Free Trade for Thee…

The European Union has enacted a World Trade Organization-sanctioned tariff on U.S. goods ranging from ice cream to "cricket balls." Why? Because the exporters–including Boeing, Microsoft, and Archer Daniels Midland–are snagging some $5 billion in subsidies annually from the U.S. government.

President Bush has called on Congress to kill the subsidies but whether (or when) that will happen is unclear. The tariffs start out at 5 percent and can rise 1 percent a month up to a grand total of 17 percent.

More here.

Reason's recent interview with In Defense of Global Capitalism author Johan Norberg touches on, among many other topics, the often-hypocritical attitudes toward free trade evinced by Western governments.