This past Sunday marked an important anniversary for the American economy. On November 22, 2006, the United States and Colombia signed the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. This agreement would immediately eliminate tariffs on U.S. exports to this important trading partner – creating billions in revenue for U.S. businesses and new …
Few economists have a good word for the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930, which provoked a worldwide round of competitive protectionism that reduced trade, deepened and prolonged the Great Depression, and aided the rise of the Nazi Party. Out of that disaster came a bipartisan consensus: the U.S., for decades a …
The Brazilian is preparing to bring the fight over ethanol tariffs to the World Trade Organization’s doorstep. Currently there is a 54 cent tariff on the importation of ethanol into the United States, and Roberto Azevedo, Brazil’s WTO ambassador, said there was a “strong possibility” that the country would formally …
Looking at the relationship between protectionism, subsidies, and world hunger, American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar Adam Lerrick writes: The world has the ability to feed itself at affordable prices. There is no shortage of productive land. Large tracts in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Brazil offer huge potential. Putting fallow acres back …
Domestically produced corn based ethanol has enjoyed preferential federal treatment for years including a $0.51 per gallon tax credit and tariffs that discourage potentially cheaper sugar cane-based ethanol from Brazil. Federal government government support for ethanol has only increased in recent years with the first ever renewable fuel mandate for …