Policymakers must be constantly reminded of the benefits of free trade and the costs of protectionism. Free trade is the extension of free markets across political borders. Enlarging markets to integrate more buyers, sellers, investors and workers enables more refined specialization and economies of scales, which produce more wealth and higher living standards. Protectionism does just the opposite. Congress and the administration should pursue policies that expand the freedom of Americans to participate in the international marketplace.
Trade Policy
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Tariffs (That Biden Won’t Remove) Threaten the U.S. Manufacturing Recovery (That Biden Wants)
Tariffs not only impose immense economic costs but also fail to achieve their primary policy aims and foster political dysfunction along the way.
China’s Technological Predation Threatens U.S. Security
Primacy in the next generation of technology could lock in advantages with very serious security implications for years and decades to come.
Trade Policy Priorities through the Eyes of Congressional Democrats
What are the Democrats’ wishes for U.S. trade policy? What obstacles do they foresee? Are they willing and able to remind Americans, once again, why being for trade is in their best interest and why being against trade is not?
Trade Policy in a Biden Administration: Back to Normal, or into the Great Unknown?
What Are the Price Effects of Trade? Evidence from the United States and Implications for Quantitative Trade Models
The Pandemic Does Not Justify Protectionism or Deglobalization
International trade and cross‐border investment produce some degree of reliance and risk, but in policymakers’ rush to indict trade and globalization, they dismiss the enormous benefits that Americans get from participating in the global economy as workers, consumers, producers, and investors.
Featured Policy Analysis
Manufactured Crisis: “Deindustrialization,” Free Markets, and National Security
Expansive new security nationalism proposals warrant extreme skepticism, and market‐oriented policies should be prioritized.
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Cato Project on Jones Act Reform
The Cato Institute aims to shake up this status quo by shining a spotlight on the Jones Act’s myriad negative impacts and exposing its alleged benefits as entirely hollow. By systematically laying bare the truth about this nearly 100 year old failed law, the Cato Institute Project on Jones Act Reform is meant to raise public awareness and lay the groundwork for its repeal or reform.