The Sino-American trade conflict I wrote on last month has just become more likely. Chinese trade numbers show exports declining and imports collapsing at the end of 2008, the latter plunging 21% in December. The grave weakness in imports puts paid to the once-popular but unfounded notion that China could …
For 15 years, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have been measuring countries’ commitment to free-market capitalism in the “Index of Economic Freedom.” The 2009 Index, published this week, provides strong evidence that the countries that maintain the freest economies do the best job of promoting prosperity for …
Reuters reports this weekend: Obama’s transition team said it is mulling “buy American” provisions for the stimulus package that could favor U.S. companies over foreign competitors. Protectionism is the last thing our economy needs right now. The last time the U.S. reverted to protectionism in a time of economic turmoil …
Former-Rep. James Bacchus (D-FL) writes in today’s Wall Street Journal: President-elect Barack Obama is rightly focused on preparing a stimulus plan to “jolt” the American economy toward recovery. Yet missing thus far is any mention of international trade as part of his plan. Democratic presidents — Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Carter …
Former assistant secretary of state for Africa Herman Cohen writes in The New York Times: After his inauguration, Barack Obama should appoint a special negotiator who would propose a framework for an economic common market encompassing Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. This agreement would allow the free movement …
Australia’s Institute of Public Affairs director of the intellectual property and free trade Tim Wilson writes in today’s Wall Street Journal: The high priests of climate change are wrapping up their latest meeting today in Poznan, Poland, where the United Nations is hosting a conference on global warming. But don’t …
Throughout the presidential campaign Barak Obama apologists like Fareed Zakaria hoped that Obama was just lying to the American people about his protectionist stances on trade, and that if elected Obama would prove to be every bit the free trader that Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have been. We …
