Free Republic

“Free trade” means uncontrolled, unrestricted access to our economy for foreign-made goods, tariff- and duty-free. These goods are made at wages of $4 per hour or less. We cannot compete with these wages, so we are forced to outsource nearly all of our manufacturing, sell-out to foreign interests, or simply go bankrupt.

America must stop thinking that protecting our economy is a bad thing. Protectionism, through appropriate and applicable tariffs could save our jobs, homes and economy. But, as long as we keep apologizing for doing what we must, we will not be able to rejuvenate our economy. We will keep begging for whatever jobs foreigners are willing to throw at us. Is this what we want to be – a nation of beggars? We need to be a proud nation, a strong nation once again and re-instate needed tariffs to protect and rebuild our economy.

During these last twenty-three months of my first term in Congress, I crisscrossed 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border between El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas, many times talking about international trade. Despite the campaign rhetoric, I believe that under a Trump Administration we have a real opportunity to improve North American Competitiveness in the rest of the world through an upgrade of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This belief was confirmed during several days of discussions on energy, commerce and rule of law in Mexico with business and political leaders. Our recently concluded election cycle has almost...

In a video posted to his political campaign's YouTube account on Nov. 21, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the ongoing negotiations related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation trade agreement designed to reduce government barriers and tariffs restricting exchanges between consumers and producers in Asian countries. By restricting trade and making it harder for goods to flow in and out of the country, Trump, who campaigned on promises to make government work for the working man, would actually be making government work for special-interest groups, such as industry lobbyists. Milton Friedman, an economist allegedly revered...

When Donald Trump goes shopping for large aircraft, which he does from time to time, there is one item at the top of his "non-negotiable" list. Trump insists on British-made Rolls Royce turbo fan jet engines. He doesn't need to worry much about the interior, or even the cockpit windshield when jet shopping, as those refinements can be redone after he buys. (Both were redone, in fact, on the Trump 757.) However, the engines must be Rolls... ...Certainly those American workers would want the Donald to "buy American... ...British engines were merely part of an even more massive American jetliner...

Trump packs trade team with veterans of steel wars with China Mon Dec 12, 2016 | 5:54am EST By David Lawder | WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump is stacking his trade transition team with veterans of the U.S. steel industry's battles with China, signaling a potentially more aggressive approach to U.S. complaints of unfair Chinese subsidies for its exports and barriers to imports. Led by Wilbur Ross, a billionaire steel investor and Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, Dan DiMicco, the former CEO of steelmaker Nucor Corp, and three veteran steel trade lawyers, the team is expected to help shift the U.S....

President-elect Donald Trump's stance on trade deals assumes unbalanced international trade agreements are domestic job killers. In the election, that won him favor in broad swathes of the country where globalization seems irrelevant, and foreigners and Washington alike are viewed with suspicion. So, what will happen to established trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), when Trump takes office Jan. 20? When NAFTA was finalized more than two decades ago, Ross Perot infamously predicted it would create "a giant sucking sound" of jobs leaving for Mexico. Since then, NAFTA has been blamed for our county's trade...

‘Thank goodness for Kevin McCarthy!” isn’t something one says every day, but in the matter of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s backward and destructive plan to resurrect 19th-century tariffs, the gentleman from California is invaluable. Trump wants to impose 35 percent tariffs on . . . somebody. He does not seem quite sure. One of the reasons for that is that Trump has the question of trade deficits mixed up in his head with the question of offshoring and, like most Americans, he does not understand either of them very well. The president-elect, writing on Facebook (because that’s what presidents-elect...

In the tweet heard round the world, Donald Trump threatened to slap a 35% tariff on companies that shift jobs overseas, then ship their goods back to the U.S. Since his election, the focus has been on the carrots Trump will offer to grow and protect America's manufacturing base: corporate tax cuts and possibly a side order of state tax incentives. That's the menu that will keep open a Carrier plant in Indiana... But now Trump is signaling a more combative approach... ...There will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35% for these companies," Trump...

WASHINGTON; If President-elect Donald Trump thinks he’s going to impose a 35 percent tariff on companies importing goods, he might want to check with Republicans in Congress. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested Monday that Republicans would not be in favor of imposing the 35 percent tariff on foreign goods that Trump proposed Sunday in a series of tweets.  Trump may not understand how tariffs really work; it would be very difficult for the United States to impose them on specific companies that move jobs to a foreign country; or that Congress, not the president, sets them. But he...

US President-elect Donald Trump has requested a phone call with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann in the coming days, the latter told Swiss broadcaster RTS on Saturday. Trump wishes to speak “entrepreneur to entrepreneur, and politician to politician”, said Schneider-Ammann, who was head of his family’s mechanical engineering business, Ammann Group, from 1988 until his election to the Swiss Federal Council in 2010. “I’m looking forward to talking to him,” he told RTS. This will be the first telephone conversation between the pair since Trump’s election on November 8th. …

President-elect Donald Trump faces immediate challenges: managing the war against ISIS, fixing ObamaCare and boosting growth to create jobs. But as the fallout from his recent conversation with the president of Taiwan indicates, an increasingly assertive China poses the most vexing and far-reaching challenges for American prosperity and security. China has accomplished hyper growth supplying Western consumers with inexpensive goods and attracting Western investment to obtain necessary technology, but it has hardly played by the established rules and norms of global trade. It has subsidized exports, manipulated its currency and engaged in other abusive practices.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday refused to back President-elect Donald Trump’s push for a 35-percent tariff on companies that move operations abroad and then sell their goods back in the United States, saying corporate tax reform is the key to retaining American jobs. “I think that’s a better way to solve the problem than getting in a trade war over a 35-percent tariff,” the California Republican told reporters.

What Will China Do If President Trump Starts a Trade War? By Adams Lee on November 30, 2016 POSTED IN CHINA BUSINESS China Law Team By Li Feng, in the China Daily (bit.ly/2gFMaDa) During the recent presidential campaign, President-Elect Donald Trump said “we can’t continue to allow China to rape our country” and vowed to aggressively fight back against China’s unfair trade practices. Trump promised his trade agenda would: Declare China to be a currency manipulator Impose a 45 percent tariff on all Chinese imports into the U.S. Abandon/ renegotiate “bad” trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and...

President-elect Trump doubles down on 35% tax for businesses that ship jobs out of U.S. NEW YORK — Fresh off saving 800 Carrier factory jobs from being off-shored to Mexico, President-elect Donald Trump is renewing his threat against companies that move their operations to foreign countries. Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump The U.S. is going to substantialy reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but any business that leaves our country for another country, 6:41 AM - 4 Dec 2016 Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump without retribution or consequence, is WRONG! There will be a tax on our soon to be...

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the telephone on Friday with Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte and invited him to the White House next year during a "very engaging, animated" talk, an aide to Duterte said. The call lasted just over seven minutes, Duterte's special advisor, Christopher Go, said in a text message to media. The conversation came amid tension and uncertainty between the United States and the Philippines after months of anti-American rhetoric from Duterte, fueled by his anger over the Obama administration's concerns about his deadly war on drugs. Though Duterte has spoken of his optimism for better ties...

Economic research shows that the corporate tax is harmful to workers' wages and overall economic growth. If left to their own devices, politicians still wouldn't be likely to reduce or eliminate the destructive tax. They only act when tax competition—whereby taxpayers shop around for favorable tax environments—forces their hand. That's why it is alarming that House Republicans—I repeat, House Republicans—are talking about a change to the corporate tax that would insulate it from competitive pressures going forward. The change in the Ryan-Brady blueprint (as in Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee Kevin Brady)...

A group of distinguished trade economists have quietly released a paper estimating that if Chinese imports had grown half as quickly over the past 15 years, Hillary Clinton rather than Donald Trump would be preparing to move into the White House right now. There’s reason to be skeptical about this specific result, since it focuses on regions harmed by trade with China and doesn’t factor in benefits enjoyed by people elsewhere in the country. Nevertheless, it underscores just how big an impact trade with China has had on the American economy — and on our politics. For decades, experts have...

Engaging with China need not be a zero sum game: Obama Administration’s Pointless Confrontation with China over the South China Sea Amidst concerns over how a Trump administration will interact with China, especially with respect to trade, China’s President Xi Jinping told President-elect Trump during their recent telephone conversation that “The facts prove that cooperation is the only correct choice for China and the United States.” According to a statement from President-elect Trump’s presidential transition office, “the leaders established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another, and President-elect Trump stated that he believes the two leaders will have...

<p>Theranos, the biotech company started by a 19-year-old Stanford dropout, has another hurdle to cross in its whole "we're totally a legit blood-testing company" campaign. This time, it turns out that tens of thousands of blood tests were voided, making them totally invalid. Whoops!</p>