Free Republic

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was unapologetic about putting America first. He promised to secure the nation’s borders, strengthen the domestic workforce and be tough on countries he thought were taking advantage of the United States.Now, 10 months into his second term, the president is facing backlash from some conservatives who say he is too focused on matters abroad, whether it’s seeking regime change in Venezuela, brokering peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza or extending a $20-billion currency swap for Argentina. The criticism has grown in recent days after Trump expressed support for granting more visas to foreign students...

For the second straight year, about one in five Americans say they would like to leave the U.S. and move permanently to another country if they could. This heightened desire to migrate is driven primarily by younger women. In 2025, 40% of women aged 15 to 44 say they would move abroad permanently if they had the opportunity. The current figure is four times higher than the 10% who shared this desire in 2014, when it was generally in line with other age and gender groups. The percentage of younger women wanting to move to another country first rose decisively...

President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cost global businesses upward of $1.2 trillion in 2025, with most of the cost being passed onto consumers, according to a new analysis from S&P Global. In a white paper released Thursday, the firm said its estimate of additional expenses for companies is probably conservative. The price tag comes from information provided by some 15,000 sell-side analysts across 9,000 companies who contribute to S&P and its proprietary research indexes. “The sources of this trillion-dollar squeeze are broad. Tariffs and trade barriers act as taxes on supply chains and divert cash to governments; logistics delays and...

President Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner last month because he didn’t like the monthly jobs numbers. He claimed the numbers were “rigged.” But Friday’s monthly report for August confirms that job creation has stalled amid his tariff barrage. Employers added a mere 22,000 jobs last month while the numbers were revised down for the previous two by a combined 21,000. This means only 107,000 new jobs were created in the last four months—an average of 27,000. Monthly job gains averaged 167,000 last year. Nearly all of the new jobs last month were in social assistance and healthcare...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday (Aug 6), in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the United States rise. Modi will go to China for a summit of the multilateral Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that begins on Aug 31, the government source, with direct knowledge of the matter, told Reuters. India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His trip will come at a time when India's relationship with the US faces its most serious...

The Trump administration has secretly launched an intensive vetting process for hundreds of foreign scientists brought into the United States from "countries of concern" like China, using visas procured with the help of the National Institutes of Health and other federal research agencies, officials told Just the News. The review involving intelligence and security agencies began weeks ago over concerns prior administrations did not adequately vet the backgrounds of scientists or their ties to actors like China's military or its Communist Party. But the initiative has taken on additional urgency after three Chinese scientists were arrested in the last month...

"The two sides have, in principle, reached a framework for implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the phone call on June 5th and the consensus reached at the Geneva meeting."

There are over 1 million foreign students in the United States. The largest group by far are Chinese students whose numbers have fluctuated between a third and a quarter of a million. These students are in America to gain training in this country, not only at top universities like Harvard, but at tech companies, before taking their knowledge and skills back to China.

BOSTON – A federal judge in Boston on Thursday temporarily blocked US President Donald Trump from barring US entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University. Under a two-page temporary restraining order granted to Harvard, US District Judge Allison Burroughs enjoined Trump’s proclamation from taking effect pending further litigation of the matter amid an escalating dispute between the Ivy League school and Republican president. The judge ruled that Trump’s directive prohibiting foreign nationals from entering the United States to study at Harvard for the next six months would cause “immediate and irreparable injury”...

More than a quarter-million Chinese students attending college in the United States saw their futures plunged into uncertainty Wednesday when the Trump administration announced an aggressive crackdown on student visa holders from that country. With an estimated 277,398 students pursuing primarily undergraduate and graduate degrees, China ranks only behind India among foreign countries with the highest number of students attending college in the U.S., according to data from the Institute of International Education. Since China’s middle-class boom in the early aughts, its students have flocked to U.S. institutions, which in turn welcomed the enrollment boost and mostly unsubsidized tuition fees....

House Republicans have inserted a provision into the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that could significantly limit judicial oversight of the executive branch. The provision, found on page 562 of the 1,118-page bill, would effectively remove judges’ ability to hold parties in contempt for defying court orders. The new measure specifically targets injunctions and temporary restraining orders, requiring litigants to provide a security bond before a judge can exercise contempt powers. This requirement would apply to all orders, including those issued before the law’s enactment, potentially affecting numerous existing cases against the Trump administration.

Elon Musk said he is "disappointed" by the costs of President Donald Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" passed by Republicans in the House last week. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk told "CBS Sunday Morning" in an exclusive broadcast interview The remarks by Musk, who recently stepped back from running the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, are in contrast to Trump, who backed the legislation, which still needs Senate approval.

Universities and colleges across the country can thank Harvard for this latest development. If federal courts won't allow the Department of Homeland Security to deal directly with Harvard on compliance for the Student Education Visa Program (SEVP), the administration can simply make it more difficult for everyone instead. That seems to be the case today, although this may have accelerated a project that would have started soon anyway. After a federal court issued a stay that allows Harvard to continue enrolling foreign students, the Trump administration paused the entire program. Embassies and consulates have been ordered to stop conducting necessary...

As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research, thousands of scientists in the U.S. lost their jobs or grants — and governments and universities around the world spotted an opportunity. The “Canada Leads” program, launched in April, hopes to foster the next generation of innovators by bringing early-career biomedical researchers north of the border.Aix-Marseille University in France started the “Safe Place for Science” program in March — pledging to “welcome” U.S.-based scientists who “may feel threatened or hindered in their research.”Australia’s “Global Talent Attraction Program,” announced in April, promises competitive salaries and relocation packages.“In...

Calling the trade talks a stalemate, US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU on June 1. European markets took an immediate tumble following Trump's social media post. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is recommending a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union, citing a stalemate in trade talks. "Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025," he wrote on social media. In a post on Truth Social, Trump reiterated his criticism of...

The Trump Administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard University, threatened its tax-exempt status, and sought to dictate its curriculum and hiring. Now the government seems bent on destroying the school for the offense of fighting back. And for what purpose? That’s how we read the Department of Homeland Security’s move Thursday to bar foreign students from attending the world-renowned institution. That’s 6,800 students, or a quarter of Harvard’s student body, whose futures are suddenly in disarray. It’s also a short-sighted attack on one of America’s great competitive strengths: Its ability to attract the world’s best and brightest....

The Democratic Party is finally saying the quiet part out loud: "Biden should not have run again." Revelations about President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and his administration's alleged cover-up have returned to the national conversation ahead of next week's release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson's book, "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again." Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a 2024 presidential campaign surrogate for President Joe Biden, and considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, acknowledged on Wednesday that Biden should not have run for a second term. And...

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis excoriated Trump administration lawyers Friday in a remarkable status hearing centered on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member who was deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error. The heated back-and-forth was full of eye-popping exchanges between the judge and the Justice Department, as she took umbrage with their attempts to invoke the state secrets privilege to shield details concerning Abrego Garcia from the court. "What world are we living in," Xinis asked in disbelief after more than two hours...

The White House says President Trump is “determined” to maintain at least a 10% tariff on all imports, meaning all nations should expect a baseline tax on their goods even if they negotiate trade pacts with the U.S. Dozens of trading partners are scrambling to negotiate down sky-high levies that Mr. Trump imposed, then paused, in early April. It’s a fluid process, but this much should be clear: Mr. Trump will only go so low.“The president is determined to continue with that 10% baseline tariff. I just spoke to him about it earlier,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said...

There’s a lie we’ve been telling ourselves for decades: That free trade with China would civilize them. Make them richer, freer, better. It didn’t. It made them bolder. Hungrier. More dangerous. What the West called “economic engagement,” China saw as an opportunity for weaponization. And now, the bill is coming due—for everyone. They’ve used the profits of global trade to fund: - Re-education camps - A high-tech surveillance state - Mass internment of minorities - And a military machine backed by the promise of global domination All while selling us the cheap plastic they use to buy time. And what...