesterday’s Washington Times, Brett Decker (editorial page editor) reviews Patrick J. Buchanan’s book Suicide of a Super Power: Will America Survive to 2025?…
Washington Post
Liquor Delivery Changes Needed
While former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver is correct that Prohibition was a failure (“Don’t change state’s liquor delivery system,” Oct. 13), it does…
Blog
CEI Podcast for October 27, 2011: How Much Do Undocumented Immigrants Cost?
Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh debunks a flawed study that exaggerates the costs of undocumented immigration.
Washington Post
Rejection of Aid Shows Depth of Pakistani Anger
Re: “Rejecting U.S. aid hurts Pakistan’s poor,” Oct. 20 The Associated Press criticizes Pakistan’s Punjab province for rejecting U.S. aid, writing that “a cut would…
Blog
The Simpsons and Immigration
Art Carden has an excellent column about immigration, and not just because the first third is about The Simpsons.
Blog
Public Interest Groups Challenge Misleading Government Information Used to Justify Ethanol Mandates and Subsidies
Recently, ActionAid USA and CEI filed a correction request under the Data Quality Act targeting misleading claims made by the EPA regarding the effects…
Blog
CEI Podcast for October 20, 2011: Congress Passes Free Trade Agreements
CEI Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith, coauthor of the new CEI study "Free Trade without Apology," talks about the recently passed free trade agreements with Colombia,…
Bio Fuels Journal
Competitive Enterprise Institute and ActionAid USA File Complaint With EPA Over Ethanol Impact on Food Supplies
Blog
Don’t Fear the Trade Deficit — Embrace it
In the evening of October 12, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, South Korea…
Blog
Where’s the Austerity?
Here's a letter I recently sent to The Economist:…
Blog
Corporations Pay Lots of Taxes, and it’s Only Natural that They Should Have Legal Rights
Despite the recent demonization of corporations, corporations pay lots of taxes, including most of the nation's property taxes, notes Josh Barro. They often pay…
Blog
Don Boudreaux on Trade
This video is a quick primer on trade from someone who literally wrote the book about it.
Bio Fuels Journal
Cutting Chinese Imports Punishes U.S. buyers
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s opinion column (October 6, 2022) falls into the trade deficit trap that many others do: exports good, imports bad. When he…
Bio Fuels Journal
Hoover Never Practised Austerity
Re: Harper denies focusing on austerity, Sept. 28. Wherever did some Canadian economists get the strange idea that U.S. President Herbert Hoover “helped plunge…
Blog
At Long Last, Congress Will Vote on Three Trade Pacts that Unions have Held Up
At long last both the House and the Senate are scheduled to vote on the three free trade agreements (FTAs) that have languished for…
Blog
Barone is Right: Appeasing Protectionists Is a Bad Idea
President Obama is finally sending three pending trade agreements — with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama — to Congress for a vote. The three trade…
Blog
Chinese Currency Bill Will Do Little to Improve Economy
Reuters and the Los Angeles Times report that a United States bill aimed at China’s currency policy is making its rounds around Congress.
Bio Fuels Journal
Hoover Spent Big
Wherever did some Canadian economists get the strange idea that U.S. president Herbert Hoover “helped plunge his country into the Great Depression through austerity measures”…
Blog
Free Trade Agreements are Not that Free
Business Insider reported that the Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama were sent to Congress today for their vote and approval…
News Release
Free Trade Pacts Delayed by Failed Strategy of Union Appeasement, New CEI Report Finds
Washington, D.C., October 4, 2011 – President Obama yesterday sent three free trade agreements to Congress after years of stalling. A new report shows how…
Bio Fuels Journal
Austerity Hardly To Blame
Re: “Harper rejects warnings austerity will spark recession,” The Journal, Sept. 28. Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover did not practice austerity, so it is…
Study
Free Trade Without Apology
Congress needs to stop trying to appease organized labor and approve free trade deals on the treaties’ own merits.
Blog
Poverty Skyrockets in the World’s Poorest Country Due to Racial Violence After Revolution in Neighboring Libya
Niger is the poorest country in Africa and the world: Many of its people go hungry every day, many children die before their fifth…
