Today marks the 81st anniversary of the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. Actor and economist Ben Stein famously explained this legislation in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the classic John Hughes movie that was released 25 years ago this month: In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort …
June 10 marked an important step forward in Colombia’s efforts to build enduring democratic security and pursue justice: Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, signed the Victims’ and Land Restitution Law. In the past, violence perpetrated primarily by paramilitary groups and guerrillas displaced 4 million Colombians, forcing them off as much …
The Obama Administration recently made its strongest statement yet in support of free trade agreements. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on the challenges of implementing trade agreements: It does mean you have to take on entrenched interests and respond to concerns about new competition, while making the case over …
In April, I visited South Korea and met with government and military leaders to promote vital U.S. interests in East Asia. Among those priorities is the long overdue passage of the South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), which has been stalled in typical Washington fashion since 2007. If ratified, …
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis just announced that the trade deficit for March increased to $48.2 billion. The federal budget deficit plays a major role in creating U.S. trade deficits. When the government sells Treasury bonds to finance the budget deficit, it competes with U.S. exporters and private borrowers …
This time about three years ago, a California Democrat exercised legislative power to do something unprecedented in America’s international trade policymaking. Effectively ending more than five decades of bipartisan consensus on trade policy, on April 10, 2008, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her like-minded colleagues unilaterally and irresponsibly amended House …
Recently, the Organization for International Investment released a report showing that the United States received $194.5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2010. This FDI is responsible for millions of jobs, billions of dollars in exports, and higher wages for U.S. workers. FDI occurs when someone in another country …
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis today announced that U.S. exports for January were $4.4 billion higher than in December. This is good news for U.S. exporters. The bureau also reported that Americans imported $10.5 billion more in January than in December. This is good news, too. As President Obama’s …
