News Release

September 4, 2003

Media Contact: (202) 789-5200

Cato trade experts available for comment on WTO conference in Cancun
New Cato books and policy forum address globalization, tariff reductions

WASHINGTON--During the runup to the the World Trade Organization's annual ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, the Cato Institute will be hosting two forums and releasing two books that address many of the critical trade issues the WTO will be grappling with. And then, Cato trade policy experts Brink Lindsey and Daniel Ikenson will attend the September 10-14 conference and will be available for media interviews. Back in Washington, Cato's associate director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies, Dan Griswold, and Swedish analyst Johan Norberg will be available for comment.

Here's a rundown on Cato events and book releases:

Thursday, September 4: Cato hosts a forum featuring Johan Norberg, the author of In Defense of Global Capitalism (Cato, 2003). A young writer from Sweden, Norberg, a self-described former anarchist, has traveled to Vietnam, Africa, and other hot spots in the battle over globalization. With a multitude of facts, statistics, and graphs, Norberg's book shows how capitalism is in the process of creating a better world. Click for more information on this forum.

Friday, September 5: Cato hosts a policy forum, "The Road from Cancun to Free Trade in Manufactured Goods." The Bush administration has proposed zero tariffs on manufactured goods worldwide by 2015 through negotiations in the WTO. At the same time, the administration is pursuing a string of bilateral and regional trade agreements to achieve free trade more rapidly and comprehensively with a select group of countries. Do bilateral deals complement or undermine the goal of global free trade in manufactured goods? Four experts with differing views on that question will debate the merits of the administration's trade strategy, including Ernie Preeg, Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI and Dan Griswold, Cato Institute. Click for more information on this policy forum.

Wednesday, September 10: Cato releases Antidumping Exposed: The Devilish Details of Unfair Trade Law, by Brink Lindsey and Daniel J. Ikenson. This book identifies the many methodological quirks and biases that allow normal, healthy competition to be stigmatized as "unfair" and punished with often cripplingly high antidumping duties, and comes to the inescapable conclusion is that the antidumping law, as it currently stands, has nothing to do with maintaining a "level playing field." Instead, antidumping's primary function is to provide an elaborate excuse for old-fashioned protectionism. Click for more information on this book.

Norberg, Griswold, Lindsey, and Ikenson are all available for media interviews.