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
One lesson protectionists forgot: Trade interventions backfire
It’s not just tariffs that backfire in trade policy. The government has a long history of similar failures. Between 1934 and 1941, the Treasury…
Blog
Section 338-tariff uncertainty highlights the knowledge problem
Last month, the Trump administration invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose new 50 percent tariffs against Canada. A…
Blog
Protectionism in North America? Not again
Well before its ratification in 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was scorned by its critics as a dangerous, unfair deal. CEI,…
Search Posts
Blog
Lincicome: Obama and Free Trade
International trade lawyer and free trade blogger-libertarian, Scott Lincicome, outlines the ups and downs of President Obama’s stance on trade in yesterday’s Daily Caller.
Op-Eds
I Got People Too
Like John, I "got people" too. Here is a summary of points made in response to the question by my Competitive Enteprise Institute colleague,…
Blog
China’s Currency and U.S. Trade Deficit
Cato Institute’s Dan Ikenson had a timely opinion piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal. He deconstructs the popular argument that China’s “undervalued” currency is a…
Newsletter
Fuel Efficiency, Imports, and H1N1
The Obama Administration plans to increase fuel efficiency standards. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative releases the 2010 National Trade Estimate report. The Centers…
Blog
President Obama’s Export Rhetoric
Trade policy that focuses only on exports while ignoring or taxing imports is likely to be counterproductive, but isn’t likely to be adopted by the…
Blog
$800 Billion Stimulus Package Doled Out Based on Politics; Districts with High Unemployment Were Shafted
“How is stimulus money allocated? Unemployment isn’t a factor, but politics is,” found George Mason University researcher Veronique de Rugy in…
Blog
How to Fix Immigration’s Black Market
Alex Nowrasteh and I have a piece in today's Detroit News arguing that liberalization, not regulation, is the way to shrink immigration's massive black market.
Blog
CEI files amicus in Aussie bank case threatening national sovereignty
Headquartered in Melbourne, the second largest city of the land down under, National Australia Bank is firmly attached to its home country. The primary trading…
Blog
Trade still has some support
Some politicians haven’t yet abandoned free trade, even in the face of widespread demagoging on the issue. As Scott Lincicome notes, five Republican Members…
Blog
The Social Evolution of Markets
Socialists and other collectivists frequently argue that markets are inherently “inhumane” and “unjust,” among other things. Free-market advocates generally dismiss these claims on their face…
Newsletter
Sugar, Health Care, and Libertarianism
The Washington Post attacks U.S. Sugar policy in an editorial. The House passes dramatic changes to health care policy. Edward L. Glaeser has a New…
Blog
USDA should increase sugar quota, says Washington Post
In an editorial today, the Washington Post attacks U.S. sugar policy, with its price supports and import restrictions that raise the cost of sugar…
Blog
Brazil’s Free Trade Agreement: Peace in the Middle East?
Free trade agreements can allow individuals from nations involved in a trade pact to trade freely without the hassle and counterproductive measures of high tariffs…
Newsletter
Finance, Trade and Toyota
Sen. Chris Dodd has introduced a new financial reform bill. U.S. Sugar is lobbying to keep government restrictions on sugar imports. The Washington Post’s coverage…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 126: Cheese-Rolling Races
Cheese-rolling races have been held at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, UK since the 1800s. Until this year, that is. Health and safety regulators shut down…
Blog
Increase sugar imports and reduce prices
Today the front page of the Wall Street Journal published an article (subscription required) focusing on the current fight to increase the amount of…
Blog
$3,000,000,000,000 in Tax Increases in President Obama’s Budget
The president’s proposed budget raises taxes by three trillion dollars over the next ten years, notes Washington fiscal analyst…
Blog
Brazil Retaliates Against U.S. Protectionism
Brazil’s March 8 announcement to place tariffs on many U.S. imports in the next 30 days is due to America’s irresponsible protectionist policy on…
Newsletter
Sugar, Health Care, and the Internet
Florida’s purchase of a large section of U.S. Sugar property will benefit US Sugar far more than it benefits Florida taxpayers. As Rep. Paul Ryan…
Blog
The Hidden Costs of Health Care Reform: “Obamacare Is A Budgetary Disaster”
The health care bills backed by President Obama will cost $2.3 trillion, not the $900 billion Obama claims, and will be a “…
Newsletter
Hot Dogs, Global Emissions, and Google
A leading physicians group warns that hot dogs are a choking hazard for children. Trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati comes out in support of a World…
Blog
Bhagwati on climate change — please, no
In today’s Financial Times, noted trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati strays again into the climate change debate – and he doesn’t apply his usually sharp…
Blog
CEA’s Annual Report: Trade is good, but we need to make sure it’s good for everyone
While snowstorms were raging in the D.C. area, the White House released…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 112: Importing Pork Rinds
The federal government is loosening its restrictions on importing pork rinds from Brazil.
Blog
Do Corporations Have Free Speech Rights? The Supreme Court’s Ruling in Citizens United v. FEC
In the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court recently struck down restrictions on…
Blog
Fighting for Freedom of Music in Cuba
At Freemuse.org, Kristina Funkeson reviews the documentary film Cuba Rebelion!, which chronicles the underground music scene that has been thriving in Cuba in recent…
Blog
SOTU: Irish Entrepreneurs Put Politics to Productive Use
The Washington Examiner’s David Freddoso reports that Paddy Power, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, is taking bets on President Obama’s State of the Union speech…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 104: Haggis
Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. It has also been banned in the United States since 1989. Fortunately, the ban may soon be reversed.
Blog
Insured Buildings in Haiti Still Standing
One could consider it ironic that the buildings in Haiti most likely to receive insurance money are those that experienced the least amount of damage.
Blog
Obama’s Glass-Steagall 2.0 could crash financial system
President Obama’s proposal today to bring back…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 100: Posting YouTube Videos
The Italian government is considering making it illegal for its citizens to post videos on the Internet without a license.
Blog
CEI Weekly: Net Neutrality vs. “BandWealth”
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features Wayne Crews' public comment against the FCC's plans to regulate…
Blog
A French Kiwi wine? New Zealand and Australia say “non”
Nice article in the Wall Street Journal today by Anne Jolis on a trademark brouhaha between France and Australia that highlights some…
Blog
New Federal Program Kills Jobs, While Costing Taxpayers Half a Billion Dollars
A federal biofuels program enacted in the name of fighting global warming and reducing dependence on foreign oil is instead killing jobs while perhaps…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Change We Can Really Believe In
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features a compelling op-ed written by CEI's Fred Smith on what…
Blog
Nobel Prize Winning Economist Says Obama Policies Delaying Economic Recovery
In the Wall Street Journal, Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker and others explain how President Obama’s policies are delaying and retarding the inevitable economic…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 97: Full Body Scans and Child Protection Laws
Sometimes, when two regulations love each other much, they get together and have little baby regulations. This is happening right now in Britain.
Op-Eds
Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes.
Blog
Stimulus Package Forces States to Raise Taxes, Harms Economy
The federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package, which failed to cut unemployment, is now forcing states and local governments to raise taxes. The Wall Street Journal…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Looking Back on 2009
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features a recap of the major events that happened in 2009…
Blog
TSA Praises Itself After Year of Security Lapses; Obama Administration Backs TSA Unionization at Public Expense
In a year-end message to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff, the agency praised itself for a “very good year” in airline…
Blog
Climategate Op-Ed in Detroit News
Here is my op-ed published in the Detroit News on December 23. Climategate: What e-mail really means Daniel Compton By now, most people…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 89: Purple Dye
Modern innovations such as synthetic dyes, the Minnesota Vikings, and purple M&Ms have taken away purple’s exotic reputation. But no worry. Federal regulators are doing…
Blog
Bringing on the clowns at Copenhagen
I was intrigued with a reference in Wes Pruden’s Washington Times column today that the Copenhagen COP15 delegate from Tuvalu, weeping while pleading for…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Sarbox in Court, EPA Ruling on Gases, and Copenhagen
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features coverage on Sarbanes-Oxley's first day in the Supreme Court. This…
Op-Eds
Immigration Limits Don’t Protect Us
Patrick J. Buchanan’s "Halting immigration would be an instant stimulus package" (Dec. 9) blithely ignores economic reality when he states that a moratorium on…
Blog
GW alarmists continue their exploitation of children
This, I think, has to go down as one of the creepiest “editorials” written by global warming alarmists recently. Clive Hamilton, ABC News in…
Blog
Don’t Worry about Trade Deficits
I run an ongoing trade deficit with my local grocery store. I import food from them every week. They have never purchased a thing from…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Climate-Gate Continues
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features the continued coverage of ClimateGate, the leaked email scandal, on…
Blog
ClimateGate gets even more bizarre
ClimateGate is serious. When prominent climate scientists fudge results, refuse FOIA requests, take steps to restrict publication of dissident views, etc., it’s serious business,…
Blog
Following the scientific method: an example
Experiments in science that don’t reinforce scientists’ hypotheses can be vitally important in understanding complex systems. Serious scientists don’t fudge the results or hide…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 77: Banning Toys in Happy Meals
Roberto Zabrido, a government official in Spain, is “adamant that the Happy Meal and its ilk pose a risk.” The solution? Legislation!…
Heartland
Stimulus Funding for In-Flight Broadband
Blog
Cap and Trade Takes a Big Hit in Australia
Breaking news: At a meeting of the Liberal Party’s Members of Parliament today, Malcolm Turnbull was turned out as Leader and replaced by Tony Abbott…
Blog
Injustice Delayed
Tomorrow, December 1st marks the day when banks and other credit processing companies would have had to be in full compliance with Unlawful Internet Gambling…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Unearthed E-Mails Point to Data Manipulation
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features the release of leaked emails suggesting that renowned climate researchers…
Blog
The Little People of the Superstate
Almost like answering Henry Kissinger’s famous question–Who do I call if I want to talk to Europe?–the 27 states of the EU have selected the…
Blog
Illegal Immigration: Make it Legal
The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby wrote a wonderful column yesterday that highlights the inconsistent stance of many conservatives when it comes to immigration.
Blog
Healthcare Bill Advances in Senate, Despite Receiving Failing Grade from Health Experts; Democrats Block Filibuster in Party-Line Vote
The healthcare bill is on the verge of passing the Senate, despite the fact that it has received a failing grade from healthcare experts like…
Blog
CEI Weekly: CEI Starts Gore Debate Fundraiser
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features the start of CEI's Pledge-a-Dollar-to-Debate Campaign. The campaign's goal is…
Blog
Gun Control Laws Empower Pirates and Terrorists!
As John Lott has so effectively demonstrated time and time again, widespread citizen gun possession is an effective way of increasing public safety.
Blog
Stimulus Package Creates Imaginary Jobs, Destroys Jobs in the Real World
President Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package creates imaginary jobs, while destroying ones in the real world. Billions from the stimulus…
Blog
Mixing trade and global warming — a recipe for disaster
Oh dear! Staunch trade proponent Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute is in bed with radical trade opponent Lori Wallach of Public Citizen in…
Blog
CEI Weekly: Celebrating the Fall of the Berlin Wall
CEI weekly is a compilation of articles and blogs from CEI's staff. This week features the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall by…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 71: Waistlines
In Japan, it is illegal for men to have a waist larger than 33.5 inches. The limit for women is 35.4 inches. Those in violation…
Newsletter
Taxing Energy, Cell Phone Health Scare and Carbon Tariffs
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on cap and trade legislation. Concerns grow over an alleged link between cell phone use and brain tumors.
Blog
Baucus wants border measures in climate bill
Uh-oh. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) is raising the stakes on a U.S. climate bill by endorsing the idea of some sort of tariff on…
Blog
Unemployment Skyrockets: “U.S. now beating European unemployment rates”
Unemployment is now higher in the U.S. than in Europe, reports the Washington Post. “The official U.S. unemployment rate, reported last Friday, now stands…
Blog
Twenty Years have Passed: The Fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down. Today marks the twentieth anniversary of that great day – one of the greatest in…
Blog
Soldier Kills 13 in Mass Shooting at Fort Hood: Political Correctness and Gun Control Cited by Critics
A Muslim solder, Nidal Hasan, shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood yesterday. Hasan had earlier exhibited extremist, anti-American propensities, including applauding terrorist…
Blog
Obama One Year Later — A Legacy of Lies and Broken Promises
It’s been a year since the president was elected, and he’s already piled up an impressive list of lies and broken promises. The broken promises…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 68: Ironing Tables
At HPI's request, the International Trade Administration will continue to add anti-dumping duties to the price of its competitors' Chinese-made ironing tables. Sorry, consumers.
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Tariffs and Union Elections
The Department of Homeland Security opens a new operations center to battle cyber attacks. The federal government continues to add tariffs to inexpensive consumer goods…
Blog
Recession Over? Don’t Hold Your Breath
There is a clear political incentive for Geithner and others to make efforts to convince us that this economic slump is over. It is unfortunate…
Blog
Lomborg Strikes Again
Some people want to cure malaria by reducing carbon emissions. Others want to cure it with mosquito nets, and better health care and sanitation. Which…
Blog
Honduras Agreement Did Not Promise Return of Authoritarian Ex-President, Contrary to Earlier Press Reports
The small country of Honduras did not agree to return its authoritarian ex-president to power after all. Press reports said it did, but The…
Blog
Under U.S. pressure, impoverished Honduras may allow authoritarian ex-president to return to power
Under U.S. pressure, Honduras’s leader has reportedly agreed to return to power its authoritarian ex-president, Manuel Zelaya, in exchange for an end to…
Blog
Senator seeks to cover up report showing Honduras acted legally in removing authoritarian ex-president
The Obama administration and congressional allies like Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) are seeking to silence government lawyers who point out their mistakes and misinterpretations of…
Blog
Obama Signs Hate-Crimes Bill Into Law; Critics Say It Circumvents Constitutional Safeguards Against Double Jeopardy
Today, President Obama signed into law a bill that will dramatically expand the federal hate crimes law, enabling prosecutors to bring federal charges against…
Blog
Sweden’s CO2 Labeling: Deceptive Advertising?
A quick point to add to Fran Smith's post on Sweden's experiment in labeling food and menus with carbon footprints: don't read too much into…
Blog
Hate Crimes Bill Passes, Eroding Civil Liberties and Double Jeopardy Safeguards
Yesterday, Congress approved a measure to dramatically expand the existing federal hate crimes law, by adding it to an unrelated defense appropriations bill. The…
Blog
Keeping Priorities Straight
Bjørn Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus, brings some much-needed common sense to the global warming debate. Reporting from Vanuatu, he finds that many locals…
Blog
Obama Accepts “Blasphemy” Exception to Free Speech
In USA Today, liberal law professor Jonathan Turley is criticizing the Obama administration for endorsing a “blasphemy” exception to free speech: “Around the…
Blog
Hot time in EU
The first half of Fall 2009 was a busy season in European politics. On September 27, the general elections took place in Germany. The results…
Blog
Surprising comments on NYT article on climate treaty
Today’s New York Times carries an article, “Hopes fade for comprehensive climate treaty.” It’s not that important an article about the lead-up to Copenhagen. …
Blog
Bill Gates Says Africa Needs GMOs
On Friday, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts…
Blog
Defending free trade: the pending FTAs
The pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia are languishing in limbo, despite the fact that all three agreements will improve…
Blog
New Version of Obama Health-Care Plan Relies on Imaginary Savings, Costs More Than $2 Trillion, and Will Explode Federal and State Budget Deficits
Health-care “reform” always costs more than predicted, as ObamaCare provisions have at the state level. So the claim that the new, cheaper version…
Blog
Silencing Criticism through Libel Law
The physicist turned science journalist Simon Singh has been sued in a UK court and, this past summer, found liable for libel for an April…
Blog
Senators Lindsey Graham and John Kerry: Yes We Can (Raise Your Energy Prices and Send Jobs Abroad)
Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published a curious op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times titled, “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Legislation).” …
Blog
Nobel Prize “Gift” Double Standard
Drug companies are apparently forbidden from offering freebies to doctors in certain liberal states like Massachusetts and Vermont, under the theory that doctors’ loyalty…
Blog
Best article on Obama’s Nobel — Wash Post’s Cohen
Here’s Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen’s take this morning on the Nobel Prize announcement. It’s too good to excerpt: In a stunning announcement,…
Blog
President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
President Obama is in a prime position to work wonders for the cause of peace. He can institute free trade in America. Trade is the…
Blog
Precisely Backwards
Few things are more taxing than our elected officials’ economic illiteracy. How sad that visiting a wonderful country like ours may soon be one of…
Blog
Supreme Court Confronts Free Speech, Animal Cruelty, Gun Rights, Violent Crime, and National Sovereignty Issues
The Supreme Court is back in session. Today, it is hearing a challenge to a federal law banning depictions of cruelty to animals…
Blog
Corporate Human Rights?
Over at the Detroit News, Hans Bader and I explain why corporations have human rights despite not being human. The reason why? Transaction costs.
Blog
World’s largest country reports first swine flu death
Six months into the swine flu outbreak China, with a population of over 1.3 billion or a fifth of the word’s population, has just…
Blog
Unemployment Rises to 26-Year High of 9.8%; Obama’s Policies Worsen Unemployment and Credit Crunch
Unemployment has risen to 9.8 percent, a 26-year high. That’s much higher than the Obama administration predicted unemployment would rise, if Congress had refused…
Blog
Stimulus Packages Don’t Work; Obama’s $800 Billion Stimulus Will Shrink the Economy
“Stimulus” packages that increase government spending don’t work, notes Harvard economist Robert J. Barro in the Wall Street Journal. The administration claimed that Obama’s…
Blog
Overpaid Bureaucrats Expand in Number and Pay
Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus package, and other huge government spending increases, the number of federal and state employees is projected to increase massively.
