Free Republic

Travelers can be taxed at the airport for bringing two portable computing devices into MexicoWhether traveling for business or pleasure, most feel the need to remain tethered to the digital world in some capacity. Some travelers are discovering the hard way that Mexican customs agents in Cancun will tax them at the airport for bringing multiple electronic devices into the country. While tourists feel like they are suddenly being extorted, the law has always been on the books but just selectively enforced. Mexico’s law only allows one portable computing device to be brought into the country tax-free. The levy can...

In 2022, global military budgets hit $2.2 trillion, an eighth consecutive year of increase.Part of those budgets were used for the procurement of arms, but which countries are major weapons suppliers, and how do they influence the global arms trade?In the chart below, Visual Capitalist's Bhabna Banerjee and Marcus Lu highlight the top 10 countries with the biggest share of global arms exports using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).Which Country Exports the Most Weapons?The U.S. is the biggest weapons exporter, accounting for 40% of the total volume of international arms transfers between 2018–2022. Nearly one-fifth of...

American CEOs should be allowed to import all the foreign workers they say they “need,” Nikki Haley told supporters at a New Hampshire campaign stop. “So for too long, Republican and Democrat presidents dealt with immigration based on a [annual] quota,” she told the roomful of supporters:

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will allow businesses to import another 35,000 foreign H-2B visa workers for working and middle-class jobs even as 11.7 million Americans remain jobless. On Thursday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that the agency would allow businesses to import 35,000 more foreign H-2B visa workers to fill non-agricultural jobs in construction, hospitality, and landscaping from April 1 to September 30.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced Saturday he would be backing a bill banning Russian oil imports. The senator said he would co-sponsor the Ban Russian Energy Imports Act after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded in a virtual meeting with Congress Saturday for the U.S. to stop buying Russian oil. The bipartisan bill was previously introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a senior member of that committee. “The United States cannot continue to purchase millions of barrels of oil while Putin wages an unprovoked and...

On 20 August 2021, the U.S. Department of State released a fact sheet announcing Russian firearms and ammunition importation will be banned for a minimum of 12 months starting 7 September 2021. From state.gov: New sanctions imposed today under the CBW Act include:Restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms. New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial.The ban is listed as a sanction pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, over the...

The Biden administration is considering a plan to import the bulk of the materials needed to build electric vehicles and the batteries that power them instead of mining them domestically — a nod to environmental groups that make up a key part of the Democratic constituency, according to a report. The plan under consideration would entail buying the materials from overseas markets and allow US manufacturers to assemble them into batteries or electric vehicles in an effort to create American jobs but still remain in the good graces of environmental groups, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

U.S. regulators and state officials are finding a significant number of imported N95-style masks fall short of certification standards, complicating the response to the coronavirus crisis and potentially putting some front-line workers at greater risk. Recent tests by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that about 60 percent of 67 different types of imported masks tested allowed in more tiny particles in at least one sample than U.S. standards normally permit. One mask that Niosh tested, sold in packaging bearing unauthorized Food and Drug Administration logos, filtered out as little as 35 percent of particles. Another, marked...

Animal Farm: They Are Culling the Herd -- Time to Wake Up *Video at link*

If there’s a silver lining to the novel coronavirus, it’s that our dependence on China for medication and medical devices has been brought to the fore (at least to those paying attention). Our dependence on China for these vital supplies is insane for all the obvious reasons, none-the-least of which is how quickly we could be brought to our knees. We must act now to break this dependence and start manufacturing medication here at home. India, which manufactures most of the world’s generic drugs, is already taking steps to reduce their reliance on ingredients from China (here). This point...

In partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recently proposed that certain pharmaceuticals should be cleared for import from Canada. Although the proposal seeks to lower prices for consumers, it poses critical unintended risks to both American businesses and patients. The logic behind the proposal is simple. If ‘big pharma’ companies charge American patients high costs while offering their products for lower prices abroad, why not break down trade barriers and increase price competition? While the goal is admirable, the policy would unleash a slew of dangerous side effects.In Canada, the...

Trump is working on a proposal that would allow the U.S. to import drugs from Canada, HHS Secretary Alex Azar says.“Working on a plan on how we can import drugs safely and effectively from Canada so the American people get the benefit of the deals that pharma themselves are striking with other countries,” he says.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut import tariffs on textile products and metals, including steel products, to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, effective Nov. 1, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

Freepers are the best and know everything! I need some prescription meds that my insurance co. will not pay for. My doctor suggested getting from Mexico or Canada! I searched and found too many Canada Pharmacies on the net, great prices. But I don't know whether to trust any of them. I hate to risk $100+ to find out. Would appreciate any tips if you have ordered RX from Canada.

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is asking U.S. allies around the world to lower their level of oil imports from Iran to zero by November 4th of this year, a senior U.S. Official said on Tuesday. The official added that the administration isn't planning to produce any waivers that will exclude certain countries or companies from this requirement. "We are pushing allies to cut oil imports to zero by November," the senior official said. "We view this as one of our top national security priorities." Talks on this demand have been ongoing for recent weeks, but the senior official said...

Cheap steel from China has been blamed for distorting global markets and putting other countries' steelmakers under pressure. How have we got here and why does it all matter? China's steel industry - what's the problem? Chinese steel production has expanded hugely. Over the past 25 years, output has grown more than 12-fold. By comparison, the EU's output fell by 12% while the US's remained largely flat. The drive behind that stellar increase has been China's double-digit economic growth over the past decades. That led to ever more domestic demand for steel and the government invested heavily in the industry...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Orrin Hatch may soon give the President authority to write gun control restrictions into a “trade agreement.” So click here to contact your Senators –- whether they are liberal or conservative. Urge them to vote against the anti-gun “fast track” bill (S. 995). Will UN-style gun control be rammed down our throats? Gun import bans ... Microstamping of firearms ... Ammunition bans ... The full implementation of the anti-gun UN Arms Trade Treaty ... Illegal amnesty which locks in millions of new, anti-gun voters.

California is the most critical state in the country, with 38.2 million people and a GDP of $2.3 trillion, equal to Texas and Pennsylvania output combined. Depending on your perspective I guess, California has become famous/infamous for its progressive energy policies. California is our “clean energy” capital, with cap-and-trade, the most alternative fuel vehicles, unmatched efficiency laws, and a 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard for electricity by 2020. Yet, electricity (+40%) and gasoline (+$1.00) prices in the Golden State are well above the U.S. average, and oil and natural gas are still easily the state’s leading sources of energy. Stringent regulations...

WASHINGTON — Conservatives’ next disappointment will at least be a validation. The coming reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank will confirm their warnings about the difficulty of prying the government’s tentacles off what should be society’s private sphere. The bank, which exists to allocate credit by criteria other than the market’s preference for efficiency, mirrors the market-distorting policies of foreign governments. These policies favor those countries’ exports that compete with America’s. Much of what the bank does is supposedly to “level the playing field.” When Fred P. Hochberg, the bank’s chairman and president, defends it, an old joke comes to mind:...

EIA's recently released U.S. Crude Oil Import Tracking Tool, designed to analyze crude oil imports in response to growing domestic production, allows users to sort and display imports by month or year, density (i.e., light, medium, heavy), country of origin, port of entry, processing company, processing refinery, and more. The tool features graphing and mapping capabilities and a built-in help function. Recent and anticipated increases in domestic crude production have sparked discussion about how rising crude oil volumes will be absorbed. To date, increased production has displaced some imported crude oil, which has fallen from 8.9 million barrels per day...