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
AGOA renewal should hold South Africa accountable
Free traders scored a victory in Congress this week when the House Ways and Means Committee passed the AGOA Extension Act. The legislation, sponsored…
The Washington Examiner
Coconut, citrus, and tea: Here’s what got tariff relief quietly over the weekend
The Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on tariffs Ryan Young, a senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the list of tariff rollbacks is…
The National News Desk
Rollbacks on tariffs for food could bring shoppers some relief on prices
The National News Desk cited CEI’S expert on tariffs raising prices “The positive experience that consumers will see with price reductions on their food…
Search Posts
American Spectator
The Myth of Buying Local
Buying local has always been a popular sentiment, but the movement has picked up steam in recent years. Especially this holiday season, consumers are being…
Blog
Ron Kirk’s Texas origins may temper trade stance
Selecting former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative sends a signal that perhaps President-elect Obama will temper his anti-trade…
Blog
Killing Without the Smile
The National Health Service loves to save money. Too bad that means denying essential medical care and killing patients. But what’s a bureaucracy for? The…
Blog
How Do Regulations Stack Up as a Small Firm Grows?
Tomorrow, electric utilities and green groups team up at the National Press Club to ask for billions of new spending on what they term energy…
Blog
Solis: Could have been worse…but not much
According to the Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis’s voting…
Blog
China’s Economic “Boost”
Recently, the Chinese government released a plan to “boost” the Chinese money supply and stimulate the economy. Unlike Americans, people in China actually save…
Blog
EU Climate Agreement All Smoke and Mirrors
So if the EU has just put together an agreement to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020, why are the climate alarmist groups calling it…
Newsletter
Auto Bailout, Global Warming Controversy and Free Trade
Senators vote down a bailout proposal for U.S. auto companies. Czech President Vaclav Klaus criticizes a new European agreement on global warming as “a silly…
Blog
Jimmy Carter Disowns the Dictator Mugabe, His Frankenstein
After years of criticizing supposedly “unilateral” American military intervention in places like Iraq (where the U.S. was actually acting in concert with other countries, like…
Blog
U.S. and Latin America need closer ties
Four former presidents of Latin American countries and the former president of Spain joined in an ardent plea for the U.S.
Blog
Protecting Pets Before People
Why do advocates of socialized medicine prefer pets over people? It’s hard not to conclude that’s the way they think. After all, in Canada you…
Blog
Forbes China’s 100 richest
Each year, Forbes magazine produces a list of the 100 richest people in China. But no rich people would like to appear in…
Blog
Effective Health Care Cost Containment
With the Obama administration preparing to address the problem of health care, they should remember that the most effective form of cost containment is to…
Blog
An Old Joke
But still a good and classic one. In 1949, only Socialism could save China. In 1979, only Capitalism could save China. In…
Blog
Rule of Law at Stake in the UK
Yesterday the UK saw a large group of protesters bring a major London airport to a halt. Plane Stupid (you can’t get them for false…
Blog
To world leaders: halt the spread of protectionism
It’s timely and needed — a new publication gives leading trade economists’ views on “What world leaders must do to halt the spread…
Blog
Bureaucrats are the Same the World Over
You’ve got to love the European Union. It took the federal government decades to become so extraordinarily bureaucratic, wasteful, and out of touch. The EU…
Blog
The Wonders of Socialized Medicine, Part LXVI
The Daily Mail reminds us how government health care is compassionate and efficient; So imagine my shock when I saw how some nurses recently…
Newsletter
Bottled Water for the Homeless, Challenging NAFTA and Green-on-Green Violence
North Carolina officials pass out winter aid kits to the homeless. Barack Obama’s presumptive pick for trade representative suggests that the U.S. should renegotiate the…
Newsletter
Endangered Species, International Trade and the Auto Bailout
President Bush pardons a Missouri farmer found guilty of accidently causing the deaths of bald eagles under the Endangered Species Act. Barack Obama considers Rep.
Blog
If Obama Rewrites NAFTA, Canada Could Hit Back Hard
As President-elect Obama fills his Cabinet and top-advisor positions, he has not yet named a U.S. Trade Representative, but, as CEI noted, he…
Blog
The Richardson appointment was nice, but…
When was the last time the U.S.'s top trade official wasn't a strong advocate for free trade? It may happen in the new Obama Administration.
Blog
Wealth-Creating Alternatives to Pelosi’s Destructive Infrastructure “Stimulus”
Well, who can possibly be surprised by the revelation that “The federal government's economic stimulus package will include investment in broadband Internet infrastructure and…
Blog
Doug, I think you’re partly wrong
Doug, The situation you describe in the UK here is outrageous however one looks at it. Indeed, it provides a strong case why the…
Blog
Health Care Bureaucrats Take Care of Themselves
For years observers have noted the phenomenon of public school teachers sending their kids to private schools–especially in cities with the worst and deadliest public…
Blog
You’ve Just Got to Love Britain’s Health Care Bureaucrats
First the National (Un)Health Service said if you wanted a drug that it wasn’t willing to provide–too expensive for the purpose of saving your miserable…
Blog
World Toilet Day Passed Me By
I was traveling last week and missed World Toilet Day. You didn't notice it either? Too bad. The toilet is a humble creation, one that…
Blog
Legal High-Seas Hostage Taking?
Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would mean a loss of sovereignty and burdensome extraterritorial regulation of U.S. extractive industries. In…
Blog
IHT profiles Václav Klaus
The International Herald Tribune takes a look at the in-coming president of the European Union, Václav Klaus, the president of the Czech…
Blog
Socialize Medicine, Kill Cancer Patients
Any American who travels to Europe as I just did is likely to get hit with the argument that the United States is inhumane because…
Blog
FT says “nay” to Hillary choice for State
As pundits bet that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a done deal for Secretary of State, today’s editorial in the Financial Times calls it a…
Newsletter
Green Week on NBC, Hillary at State and Taxing Casinos
NBC Universal and corporate parent General Electric launch seven days of environmentally-themed programming with “Green Week.” Political observers predict that President-elect Obama will nominate Sen.
Blog
Hillary at State — not good for trade
Controversy continues over the strong possibility of President-elect Barack Obama naming Sen. Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State. Politico today notes…
Blog
Pure Hype about Bottled Water
The company producing Pur Filters is touting the fact that its filters can remove trace pharmaceuticals and even some (but they don’t guarantee it…
Blog
Brits Say Care More Expensive, Lower Quality than in Estonia
Ah, socialized medicine. Everyone is guaranteed care, right? And the government saves so much money that is wasted in America. Well, so much for the…
Blog
Tories Retreat From Green Taxes
A major part in the rebranding of the British Conservative Party following a traumatic election defeat (sound familiar?) in 2005 was a turn to environmentalism.
Blog
Ugly Vegetables and Fruit Again to be Sold in Europe!
Amazing. The European Union actually responded to criticism. About one-fifth of European produce has to be dumped because it doesn’t mean minimum EU standards, which…
Blog
EU Lifts “Ugly” Fruit and Vegetable Ban
The European Union has rescinded its ban on some “ugly” fruits and vegetables. AP reports: The European Union bid adieu Wednesday to rules that…
Blog
Even the liberal media support the Colombia trade deal
Today's Washington Post and Los Angeles Times both endorse passage of the U.S- Colombia free trade agreement, which many Democratic politicians, pressured by…
Blog
Last-minute push for Colombia trade pact
Major newspapers around the country including the Washington Post, the LA Times, and the Wall Street Journal are urging President-elect Barack…
Blog
Gypsy Hot Dog Vendors on the Horizon?
In Toronto, city officials have been waging a slow campaign against street hot dog vendors, many of whom, notes National Post columnist Kelly McParland,…
Blog
An Agenda for the Monday a.m. Obama and Bush Meeting
Since the President and President-elect start spending quality Oval Office time together today, and since the incoming admistration's advisors can't settle on either pushing…
Blog
Banana Entrepreneurs Should Follow the Cocoa Initiative
Last Wednesday, The New York Times ran an appealing story on the rise of an Ecuadorian Quichua community from…
Newsletter
Online Ads, Regulatory Reform and Free Trade
Google and Yahoo abandon a proposed advertising partnership amid antitrust concerns. President-Elect Obama begins transition work with the current White House staff. Rep. Rahm Emanuel…
Blog
Rahm Emanuel and trade — there’s hope
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) has accepted President-elect Barack Obama’s offer to serve as his chief of staff in the White House. Depending…
Blog
Perspective on trade in the Obama Administration
During the presidential primaries and in the campaigns, there was a lot of rhetoric about the need for “fair” trade instead of free trade.
Op-Eds
Danny Finkelstein is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong about the US elections
Iain Murray is Director of Projects and Analysis at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think-tank in Washington DC. The…
Blog
Congratulations on Obama Win from My Marxist Father-in-Law in France
My father-in-law, a Marxist trade unionist and former Trotskyite candidate for the French Parliament, called me up last night at 2 a.m. to congratulate me…
Blog
Oil Prices Plunge Hits Ecuador
Today's Washington Times features an article on Ecuador “Economic Crisis Starts to Show up in Ecuador”, in which author John Zarocostas…
Blog
The Boring EU: Sending Itself Into Space
If you go to Brussels you see how seriously the Eurocrats take their mission to bureaucratize the entire continent. It is as bad as Washington,…
