Free Republic

President Trump held his “Liberation Day” press conference on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. In this presentation, he announced a new additional 10% baseline tariff on top of whatever other tariffs are currently in place (with a few exceptions) for the goods of most countries. For most of our major trading partners, this 10% rate would be replaced by a much higher rate the following week, some as high as 46% (Vietnam) and 49% (Cambodia). Markets tumbled, perhaps forgetting that with President Trump, most big announcements are his way of beginning a negotiation, so these often terrifyingly high percentages are not...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Sunday said he’s questioning President Trump’s “endgame” in his approach to tariffs, saying the ongoing “volatility” isn’t good for businesses. “One thing I learned in the private sector is unpredictability can work pretty well in the negotiation, but the private sector — businesses want certainty. They want stability. They don’t like to see volatility,” Johnson said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.” “And, so, I’ve just been questioning exactly what’s the endgame here? What’s the strategy?” he continued. Johnson called himself an “unabashed free trader” and touted what he sees as the...

I was raised to respect the Austrian School of economics. From the hardliners at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and Reason to the more moderate libertarians like Milton Friedman and President Reagan, the conservatives of my generation (I’m 62) knew several things with absolute certainty:· Taxation is Theft.· The most important goal of our Founding Fathers was limiting the size and scope of government.· The Invisible Hand of the Free Market delivers the best results for the consumer.At the same time, however, we recognized certain other fundamental truths of government:· Government is instituted to protect society from external enemies...

President Trump’s tariffs are already having an impact. Earlier this week, Trump announced a sweeping new trade policy that included a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports into the United States. In addition to this baseline measure, the administration introduced a system of reciprocal tariffs targeting countries with significant trade surpluses over the U.S. The tariffs vary in severity, with higher rates imposed on nations deemed to have particularly unbalanced trade relationships or who refuse to buy American goods. However, many countries are already offering the U.S. concessions: Vietnam — Following the announcement of a nearly 50 percent tariff...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is opposing President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs after spending his career in Washington, DC, trashing the nation’s decades-long free trade policy for allowing multinational corporations to easily outsource American jobs to low-wage countries like China and Vietnam. “As someone who helped lead the effort against disastrous unfettered free trade deals with China, Mexico, and other low-wage countries, I understand that we need trade policies that benefit American workers, not just the CEOs of large corporations,” Sanders said in a statement before using economic libertarian talking points to attack Trump’s recipricol tariffs:

You see, at first, when someone says, 'Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,' it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works – but only for a short time. What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries...

News stories of a China increasingly belligerent both at home and abroad are widespread. But in an attempt to understand how we have gotten into this position, many have assessed the growth of Beijing without fully examining the policies of previous U.S. presidential administrations. Years of accommodation and so-called mutually beneficial bilateral agreements have all enabled the rise of China. Such is the dangerous legacy of the strikingly identical China policies under the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations that have left us with the short end of the stick and have made the international stage less stable, while presenting novel...

Dozens of protests by French farmers this week seeking to shut down a planned European Union 'free trade' deal with the MERCOSEUR nations of South America. Cheaper South American agricultural products a direct threat to the livelihood of French farmers already feeling the impact of imported food items in grocery stores... Protest signs and flags as the band of demonstrators made their way through the streets... Saturday is almost always a day for all kinds of protest across France. The loudest and most vocal demonstrations today the feminist ones of outrage regarding the "Mazan Rapes" case. It's the story of...

Former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said Monday on CNN’s “The Source” that Vice President Kamala Harris is more conservative than former President Donald Trump on “free trade” and “rule of law.” Host Kaitlan Collins said, “A lot of people who are watching this show and have watched it are familiar with Republicans who come on who say Donald Trump is not fit for office. But I like his policies better than I like Harris’s. I mean, I think the first, maybe most prominent is the former attorney general, Bill Barr, who has certainly argued that. I wonder, what do you...

Former Trump advisor Peter Navarro blasted The Heritage Foundation’s “terrible” Project 2025 in a new interview on the Liberty Report with Liberty Sentinel CEO Alex Newman, adding a colorful repudiation to a mountain of criticism already pronounced against the controversial policy proposal.“Project 2025 is dead on arrival,” Navarro said. “It’s a trojan horse funded by globalists that uses some legitimate Trump policies as a veneer and then throws in a bunch of weird stuff that doesn’t reflect Trump policy at all.” (snip) “Way back when they first started, they came to me and said, ‘We want you to write the...

Japan's biggest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp... has hired former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help with its effort to acquire U.S. Steel ... "We look forward to working alongside him to further emphasize the ways in which Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel bolsters the country's economic and national security," Nippon Steel said ... Pompeo had not been given a specific job title within the company. ... Although both steelmakers have received all regulatory approvals outside of the United States for their proposed $14.9 billion merger, they face political opposition and regulatory scrutiny from within the United States....

Cables lying on the seafloor bring the internet to the world. They transmit 99 percent of international data, make transoceanic communication possible in an instant, and serve as a loose proxy for the international trade that connects advanced economies.Their importance and proliferation inspired Telegeography to make this vintage-inspired map of the cables that connect the internet. It depicts the 299 cables that are active, under construction, or will be funded by the end of this year. In addition to seeing the cables, you'll find information about "latency" at the bottom of the map (how long it takes for information...

Many leading Republicans and conservatives want someone other than Donald Trump to run for President in 2024. But this judgment requires an assessment of Trump’s vices and virtues in the context of our current political and cultural circumstances, as well as an assessment of other prospective Republican presidential candidates. Tom Klingenstein, Chairman of the Claremont Institute, explains Trump's Virtues.

Neoliberalism is out and neo-mercantilism in as US decoupling from China abandons adherence to rules-based, free market trade Speaking at the Brookings Institution in April 2023, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared national security and industrial policy as the guiding lights for US trade. Sullivan couched his prescriptions in soft tones and catchy phrases. “Decoupling” is out, “de-risking” is in. The goal is to “forge a new consensus” — something different to the market-oriented Washington Consensus of yesteryear. National security restrictions have their limits set in a “small yard, high fence.” US security is not trying to engage in...

Jane is a junior doctor working several extra locum shifts to make ends meet. Burnt out after the pandemic, and struggling with her physical and mental health, she would really like to take unpaid leave, but she cannot do so. Last month, her landlord hiked up her rent, then served her with an eviction notice when she said she couldn’t afford it. She now has to move for the fourth time in three years, and is back in a flat-hunting market where rents are higher everywhere. Trapped in her job, with her accommodation options diminishing and her time permanently constrained...

Hello Mr. President, The key to the continuation of MAGA after your 2024-2028 term will be your Vice President for your 2024-2028 term. Because your term will be successful, your VP will be almost a shoo-in for the President in the 2028 election. As I've said, your VP for the 2024 election doesn't have to be a RINO like Bush or Pence to capture a part of the vote. You will win 2024 in a landslide. Your VP MUST be a TRUE PATRIOT who is in your administration for only one reason: TO MAGA BY RECOVERING AMERICA'S FREE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC....

I have some genuine questions and I have no malice against Ron DeSantis or his supporters but a few things trouble me about him! He has the tacit support of the Bushes. I know they want anyone but Trump but as one Freeper put it: Will he blow kisses back? What does having their support mean? Does it mean Karl Rove becomes an advisor? Campaign cash, staff and what not? Think about it. It's not just some throw away endorsement by them it comes with serious muscle, donors, etc. He's also visiting Texas instead of CPAC. Will he be hanging...

Billionaire Elon Musk, days after floating a possible deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that drew condemnation in Ukraine, suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing...The Shanghai factory accounted for about half of Tesla's global deliveries last year. Musk also said China has sought assurances that he would not offer the Starlink internet service of his SpaceX rocket company there.

Free trade and open markets are great ideals. These principles, over the last few centuries, but especially since World War II, have created tremendous wealth, particularly in the developing world. But free markets were made for human society, not the other way around. Many thinkers on the right, however, have embraced a form of free-market fundamentalism that’s as ideologically brittle, entrenched, and impervious to critique as any Leftist vision of social utopia. These doctrinaire free-marketers believe that if China seeks to capture a huge industry like telecommunications through subsidies and protect their market, that will benefit us all. “Huawei’s a...

Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, running against Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), says the nation’s ruling class is interested in preserving its “managed decline” of the United States by weakening former President Trump’s tariffs on China. During an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily, Vance detailed how Washington, DC, lawmakers, bureaucrats, and corporate special interests have kept the U.S. in a “managed decline” for decades while profiting for themselves. “I use this phrase a lot on the campaign trail, managed decline,” Vance said. “It feels sometimes like our leaders are just slowly allowing the country to slip into...