Free Republic

The White House is on the verge of introducing penalties against companies engaged in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will deliver Russian natural gas to the EU across the Baltic Sea. Apart from Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the project is being undertaken by German energy firms Wintershall and Uniper, French multinational Engie, British-Dutch oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, and Austrian energy company OMV. Initially, Gazprom's European partners were planning to become stakeholders in the Nord Stream 2 AG, which is registered in Switzerland. However, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Poland’s...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Someone really needs to relieve John McCain of his I-phone. – The guy whose rejection by the American people gave us Barack Hussein Obama got all upset on Saturday over President Trump’s refusal to bow to our Euro-Canadian betters at the G7 summit, and decided to send the following tweet: John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t. 7:55 PM - Jun 9, 2018 There...

Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center.

Trump tweet, Kudlow in Walter Reed

Breaking now

Mark Levin calling Trump's trade and economic advisers "idiots" in the first hour. Then he drones on and on about how having a trade deficit is supposed to be good for consumers and belittling other conservative talk radio hosts as "It depends" rather than discussing free markets. Does he not know that this is a negotiation tactic of Trump and the goal here is to make trade policies better for everyone involved? Of course he doesn't, because at heart he's a Never Trumper who is secretly hoping Trump fails so that some massive conservative movement will rise up and elect...

The president’s top economic adviser on Wednesday implied that the U.S. may not abide by any rulings from the World Trade Organization (WTO), a tough signal ahead of a Group of Seven summit this weekend where Trump is expected to face a backlash from allied leaders over his protectionist trade agenda. “International, multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters at a press briefing organized to preview President Trump’s trip to Canada for the G-7. The comments paint an unyielding stance on trade as the president prepares to meet...

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Sunday for what he called “double crossing” President Trump with critical comments about U.S. trade policy. “He was polarizing. He really kind of stabbed us in the back,” Kudlow told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He did a great disservice to the whole G7,” he added. Trump was aboard Air Force One heading to an historic summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un when he issued a pair of tweets Saturday criticizing the G-7 host and stepping back from the generally positive tone that had...

Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s Director of the National Economic Council, must have drawn the short straw because he was the designated defender of Trump’s withdrawal from the G7 communique on Sunday morning political chat shows. I watched him being interviewed on Jake Tapper’s CNN show State of the Union and on CBS’s Face the Nation. He came off both articulate and consistent in his criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s performance during a post-G7 press conference Saturday.Kudlow is right to speak out about Trudeau’s display of poor judgment. Trudeau is not exactly known for his own stellar decision-making...

Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser, suffered a heart attack on Monday evening and was at Walter Reed Medical Center, Mr. Trump said in a tweet. Mr. Kudlow, 70, who has referred to himself as a “happy warrior” in counseling Mr. Trump on trade and economic policy, joined Mr. Trump’s team in March as the director of the National Economic Council. “Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center,” Mr. Trump tweeted, just before a meeting in Singapore...

It was easy to miss the U.S.-China trade statement that the White House released Saturday, right in the midst of royal wedding mania. But it's hard to hide that China looks as if it's winning President Trump's trade skirmish — so far. The statement said that, after several days of talks, the Chinese agreed to “substantially” reduce the United States' $375 billion trade deficit with China and that the details would be worked out later. It was noticeably vague. Notice China didn't agree to a specific amount. On Friday, Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, was telling reporters that the...

President Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, recommended appointing Stefan Halper, an academic and suspected FBI informant on the Trump campaign, to a senior role in the Trump administration, Axios has learned. Behind the scenes: During the presidential transition Navarro recommended Halper, among other people, for ambassador roles in Asia. A White House official said Halper visited the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last August for a meeting about China.

(CNN)Nikki Haley is not to be trifled with -- especially by the likes of a TV anchor-turned-newly-minted White House aide. Larry Kudlow, the chief economic adviser for President Donald Trump, learned that lesson the (very) hard way on Tuesday after he gave an roundly dismissive interview on Haley's promise of future sanctions against Russia. "She got ahead of the curve," Kudlow told reporters gathered near Mar-a-Lago. "She's done a great job, she's a very effective ambassador. There might have been some momentary confusion about that." It felt -- and sounded -- like a rhetorical pat on the head. Sure, Nikki...

President Trump on Monday put the brakes on a preliminary plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia, walking back a Sunday announcement by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the Kremlin had swiftly denounced as “international economic raiding.” Preparations to punish Russia anew for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government over the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria caused consternation at the White House. Haley had said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that sanctions on Russian companies behind the equipment related to Assad’s alleged chemical weapons attack would be announced Monday by Treasury...

WEST PALM BEACH FLORIDA-Nikki R. Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations, fired back at the White House on Tuesday, denying that she had been confused when she announced on Sunday that the Trump administration would impose new sanctions on Russia. "With all due respect, I don't get confused," she told Dana Perino of Fox News. She was responding to a comment earlier in the day by Larry Kudlow, the president's new economic advisor who was briefing reporters in Florida before President Trump's meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan. "She got ahead of the curve,” Mr. Kudlow said....

United States' Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Sunday the Trump administration will announce more sanctions against Russia on Monday. On CBS's "Face the Nation," Haley said the Treasury Department will announce the new sanctions and insisted the US has sent "a strong message" about the use of chemical weapons.

A White House official said Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, called Haley to apologize Tuesday afternoon in an effort to mend fences...The officials said a decision was then made to announce the sanctions as an answer to Russia’s response to the strikes. But that plan was re-evaluated and then put on hold over the weekend...On Monday, a new memo went out from the NSC saying that additional sanctions were under consideration, but no decision had been made.

“Overthrow the establishment. Now's the time,” said the CNBC senior contributor who also hosts a syndicated radio-talk show. "Overthrow the establishment," urged Kudlow, who was a former economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan. “We need a different model. In other words, zero interest rates, or negative interest rates, and tons and tons of government spending for all these G-7 countries have not worked,” he said. “We have global stagnation, a virtual global recession. And we have virtually no inflation,” he said “Something's got to change here,” he said. He offered his own solution to right the sinking U.S. economic ship....

Mitt Romney showed once again that he is truly a class act. In his announcement that he will not be running for president in 2016, he stated, "I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee." This was unusual political humility. But let me highlight this specific phrase: "one who has not yet taken their message across...