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
Biden says his steel tariffs totally different from Trump’s, speculates uncle was eaten by cannibals
President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday that he would get tough on China’s steel dumping by tripling tariffs on imports. He argued this was totally different…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Paying for organs with Pete Jaworski
In this week’s episode we cover the future of AI and employment, why we shouldn’t trust Chinese economic statistics, and how the…
Daily Caller
Fresh Report Explains How International Climate Treaties Benefit China At America’s Expense
CEI’s Ben Lieberman is cited in Daily Caller on the Kigali Amendment: “China’s status as a developing nation in U.N. treaties has created an unfair…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
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…
Op-Eds
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…
Citation
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.
Op-Eds
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…
Op-Eds
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…
Blog
Judge Censors Speech About Affirmative Action and Fraud in Racial Set-Asides
Political "commentator Andrew Bolt 'was found guilty Wednesday of breaking Australian discrimination law by implying that fair-skinned Aborigines chose to identify as indigenous for…
Blog
Trade Agreements are Not Job-Killers, Despite Sen. Reid’s Remarks
The Senate and House votes on the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea seem inevitable, now that the main Democratic roadblock to…
Blog
Pull Out of Basel III: The Moral Hazard of Government Ratings
Recently and for different reasons, two high-profile players from different parts of the financial sector -- JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon and respected banking analyst…
Comment
CEI Submits Supplemental Comments on SEC’s Proposed Conflict Minerals Rules
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has submitted supplemental comments regarding Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a provision that would…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Financial Law Uses Regulations to Outsource American Jobs
American jobs will soon be outsourced due to the Dodd-Frank financial "reform" law passed in 2010 with strong support from the Obama administration. That law…
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on Conflict Minerals Rules of Dodd-Frank
The Competitive Enterprise has submitted comments regarding the implementation of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which attempts to…
Blog
CEI Podcast for September 22, 2011: E-Verify
E-Verify is a program that checks the immigration status of new hires. The House is expected to vote on legislation that would make E-Verify mandatory…
Blog
Senator Hatch: Good Reasons Not to Extend TAA
With Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) scheduled for a vote today, in debate on the measure yesterday, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) gave a spirited speech outlining…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 197: Planking
Threats to freedoms even as trivial as planking should not be taken lying down.
Blog
Looking at TAA Worker Eligibility Last Year — Some Observations and Questions
Now that reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is all but a done deal -- a quid pro quo from Republican leadership to President…
Blog
The Establishment Turns Against Democracy!
The Financial Times‘ lead editorial today, “Democracy’s Slow Cure for the Euro,” illustrates a growing willingness of “experts” to argue that people are too…
Blog
Sen. McConnell Introduces “Fast Track” Trade Authority; Hits Unions for Obstructing Trade Agreements
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a gutsy statement on the Senate floor today, saying that he was introducing an amendment to give…
Forbes
Two Cheers For A Big U.S. Trade Deficit
News that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed this summer has brought the usual cheers from commentators. The Associated Press celebrated, noting, “[A] narrowing…
Forbes
Anti-Immigration Laws Hurt Economy
Arizona’s immigration laws — Senate Bill 1070 and the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) — were designed to drive undocumented immigrants out of the…
Blog
WTO Issues Panel’s Findings on U.S.-Mexico Tuna-Dolphin Dispute
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute panel has found that the U.S. requirements for a “dolphin-safe” label on tuna products are more trade-restrictive than…
Blog
AMA Calls for Trade Agreements to Exclude Alcohol and Tobacco
The American Medical Association is calling for alcohol and tobacco to be excluded in all new U.S. trade agreements. New Zealand’s NZWeek, at the…
Blog
Obama’s Job Creation Proposal Will Be Ineffective, Experts Say
Despite its massive price tag of $450 billion, President Obama's recently-proposed American Jobs Act seems like a useless dud to experts who've analyzed it, and the…
Forbes
Immigration is Not Charity
The biggest misconception about immigration is that it is a zero-sum game–that there is a finite number of jobs which immigrants “take” from the…
Blog
The “Overhead Smash” Of ITAR
Over at Beltway Confidential today, Tim Carney asks if one of the unintended (or perhaps not-so-unintended) consequences of Dodd-Frank will be to…
Forbes
Trade Restrictions Will Not Help Underpaid Chinese Workers
Re: “America’s economic troubles are deep-seated,” From Readers, Sept. 6 Madeleine Soudee laments that China, India and Vietnam are “intensely competitive by ignoring human…
Forbes
Alex Nowrasteh on Alabama’s Immigration Law
CEI Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh discusees the economic harm from tight immigration restrictions such as Alabama House Bill 56.
Blog
Obama Administration Violated Federal Laws in Operation Fast and Furious, which Led to Killings of Americans and Mexicans
The scandal over Operation Fast and Furious, in which the Obama administration funneled thousands of guns to violent Mexican drug lords in an abortive, mismanaged…
Blog
Free Trade vs. Protectionism
If international trade barriers create wealth, why stop there? Every state should have its own trade barriers against every other state.