Free Republic

The London Financial Times reported that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said immediately after the appointment that Beijing is now monitoring the policy positions of the incoming Trump Administration: “As two major powers with broad mutual interests, co-operation is the only correct choice.”

Since the passage of NAFTA, the American economy, which was already stagnating, has gone downhill at an increasing clip. When we examine the details of the “free trade” agreement, it is easy to see why it has caused so much devastation.

Could Trump single-handedly tear up NAFTA or tax U.S. companies that outsource?... ...Trump calls himself a free-trader. That self-assessment would appear to depend on what the meaning of “free” is... ...Trump has flip-flopped on everything from political affiliation (Republican, Democrat, Independent) to issues (a woman’s right to choose) to wives (three so far). But the one constant dating back at least to the 1980s is his protectionist stance on trade... ...Does Trump have the unilateral authority to do what he says he will do under the power... ...as president of the United States? The short answer is this: The president...

Tyranny's misleading phrases In an 1822 tract titled “Tyranny Unmasked,” Virginian John Taylor (1753-1824) observed that “Tyranny is wonderfully ingenious in the art of inventing specious phrases to spread over its nefarious designs.” Indeed. Here are two especially misleading phrases that today's opponents of free markets regularly use to mask the ugly reality of their policies. • “Minimum wage.” By legislating... ...the real minimum wage is $0 — the amount earned by workers who, because of the minimum wage, can't find jobs. • “Elect me and I'll stop foreigners from stealing our jobs.” This boast — issued by politicians from...

The United States will seek out a trade deal with the United Kingdom as a top priority during the Trump Administration, his head of commerce has revealed. While Billionaire businessman Wilbur Ross Jr., a vocal supporter of the Trump election campaign nominated as Commerce Secretary this week has not made a public statement on the matter, Britain’s Daily Telegraph has reported a “senior Trump source” who has emphasised the priority with which a British trade deal is treated.

We have re-rated the statement as True and removed the older report from Trump's Truth-O-Meter record. TRUE

Our trade surplus with Mexico turned into a deficit. It went from $885 million in May of 1994 to $6.9 billion a year later.

“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.