By The Editors, National Review Sometimes, politics deals Republicans a winning hand, and that confuses some of them, who then set about trying to figure out a way to lose—which is what is happening with the current debate over the president’s fast-track trade-promotion authority (TPA) and the proposed trade-liberalization deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). TPA,… Read more

By Charles Krauthammer That free trade is advantageous to both sides is the rarest of political propositions—provable, indeed mathematically. David Ricardo did so in 1817. The Law of Comparative Advantage has held up nicely for 198 years. Nor is this abstract theory. We’ve lived it. The free-trade regime created after World War II precipitated the most… Read more

"TPA grants no new authority to the President," says a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. "The President possesses inherent authority to negotiate with other countries to arrive at trade agreements. If any such agreement requires changes in U.S. law, however, it could be implemented only through legislation enacted by Congress." Taking head-on a lot of myths… Read more

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President Reagan with James Baker, Clayton Yeutter, and Allan Gotlieb signing the Canada United States Free Trade Agreement Implentation Act in the Rose Garden. 9/28/88. On this #ThrowbackThursday, we look back at one of the biggest champions of expanding American trade: Ronald Reagan. Our… Read more

Opponents of trade agreements have spun up all kinds of fallacies in an attempt to stop bipartisan trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation, offered by Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). The latest, however, is perhaps the most ludicrous: that a pending trade agreement will somehow lead to restrictions on firearms and ammunition. Let’s just stop right there. Not gonna… Read more

As Chairman Ryan has said: “If we sit by and do nothing, then China will write the rules of the global economy, particularly in Asia, to China's benefit. And that won't be to the benefit of the American worker.” This point was echoed today in The New York Times. They write that China is “setting up other trade pacts around the region so it can use its cash and enormous market leverage… Read more

Yesterday, former Governor Mitt Romney issued the following statement to his nearly 11 million Facebook followers in support for trade promotion authority, or TPA, echoing the fact that stronger trade agreements will bring bigger markets and better-paying jobs to American workers. "It probably wouldn't be a bad rule of thumb to oppose anything President Obama supports. But Trade… Read more

This week marks National Small Business Week, so we should ask ourselves: How can we help America’s small businesses grow and thrive in the 21st-century economy?  The answer is to open up new markets and help them compete for new customers around the world. And how do we do that? By passing trade promotion authority (TPA). With 96 percent of the world’s customers living… Read more

Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan: Putting Congress in Charge on Trade WSJ Editorial Board Endorsement: A Lift for Free Trade American Enterprise Institute: TPA Hits the Right Notes Washington Examiner Editorial Board Endorsement: Congress Should Pursue Trade Agreements with Optimism Bloomberg View, by Ramesh Ponnuru: Arguments Against TPA Don’t Hold Up   Competitive Enterprise… Read more