free trade

Donald Trump, the illegitimate President of the United States of America, declared that all imports from Canada, Mexico, and China will be subject to a 25% tariff, from February 4, 2025, onwards. There is no plausible reading of the trade among Mexico, the United States, and Canada that would even begin to justify these measures. Indeed, Trump’s previous administration renegotiated the free trade agreement among these countries.

It is increasingly clear that free trade, in all its forms is good for everyone. Ever since David Ricardo introduced the concept of comparative advantage as the ultimate argument against the mercantilist policies that had dominated until then. Simply put, in cases where one party has an absolute advantage in the production of a particular good, both parties should produce what they are best at and then trade with each other.

Global trade growth has been in a slowdown for a decade. Contributing to the trend is a recent rise in protectionist policies, particularly in the United States. On top of it, Brexit, no matter in what form it takes, is projected to decrease trade volumes.

On the whole, CEE countries – including Poland – still positively stand out in this respect among its European peers. Yet, this might soon come to an end as Poland’s governing party (LAw and Justice) is planning to introduce significant restrictions on Sunday trade.

Few ideologies have changed the contemporary world to such an extent like liberalism did. Liberal demands for the rule of law, democracy, and market economy have been introduced to some extent in all highly developed countries. This, however, does not mean that liberalism, as political philosophy, became redundant in public life.

We, the fourteen undersigned think tanks in eight Central and Eastern European Member States, all members of the 4Liberty network, urge the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and national parliaments of the EU member states to ground their decisions in rigorous research-based economic evidence and to embrace TTIP and its elements, including ISDS.

My, niżej podpisani przedstawiciele czternastu think tanków z ośmiu państw Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, będący członkami sieci 4liberty.eu, wzywamy przedstawicieli Komisji Europejskiej, Parlamentu Europejskiego oraz parlamentów narodowych do podjęcia decyzji opartej na rzeczowych dowodach ekonomicznych popartych badaniami i przyjęcia TTIP oraz wszystkich jego elementów, włącznie z mechanizmem ISDS.

Mes, toliau pasirašę keturiolika viešosios politikos analizės centrų ir 4Liberty tinklo narių iš aštuonių Rytų ir Vidurio Europos šalių, raginame Europos Parlamentą, Europos Tarybą, Europos Komisiją ir ES valstybių narių parlamentus grįsti savo sprendimus tik tyrimų išvadomis ir ekonominiais duomenimis bei pritarti TTIP susitarimui ir jos elementams, įskaitant susitarimą dėl investuotojų ir valstybių ginčų sprendimo.

Štirinajst spodaj podpisanih think tankov iz osmih srednjeevropskih in vzhodnoevropskih držav članic EU, ki smo člani mreže 4Liberty, pozivamo Evropsko komisijo, Evropski parlament, Evropski svet in nacionalne parlamente, da v skladu z raziskavami in ekonomskimi dokazi podprejo TTIP v vseh svojih elementih, vključno z ISDS.

My, 14 signatářských think tanků a organizací ze 8 členských států EU sdružených v síti 4liberty.eu, apelujeme na Evropskou komisi, Evropský parlament a národní parlamenty, aby se rozhodovaly na základě závěrů poctivého ekonomického výzkumu a aby přijaly TTIP a jeho součásti, včetně ISDS.