Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Post

https://lnkd.in/dqs3hyzG Too many are blaming “free trade” as the cause of domestic social ills. It makes it sound as if we must choose between liberal trade policies and solving important policy problems at home. But that’s a false choice. We've never had free trade. For effective public policy discussions, say what you mean.

President Joe Biden’s top trade official reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to reforming the World Trade Organization in a speech aimed at blunting criticism that the US is slow-rolling efforts to update the trade body’s decades-old rulebook. Tai says US is committed to improving the Geneva trade body Warns that US won’t support ‘restoring’ the World Trade Organization appellate body #wto #usa #reforms #rulebook #appellate #trade #globaltrade #litigation #policy #tariffs #imports #globaleconomy

The future US trade policy, shifting from the 1990s neoliberal approaches, aims to be not just reciprocal but also more equitable and beneficial for the US, focusing on safeguarding national interests and protecting domestic industries.

Professor L. Alan Winters proposes 3 institutional reforms to make UK trade policy formulation better: increasing scrutiny, considering public attitudes to trade policy issues, and creating an independent source of advice and analysis on trade policy. See here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eTbkWYce #brexit #uktrade #trade #tradepolicy #europeanunion

Insightful blog with L. Alan Winters explanation of how Adam Smith's words still bear on many trade-policy debates today. This paper also highlights how Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is still relevant to UK trade policymaking on international trade 👉 https://lnkd.in/enXsq5fd

Great piece from a great source, whom I cite in "America's New Map." But here's the rub with our sticks-only logic: "In the end, whether 'choose your own adventure' voluntary trade frameworks will do much of anything is a real question. As Senator Ben Cardin warned US Trade Representative Catherine Tai during a Senate Finance Committee meeting, 'You can get all the commitments you want from a country that they’re going to do all these good things on anti-corruption…. They don’t do it. And there’s no enforcement because you don’t have any trade sanctions that you can impose, which is the way that we enforce these agreements.'” You see the problem with the logic here: we really only punish; we don't incentivize with a pathway toward something bigger and better than just "voluntary trade frameworks." O'Neil is dead-right. We need to "go beyond virtue signaling." We just need a far bigger carrot.

A must read for all students of Economics!

Free trade with EU stumbles. Hear the latest observations on the free trade negotiations, the importance of trust between government and business and some random observations from Andrew Meagher, our Abundium political and economic pundit from across the last month. #multinationals #freetrade #trust

Very interesting reading with lots of details on how people think about trade policy. #tradepolicy https://lnkd.in/dGgkCKgs

Going through the 98 federal agencies in 98 days. Day 37: International Trade Commission Budget: $126,841,621 The International Trade Commission has three missions so let's go through each one. The first is that it adjudicates trade disputes. Instead of a court deciding when the law was broken, a bureaucratic agency does. This part is equivalent to an Article I court. Instead, let's make an actual Article III court that can adjudicate the law. The second is it provides the federal government with "independent" analysis on trade matters. It doesn't. Anyone who thinks that information coming out of the federal government is unbiased is naive. All information has bias and when that information is coming from political appointees, it most likely is highly biased. The third is keeping a record of the tariffs of the US. Obviously this needs to be done, but could easily be accomplished by the federal registrar. Why have two organizations when one would suffice. Let's break it up. #98days #day37 #TexasConservative #TX31