Monday, October 28, 2002
Global Agricultural Trade: Where It Stands, Where It's Going (, )

Featuring Pedro de Camargo Neto, Secretary of Production and Trade, Agriculture Ministry of Brazil; John Wood, New Zealand Ambassador, to the United States; and Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau.

Agricultural policy presents both tremendous opportunities and formidable challenges for the world trading system. Although pro-market reforms could bring enormous gains in economic welfare, political resistance to change is ferocious. Please join our panel of experts to discuss the present and future status of the global agricultural trading system. What should the priorities be for upcoming multilateral, regional, and bilateral negotiations? What are the obstacles to potential agreements? And what are the prospects for making progress under existing trade rules through resort to WTO dispute settlement?

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Thursday, October 17, 2002
Reflections on Immigration and Border Security in a Free Society (, )

Featuring James Ziglar, Commissioner Immigration and Naturalization Service.

President Bush appointed James Ziglar commissioner of the INS one month before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then, Commissioner Ziglar has faced the most challenging set of circumstances ever to confront the INS. During his tenure, Ziglar has sought to balance the need to secure our borders against terrorist infiltration with America's tradition of welcoming peaceful, hardworking immigrants. As he prepares to leave his post at the end of 2002, Commissioner Ziglar will share his reflections on the tumultuous events of the past 14 months and pose some questions for the future.

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Thursday, October 10, 2002
BOOK FORUM: Free Trade Today ... and Tomorrow (, )

Featuring the author, Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University; with comments by Robert Litan, Brookings Institution.

Two new books from Jagdish Bhagwati, one of the world's leading trade economists, illuminate the trade debate today and point toward freer trade in the future. In Free Trade Today, Bhagwati defends free trade against the "American virus" of so-called fair trade and the related threat of sanctions against poor countries that fail to meet Western labor and environmental standards. He then offers a road map to a more open global economy. And in a new edited volume, Going Alone: The Case for Relaxed Reciprocity in Freeing Trade, he and other contributors make the case, from history and theory, that unilateral free trade at home can encourage freer trade abroad.

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Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Food Fight: The Looming U.S.-EU Conflict over Plant Biotechnology and Trade (, )

Featuring Alan Larson, U.S. Department of State; Ronald Bailey, Cato Institute; Tony Van der haegen, Delegation of the European Commission to the U.S.; and Sarah Thorn, Grocery Manufacturers of America.

American farmers are the world's leading producers of genetically modified crops, but the European Union has barred imports of such products on the basis of the "precautionary principle." The U.S. government contends there is no scientific evidence of risk to consumers, and may soon challenge the EU ban in the World Trade Organization. In response, the EU is considering a labeling system, or changes in international rules that would allow its ban to continue.

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Thursday, July 25, 2002
Will U.S. Trade with Cuba Promote Freedom or Subsidize Tyranny? (, )

Featuring Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona; Philip Peters, Lexington Institute; and Dennis K. Hays, Cuban American National Foundation.

For more than four decades, the U.S. government has enforced a comprehensive economic embargo against Cuba in an effort to weaken the communist regime of Fidel Castro. While the Bush administration strongly supports the embargo, a bipartisan coalition in Congress wants to encourage more direct contact between Cubans and Americans. This summer, the House will consider amendments to repeal the travel ban, allow private financiang of food and medicine sales, and completely lift the embargo. Speaking in favor of the reform will be Rep. Jeff Flake, a leader of the Cuba Working Group, and Philip Peters, an expert on the Cuban economy; supporting the embargo will be Ambassador Dennis Hays, vice president of a leading Cuban-American organization.

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Friday, April 12, 2002
HILL BRIEFING
Smart Borders, Secure Borders: Must We Curb Immigration to be Safe from Terrorism?

Featuring Daniel Griswold, Cato Institute; and John Gay, Essential Worker Immigration Coalition.

The House recently passed and the Senate is now considering the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002.The legislation aims to protect Americans against international terrorism by, among other reforms, requiring tamper-proof visas, funding more border patrol inspectors, modernizing databases, and suspending non-immigrant visas to travelers from countries that sponsor terrorism. But long-time critics of immigration argue that the legislation does not go far enough. They want deep cuts or even a moratorium on legal immigration and a halt to any proposals to legalize undocumented immigration, especially from Mexico. Two immigration experts will discuss the economic and security implications of the pending legislation and efforts in Congress to restrict immigration.

Thrusday, April 11, 2002
BOOK FORUM: Free Trade Under Fire (, )

Featuring the author, Douglas Irwin, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College; with comments by J. Michael Finger, American Enterprise Institute; and Steve Clemons, New America Foundation.

The 1990s began with fears of a "great sucking sound" of jobs lost due to the North American Free Trade Agreement and ended with opponents of the World Trade Organization taking to the streets in Seattle. Why has global trade become so controversial? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin examines the positions of the proponents and critics of free trade-and makes plain the stakes involved in their disagreement. He explains the economic benefits of trade, not just for corporations, but for people and the environment. He illustrates how protectionist policies damage the economy and cost jobs, and shows how "fair trade" measures are arbitrary, unfair, and often harmful. He demystifies the WTO and sets the record straight about its controversial rulings. Irwin does not hold up free trade as a panacea but demonstrates why it is the best course available. Please join us for a spirited discussion about the economics of trade and globalization.

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February 13, 2002 
Trade War or Tax Reform? The WTO Ruling on Tax Breaks for U.S. Exporters (, )

Featuring Rep. Phil Crane, Committee on Ways and Means; William Reinsch, National Foreign Trade Council; John Meagher, PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Chris Edwards, Cato Institute.

The World Trade Organization recently ruled that a $4 billion tax break designed to help U.S. exporters compete in foreign markets is an illegal export subsidy. The WTO sided with the European Union against the legality of the U.S. Extraterritorial Income Act , which Congress enacted in 2000, after prior WTO rulings against U.S. Foreign Sales Corporation tax rules. The United States could respond by simply eliminating the tax break, but that would impose a $4 billion tax hike on American exporting companies. Or the United States could ignore the WTO ruling, but that could provoke EU trade sanctions. A third option would be to repeal the ETI tax provisions as part of a broader corporate tax reform that would include lowering the high U.S. corporate tax rate and adopting a "territorial" tax system. Four experts discuss policy options and implications.

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February 11, 2002
HILL BRIEFING
Restraint of Trade? Recent Studies on the Impact of Trade Restraints on the U.S. Economy

Panel discussion featuring Cal Cohen, Emergency Committee for American Trade; Gary Horlick, American Consumers for Affordable Housing; Janet Kopenhaver, Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition; Brink Lindsey, Cato Institute.

February 5, 2002
BOOK FORUM: "Against the Dead Hand: The Uncertain Struggle for Global Capitalism" (, )

Featuring the author, Brink Lindsey; with comments by Robert Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative; Sebastian Mallaby, The Washington Post; and Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth College.

Globalization: it's earlier than you think. That's the provocative message of Against the Dead Hand, which traces the rise and fall of the century-long dream of central planning and top-down control, revealing the extent to which the "dead hand" of the old collectivist dream still shapes the contours of today's world economy. Mixing historical narrative, thought-provoking arguments, and on-the-scene reporting and interviews, Brink Lindsey shows how the global economy has grown up amidst the wreckage of collectivism's failures, detailing how that wreckage constrains the present and obscures the future.

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