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
Featured Study
Protectionism or National Security? The Use and Abuse of Section 232
With several Section 232 tariffs still in place, and the status of other investigations unclear, the law presents an early test for the Biden administration and a signal about its future trade policy plans.
Featured Content
Examining the Jones Act’s Harm to U.S. Ports
The Jones Act has heavily contributed to the lack of transshipment in U.S. ports. That’s a missed opportunity for Puerto Rico.
Judicial Checks on Abuse of the National Security Rationale: The Case of Xiaomi
The flaws in the Trump administration’s national security justification in the Xiaomi case are a reminder that the Biden administration should review carefully the Trump administration’s decisions that invoked national security, and should carry out policy in this area in a way that addresses these complex issues with more balance and nuance.
Mexico’s Electricity Bill Rolls Back Energy Reforms and Threatens Relations with Trading Partners
In a bid to leave his mark on Mexico’s energy sector, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is rolling back reforms by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto that were designed to increase competition in the energy market.
After COVID, Services Are Where the Trade Action Is
The pandemic has showcased the digital economy, where the United States has enormous comparative advantages.
End the National Security Free Pass for Presidential Meddling in Trade
The Trump administration made extensive use of national security justifications for restricting trade. It’s time for the law that allows it to go. Inu Manak and Scott Lincicome comment.
Related Policy Center
Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies
The purpose of exchange is to enable each of us to focus our productive efforts on what we do best. By specializing in an occupation—instead of allocating small portions of our time to the impossible task of producing each of the necessities and luxuries we wish to consume—and exchanging the monetized output we produce most efficiently for the goods and services we produce less efficiently, we are able to produce and consume more output than would be the case in the absence of specialization and trade. The larger the size of the market, the greater is the scope for specialization, exchange, and economic growth.
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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.