The Senate's Industrial Policy Bill Is a Debt-Financed Corporate Giveaway That Lobbyists Love
The U.S. Innovation and Competition Act is a lobbyist-crafted proposal that funnels emergency spending to politically connected special interests.
Free Trade
Lumber Is Crazy Expensive Right Now. Biden Is About To Make It Worse.
The Commerce Department is planning to hike tariffs on Canadian lumber from about 9 percent to more than 18 percent.
America's Semiconductor Industry Doesn't Need $52 Billion in New Subsidies To Stay Ahead of China
Industrial policy is the wrong answer to a problem that mostly doesn't exist.
China Is Paying Less Than 8 Percent of Tariff Costs. Americans Are Paying the Rest.
American consumers are bearing nearly 93 percent of the costs of the tariffs applied to Chinese goods, according to Moody's Investors Service.
Trump's Trade War With Europe Is Biden's Trade War Now
Monday's announcement of a truce in the conflict is good. Peace would be better. Biden should drop Trump's steel tariffs.
America's Shipping Laws Made the Gas Crisis Worse
The protectionist Jones Act makes it harder to move fuel around the country.
More Than 300 Manufacturers Just Asked Biden To Repeal Trump's Steel Tariffs as Prices Skyrocket
Trump imposed huge tariffs on imported steel and Biden is keeping them in place even as American businesses beg for relief.
Biden's $2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Will Hurt the Environment
The president says fighting climate change is one of his primary goals. His legislation would do no such thing.
Americans Overpay for Biden's 'Buy American' Plan
These rules drive up costs and distort markets while letting politicians claim credit for defending domestic industries from foreign competition.
Industrial Policy Failed With Vaccines Too
Global supply chains beat government-directed manufacturing once again.
If You Like Tariffs, You Should Have Cheered the Clogged Suez Canal
Disruptions to trade are bad for the world, whether you can see them or not.
Africa Tries Free Trade
Liberal ideas are beginning to gain traction on the world's poorest continent.
Conservative Economic Nationalism Is Not as Popular as People Think
Even supporters of Donald Trump think foreign trade and free markets are good for America.
Why Are Members of Congress Trying To Ban the Importation of Kangaroo Meat?
Congress should rue the day it hopped on the kangaroo-meat ban.
Biden, Democrats Are Locking in Trump's Tariffs
Rather than undoing Trump's disastrous trade policies, Democrats in the White House and Congress appear to be entrenching the tariffs as a key part of U.S. trade policy.
When It Comes to Policy, Biden and Trump Aren't That Different
The president's approach to immigration, trade, and industry may sound familiar.
The U.S. Is Hoarding Vaccines It Won't Let Americans Take
"Vaccine nationalism" is going to make the pandemic last longer than it otherwise would.
U.S. Lifts Tariffs on Scotch Whisky, but American Distillers Remain on the Rocks
The announcement signals a possible deescalation in the transatlantic trade war and raises hopes for a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement.
Biden's Pick To Run Trade Policy, Katherine Tai, Promises More Efficient Protectionism
Trump's trade policies caused "a lot of disruption and consternation," Tai said at one point during Thursday's hearing. "I want to accomplish similar goals in a more effective process."
American Distillers Face a Double-Shot of Tariffs in June. Will Biden Save Them?
Biden's new trade representative should outline a plan to remove the economically nonsensical and politically pointless tariffs on European steel and aluminum in order to deescalate this costly conflict.
The Trade War Drove American Automaking Jobs to China as Tariffs Stalled U.S. Exports
Further evidence that tariffs simply don't make sense as trade policy. President Joe Biden should take note.
Why Does Janet Yellen Suddenly Sound Like Trump on Trade?
In comments to The New York Times Magazine published this week, the new treasury secretary says free trade has been "so negative" for "a large share of the population." That's just wrong.
Instead of Lifting Trump's Tariffs, Biden Is Imposing More of Them
Reimplementing 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imported from the United Arab Emirates for vacuous national security reasons only entrenches executive authority over trade.
The Food Industry Is Pressuring Biden To Dump Trump's Awful Tariffs
Biden should repeal Trump's food taxes immediately.
A Practical Wish List for Joe Biden
Some doable libertarian ideas for the new president
Biden Administration Affirms Support for Protectionist Jones Act, Throwing Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans to the Sharks
Pandering to maritime unions means higher costs and harsher lives for coastal minority populations.
Biden Set To Entrench Trumpist Protectionism With 'Buy American' Order
Biden is seeking unity, but bipartisan agreement on bad policy is nothing to cheer for.
After Brexit, Good News for Free Trade in the U.K.
So far, Britain has signed 63 new trade deals, including with the E.U.
Trump Promised a 'Good and Easy To Win' Trade War, Then Lost It
Five reasons why Trump's trade war didn't go the way he thought it would.
A Silicon Curtain Descends
Trump escalated America's war against Huawei and China. Biden should beware burgeoning technonationalism.
Trump's Tariffs Made D.C. Swampier as Senators, Lobbyists Sought Special Favors for Connected Companies
Sen. Josh Hawley, a supporter of Trump's trade policies, lobbied to give a special exemption to a Missouri-based power tools manufacturer. Many other elected officials did too.
Josh Hawley's Latest Plan To Hike Tariffs Would Be a Win for China
Shutting down the GSP program would reduce economic growth in developing countries and raise taxes on American importers.
The Ultimate 2020 Libertarian Gift Guide
Reason's writers and editors share their suggestions for what you should be buying your friends and family this year.
Like COVID-19 Vaccines? Thank Globalization!
The scientific and medical knowledge used to develop and distribute the vaccines is not, thankfully, trapped within national borders.
If Biden Really Wants to Stimulate the Economy, He Should End Trump's Trade War
The current administration’s trade policies have left the incoming president some low-hanging fruit.
In His Final Days, Is Trump's Approach to China Changing for the Better?
On his first day in office, Donald Trump tore up the Trans-Pacific Partnership. His administration is now seeking to put together something similar.
Vaccine Nationalism Threatens Politicized Decisions to Fight a Global Pandemic
If governments stand in the way of vaccine production and distribution for the world market, the costs will be high in lives and in wealth.
Virginia Postrel: When Calico Was Treated Like Cocaine
The former Reason editor discusses her new book, The Fabric of Civilization, and why she's optimistic about the future.
Will Biden Repeal Trump's Destructive Food Tariffs?
American farmers and consumers deserve freer trade.
Peter Navarro's No-Good Economic Nationalism
Navarro is the missing link between the democratic socialists on the left and the economic nationalists on the right.
The Rust Belt Made Trump President. The Bet Hasn't Paid Off.
If Trump loses his bid for re-election, it will be because Rust Belt voters abandoned him after four years of misguided economic policies.
Trump's Foxconn Deal Became Just Another Government Development Debacle
The Taiwanese manufacturer promised Trump and then–Governor Scott Walker 13,000 new jobs and a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant. They've delivered a mostly empty building that's one-twentieth the promised size.
Milton Friedman's Free to Choose Proved Capitalism Is Superior to Socialism
Forty years later, the libertarian Nobel laureate's PBS series is still winning hearts and minds.
American Tariffs Are Bad for Booze. European Tariffs Would Be a Disaster.
The E.U. is considering levying $4 billion in new tariffs on American goods, with alcohol likely to be one of the targets.
Mike Pence Says Joe Biden Will Repeal Trump's Tariffs. That's a Good Idea!
Too bad Biden's position isn't as good as Pence makes it sound.
Before the Web: The 1980s Dream of a Free and Borderless Virtual World
Watch part one of a four-part documentary series about the cypherpunk movement of the 1990s.
Will These Lawsuits End Trump's Tariffs? More Than 3,500 U.S. Companies Hope So.
The lawsuits have been filed over the past two weeks by several major American companies, including retailers Target and Home Depot, car manufacturers Tesla and Ford, and several major manufacturing firms.
Federal Payments to Farmers Have Tripled Since 2017, and Trump Just Promised Even More
Trump's farm bailouts have cost taxpayers more than $28 billion already, and he just announced another $14 billion in payments as part of his reelection pitch to farm-heavy states.
