Free Republic

As President Donald Trump hits his 100th day in office Saturday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has booked the best performance in the postwar era under a first-term president when measured from Election Day through the 100th day in office, according to Dow Jones data. The Dow DJIA, -0.19% has rallied 14.22% since Trump’s stunning Nov. 8 election victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton after a campaign promising a raft of Wall Street–friendly policies, including tax cuts, deregulation and a boost in infrastructure spending. (The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.19% has gained about 11.6% over that period, while the Nasdaq...

President Donald Trump was prepared to end the North American Free Trade Agreement deal, which had governed trade relations for the past 23 years, with a dramatic announcement Saturday at a Pennsylvania political rally marking his 100th day in office. As rumors spread of the possible action, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called the president urging him not to pull out of the accord. “Let me think about it,” Mr. Trump said. Within a half hour a call came in from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a similar request. After the talks, Mr. Trump was convinced “they’re serious about...

Early in this video, yet again, Secretary Ross clearly states he is waiting on congress to accept the letter; ie. it was sent mid-March. Republicans control the Senate. Republicans, not democrats in the Senate, do not want the Trump administration to renegotiate NAFTA. This is one of the clearest examples of the UniParty at work and the anti-American principles behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce corporate lobbyists – lobbying directly against the Trump administration.

(Newser) – President Trump has been pushing hard to bring his "Buy American, Hire American" mantra to fruition, including with an executive order meant to prevent "foreign cheaters" from taking US jobs and infringing on our steel production, a senior administration official said Monday, per Politico. The New York Times reports that on Thursday, Trump also laid into Canada, saying our northern neighbor exploits US workers, specifically in the dairy industry, and that "what they've done ... is a disgrace." The Wall Street Journal notes that to make his point on steel (and on other products "important to defense," a...

Mark Landler writes in the New York Times that President Trump’s latest trade initiatives mark a return to the populist policies of the campaign and a victory for Steve Bannon and the economic nationalist wing of the Trump administration. From the New York Times: From Mr. Trump’s “buy American, hire American” rallying cry in Wisconsin this week to Vice President Mike Pence’s warnings to Japan and South Korea about the need to rewrite trade deals, the Trump administration is moving against free trade on multiple fronts. A senior White House official said there would be two trade-related events a week...

Jakarta - US President Donald Trump will attend three important summits in Asia this November, as a sign of firm and unwavering commitment to building strong foundation shared between US and Asian nations, Vice President Michael Pence confirmed. President Trump is planning to attend the US-ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit in the Philippines, as well as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam. "Our relationship without any doubt has benefited both ASEAN and America, diplomatically, economically and from the standpoint of national security," he said while visiting the headquarters of Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta,...

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touted Wednesday more economic investment and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the US because “when US companies invest in the Saudi economy, everyone wins.” Tillerson made his remarks at the second annual US-Saudi Arabia CEO Summit, which concluded Wednesday in Washington. The summit brought together Saudi and US government officials and business leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities to expand US-Saudi economic partnership. Participants included Majid Al-Qasabi, Saudi commerce minister; Ghassan Al-Shibl, chairman of Saudi Arabian Airlines and CEO of Saudi Research and Marketing Group, and Khaled Al-Seif, vice chairman of the Committee for...

The Trump Administration has announced its formal inquisition into America’s trade deficit, with a particularly loaded day of testimony scheduled for May 18, in which the administration hopes to learn the various causes for America’s huge import volume. The administration conjures up an image of evil old foreign prime ministers and their assistants – grasping witches with candy-covered cottages in the forest, looking for sweet little American manufacturers – Hansel Inc. and Gretel LLC – tempting them with tasty morsels and sweet confections, luring them off the American path, moving them permanently into their distant foreign domains. While the single-minded...

A U.S.-UK trade agreement would bring little probable benefit to the American economy, although the benefits to a certain Donald Trump could be huge. Given how tough it is to secure Congress’ approval of trade deals, it is overwhelmingly in America’s interest to muster limited political capital around a path to expanding trade with the much larger markets of the European Union. But a deal with the British may nonetheless find a fervent champion in President Trump. So far Trump has spoken of a potential agreement warmly but without specifics. By the spring of 2019 Britain will have formally left...

President Trump has expressed support for the continuation of the Import/Export bank. This has seemingly shocked a few people from conservative circles because the modern conservative doctrine has been to oppose the I/E bank. However, Trump’s position hopefully does not come as a surprise to CTH readers because we identified a year ago how President Trump’s economic policies would seek to refocus the original intent of the Import Export Bank. The key aspect is to return the IE to its “original intent“; not the bastardized Wall Street construct that exists today as a result of corrupt DC economic policies driven...

To say we consider Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a man with a unique skill-set for this defined moment in U.S. economic history would be an understatement of epic proportions. Ross is one of the most consequential and dynamic forces within the President Trump administration. Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade. Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's two-day summit meeting with Donald Trump, overshadowed by the U.S. attack on Syria, gave each president the chance to take the measure of the other and, apparently, each liked what he saw. From the Chinese perspective, things went very well indeed, with China taking the initiative and the Americans going along. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Trump had plans to pressure Xi to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. Trump also expected Xi to "step up" and help rein in North Korea. Neither thing happened. From the beginning, China felt it had the situation under...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he has offered Chinese President Xi Jinping a more favorable trade deal for Beijing in exchange for his help on confronting the threat of North Korea. Mr. Trump, in a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal, said he would accept, for instance, a trade deal with China that does less to address trade deficits. “I told him, I said, ‘You know we’re not going to let that [current trade deficit] go ahead,’ ” Mr. Trump said of his meeting last week with Mr. Xi. He added he told Mr. Xi: “ ‘But you want...

Are you tired of winning yet? Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss several issues, including the massive trade imbalance between the nations. Of course, he came out on top. It is being reported that Beijing is offering the Trump Administration greater market access to avoid an all-out trade war between the two powers. The Financial Times claims that these concessions are not all that difficult for Beijing. “At present, foreign investors cannot hold a majority stake in securities and insurance companies in China. The country’s largest companies in these sectors, such as Citic Securities and China Life...

Please read (I have been involved with this industry for over 20 years): Recently the ITC found that China has been subsidizing their medium truck tyre exports to the USA between 20-70% (depending on the factory). One month ago the ITC announced their judgement: NO TARIFF. Everyone was EXPECTING a very large tariff, as the same court ruled the year before in favor of tariffs on Chinese passenger tires (with similar subsidies). So there was precedent. Interestingly, 3 days prior to the vote, one judge recused himself from the case. They ended up 1 vote short for the tariff. The...

President Donald Trump says he looks forward to working with Jamaica’s Andrew Holness administration on bilateral and Regional issues. The president’s comments came during a courtesy call paid on him by Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks at the Oval Office in the White House. President Trump and the ambassador in their exchange underscored the strong bond of friendship that has existed over the years between the people Jamaica and the United States of America, noting the contribution of Jamaica in many spheres of American life. In her remarks, Ambassador Marks said she looked forward to working with...

Trump, Xi agree to 100-day plan to discuss trade issues U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to a new 100-day plan for trade talks that will boost U.S. exports and reduce the United States' trade deficit with China, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.

The U.S. trade deficit sank almost 10% in February, aided by an increase in exports to a 26-month high and a plunge in imports of autos, cellphones and other consumer goods. The deficit fell to $43.6 billion in February, more than canceling out a big increase in January that raised the nation’s trade gap to a five-year high of $48.2 billion. Figures are seasonally adjusted.

U.S. President Donald Trump set the tone for a tense first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week by tweeting on Thursday that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses. The White House said Trump would host Xi next Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. It said Trump and his wife, Melania, would host Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a dinner next Thursday. In a tweet on Thursday evening, Trump said the highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies, which is also expected...

Jack Ma is one of China’s richest men, with a fortune valued at nearly $30 billion. As executive chairman of Alibaba Group, he leads the dominant force in Chinese e-commerce, a company with a market value of $264 billion and some 450 million customers. A global ambassador for Chinese business, he spent 800 hours aloft last year—­visiting princes, Presidents, and Prime Ministers and lots of mere businesspeople too. “A professional pilot cannot travel that much, or so I’m told,” he boasts. Even so, the rich and powerful people who meet with Ma tend to come away from the experience with...