Free Republic

Sen. Mitt Romney warned Friday that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs against Mexico were the wrong approach and could harm Americans more than they help curtail illegal immigration. “A tariff targeting Mexico that negatively impacts our own interests will only end in a waiting game of increasingly harmful consequence to the American people,” Romney said.

According to statistics, cited by the ministry, when the agreement enters into force it will affect more than 1.2 billion people, with a total domestic product of about $3.4 trillion. It will cut duties on 90 percent of goods on the continent. The deal could boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent, the UN said. Rwandan President Paul Kagame hailed it as a “new chapter in African unity.” The African Union’s trade commissioner Albert Muchanga told Fortune: “When you look at the African economies right now, their basic problem is fragmentation.”

An invasive insect species native to China, India and Vietnam is posing a problem in at least two states.... 'The Spotted Lanternfly' is harming crops in Winchester, Virginia, WDVM reported. The Pennsylvania-based Churchville Nature Center said the creatures were also spotted for the first time on its property Thursday. "If it is new to you, this invasive plant hopper is threatening the forests of the northeast as well as the lumber and agricultural industries. Please keep an eye out for the insect." The species poses a threat to agriculture and “has the ability to greatly impact the grape, hops and...

As the Trump administration has focused heavily on trade this year, it has been instructive to note the weight that has been placed on intellectual property, in both the negotiations and the results. The new USMCA treaty – the intended replacement for NAFTA – includes a whole chapter on intellectual property (IP). 2018’s wave after wave of punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, too, have been imposed in an effort to stem not only the loss of American jobs to China, but the loss of American how-to as well. Even the new layers of 10% and 25% additional tariffs on raw...

Chinese power is expanding. Chinese claims to the South China Sea are not going to go away in a hurry. At the moment, American power represents a restraint on Chinese expansion. It is not clear how that will hold into the future. In his landmark foreign policy speech in April 2016 candidate Trump said, “……our resources are totally over extended. ……. the U.S. must be prepared to let these (European and Asian) countries defend themselves. We have no choice.” My unique country, Australia, a predominantly European nation on the edge of Asia, does have very deep emotional, cultural and historical...

In 1993, President Bill Clinton promised that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would create “a million [American] jobs in the first five years.” He also said NAFTA’s “side agreements” would “make it harder than it is today for businesses to relocate solely because of very low [Mexican] wages or lax environmental laws.” Bill Clinton lied. More than 800,000 American manufacturing jobs moved to Mexico since 1993, “solely because of very low [Mexican] wages or lax environmental laws.” Not only was Clinton wrong, NAFTA also caused numerous unintended harms: the post-NAFTA unemployment wave is largely to blame for the...

In a trade war, we are told, foreign manufacturers are not affected at all by tariffs imposed by the U.S. government. Only U.S. consumers will pay more. Yet, mysteriously, if a foreign country imposes tariffs on U.S. exports, it is a catastrophe for U.S. manufacturers and “farmers” (giant conglomerates). So we are told that U.S. exporters will suffer from a trade war. However, foreign producers importing to the U.S. will not be affected in the slightest. That is not sound analysis, but propaganda. Saying that tariffs hurt U.S. consumers and U.S. producers, but tariffs have no effect at all on...

The media and other Trump haters can't seem to let themselves admit it, but President Donald Trump scored a big victory for the American economy on trade last week. Trump and the European Union reached a handshake deal that is designed to lower tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic. They agreed to shoot for zero tariffs. Sounds like freer and fairer trade to me. The exact details are still a bit murky, but what we do know is that the EU has pledged to lower its tariffs and other trade barriers on American soybeans, oil and gas, pharmaceutical...

FLOTUS in Nashville:She was visiting a children’s hospital that treats babies born with Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) - a group of conditions caused when a baby withdraws from opioids they were exposed to in the womb – i.e. mom was a drug addict. Of course the haters immediately unloaded on Melania because, you know, her husband is TEARING CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS ARMS! Meantime her husband, VSGDJT, just continues to MAGA, renegotiating trade deals around the world that will put the U.S. back on what the Left likes to call a “level playing field.” All while managing to keep the...

Sorry for the vanity but Rush did a 180 on trade today and I am proud of him. Rush confessed he was wrong all of these decades about trade, live on air just a few minutes ago! He also admitted Perot was correct and the the one sided trade the US( and its workers ) have been subjected to was wrong and it was erroneously pawned off as 'free trade'. He said he was duped by economists. I just listened in amazement committing free trade heresy live. It was a great radio show today! Awesome! Rush is off my S...

A leading German think tank says Donald Trump is right that tariffs between the United States and Europe are asymmetrical, but urges negotiations to lower import taxes across the board. US President Donald Trump may actually have a point when it comes to unfair taxes on US goods coming into Europe. That is the finding of a new study by a leading German think tank. Where they differ is how to deal with it: The group urges new talks to lower tariffs across the board, instead of engaging in a tit-for-tat escalation in new taxes. “The EU is by no...

Trump called out Trudeau's hypocrisy and now the two nations are on a brink of an all-out trade war. Trudeau only has votes to gain, risking the entire Canadian economy to get them; meantime, Trump could start to patriate the entire auto sector, securing mega votes in Michigan once again. Why are Cuckservatives siding with Trudeau and is there any sane way to make Dairy Nationalism Great Again?

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took a jab at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday, saying he was "not so sure" about McCain's remarks on Saturday that a majority of Americans favor free trade. "I'm not so sure John's right about where America is on trade," Graham told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." "The [Sen.] Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] element of the Democratic Party doesn't stand for free trade. Hillary Clinton said she would get out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership if she had become president. There is a movement in our party that Trump's seized that got him the nomination, and...

Mexico put tariffs on American products ranging from steel to pork and bourbon on Tuesday, retaliating against import duties on metals imposed by President Donald Trump and taking aim at Republican strongholds ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November. Mexico’s response further raises trade tensions between the two countries and adds a new complication to efforts to renegotiate the trillion-dollar North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico. American pork producers, for whom Mexico is the largest export market, were dismayed by the move. Trump last week rattled some of the United States’ closest allies by...

Billionaire conservative icon David Koch is stepping down from the Koch brothers’ network of business and political activities. The 78-year-old New York resident is suffering from deteriorating health, according to a letter that older brother Charles Koch sent to company officials Tuesday morning. Charles Koch wrote that he is “deeply saddened” by his brother’s retirement. “David has always been a fighter and is dealing with this challenge in the same way,” he wrote. […] Democrats have demonized the Koch brothers for their outsized influence in conservative politics over the last decade. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid regularly attacked Republicans...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich hinted again Sunday at a possible 2020 presidential run by ripping the Republican Party and declaring “I can bring that party back.” The Republican governor accused the GOP of being “anti-immigrant, anti-trade, in favor of debt,” and implored party members to “come home.” “We should care about people from top to bottom, not just at those at the top but everybody,” Mr. Kasich told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can bring that party back, that’s what I’m going to do, in one way or another.”

The European Union and Mexico reached an agreement on Saturday on a new free trade deal, a coup for both parties in the face of increased protectionism from the United States under President Donald Trump. Since its plans for a trade alliance with the United States were frozen after Trump’s election victory, the EU has focused instead on trying to champion open markets and seal accords with other like-minded countries. The agreement in principle with Mexico follows a deal struck last year with Japan and comes ahead of talks next week with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and...

A new attack ad against DeSantis has links to the bare knuckled political operative -------------snip--------------- Today an outfit called National Liberty Federation began airing about $290,000 in ads on radio and Fox News TV stations across Florida hammering Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis: -------snip--------- The National Liberty Federation is run by a Palm Beach County resident named Everett Wilkinson, who used to call the group the South Florida Tea Party. Wilkinson for years has worked closely with Roger Stone, hosting a 2011 Boca Raton Trump rally that served as a harbinger of his presidential campaign, vocally supporting more casinos in...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron have discussed a renewed economic partnership to boost growth, jobs and investments in their two countries. […] Trudeau said “we already see the results” of the new trade rules, called the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act (CETA). Canadian imports from France have increased 4 percent last year and Canadian investments in France have jumped 23 percent, he said. …

The new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump have generated intense controversy. With the debate ongoing, it might be useful to examine how other countries have dealt with similar policy debates in the past. New Zealand now ranks third in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom and is one of the champions of economic freedom around the world. But it wasn’t always so. In the mid-1980s, New Zealand was facing an economic crisis, with its domestic market and international trade both heavily regulated. Unemployment had reached 11 percent, and inflation was a sky-high 15 percent. In response, the government...