Reports that Americans are becoming increasingly hostile to trade are greatly exaggerated. The French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) recently polled people in several countries to compare their attitudes on trade and economics. Asked whether international trade is good for the United States or bad, Americans were 50 percent more …
Last night’s BCS Championship game pitted the Auburn Tigers from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against the Oregon Ducks from the Pac-10. To guard against biases that could have influenced the game’s outcome, officials were provided by the Big 10. If football-crazed fans from Auburn and Oregon can understand why referees …
When the proposed South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) was initially signed on June 30, 2007, Heritage Foundation analysts recognized significant benefits that would come from implementation of this landmark trade deal. Those benefits included more exports, more export-related jobs, and a stronger economy. As the Obama Administration has pointed …
The economic case for the South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) has been variously described as a “slam dunk,” a “pareto-optimal solution,” and “an easy ‘yes.’” However, aside from the economic arguments for KORUS, recent events in the Korean peninsula make approval of the agreement more important than ever. On …
Following the shocking inability of U.S. and South Korean trade negotiators to reach agreement on changes to a proposed Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the biggest question was whether the failure was due to a conscious decision by President Obama or to stunning incompetence. However, if negotiators had managed to …
In 1773, American colonists dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. Their unwillingness to pay duties on imported tea made them our country’s original free traders. As Constitutionalists, Tea Party members are likely to recall that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign …
The media seem intent on convincing Americans that they no longer support free trade. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal, for example, begins “The American public, already skeptical of free trade, is becoming increasingly hostile to it.” The article goes on to report that the results of a …
Reports from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) are being misrepresented by leftist organizations like the AFL-CIO and the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The purpose of these misrepresentations? To create a false and misleading picture of the relationship between international trade and employment. Close examination reveals that trade deficits are not …
President Obama reportedly plans to name Austan Goolsbee to head his Council of Economic Advisers. This appointment is good news for advocates of expanded international trade. One of the world’s leading trade economists, Jagdish Bhagwati, described Goolsbee as a valuable source of free-trade advice over almost a decade. During the …
In the 1980s and 1990s, Chicken Littles warned that Japan was buying up America. The biggest symbol that our country couldn’t keep up with Japan’s managed-trade policies was the 1989 purchase of New York’s Rockefeller Center by Mitsubishi. Even though the sky didn’t fall, protectionist Chicken Littles are at it …
