Free Republic

Tariffs of up to 45 per cent on Chinese-made electric cars imported into the European Union may be replaced with a new ‘minimum pricing’ system after previously stalled discussions between the two trading partners were re-started. A ‘minimum pricing’ arrangement – also referred to as ‘price floors’ or ‘price undertakings’ – between the European Union (EU) and China would see tariffs abolished and set minimum prices agreed upon. According to Reuters, European trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has said any new policy would have to be as effective as tariffs, given the approach has previously only been applied on ‘homogenous commodities’....

The Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS’ Direct File program, an electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the agency for free, according to two people familiar with the decision. The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency was credited by users with making tax filing easy, fast and economical. But Republican lawmakers and commercial tax preparation companies complained it was a waste of taxpayer money because free filing programs already exist, although they are hard to use. The program had been in limbo since the start of the Trump administration as Elon Musk and the Department of Government...

Beijing 2 Feb-RIA Novosti. China is dissatisfied with the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on goods from China, Mexico and Canada. Beijing will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and take appropriate countermeasures, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said...

President-elect Trump told The Post Saturday he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers, appearing to side with Elon Musk in the roiling intra-MAGA debate on the issue. “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said by phone, referring to the H-1B program, which permits companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump, who restricted access to foreign worker visas in...

A controversial 2020 study that claimed the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine showed promise for treating COVID-19 has been retracted, after sparking widespread criticism from scientists ever since its publication. The study was originally published online in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents on March 20, 2020. With a small sample size of just 36 total participants, the trial had involved treating 20 COVID-19 patients with 600 milligrams of hydroxychloroquine, a drug best known as an antimalarial. Some of the patients were also given the antibiotic azithromycin. Based on the results, the authors concluded that hydroxychloroquine was “significantly associated with viral load...

President-elect Donald Trump used a “forceful hand” to get his Drug Enforcement Agency pick to drop out on Tuesday after hearing “concerns” about the Floridian’s record, sources familiar told The Post — leading outgoing Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to make a bid for the position. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister issued a lengthy statement indicating he was withdrawing his name for the DEA slot — but did not reveal the specific reason he was dropping out of the confirmation process after just three days. “Everyone knows President Trump calls the shots,” a well-placed source spilled. “The president heard the concerns...

Summary: This is, of course, a discussion of the email that Pete's mom sent to him during his divorce (2018) chastising.She says that the email was sent in haste when she was upset about Pete's divorce and shortly after sending it she apologized for the email and expressed her regret for sending it.She fully supports Pete and thanks President Trump for considering him for the SecDef post.

This year’s election is shaping up to be decided in court rather than the ballot box. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are preparing for what will become a very heated and nasty legal battle that is certain to tear the country further apart. The mainstream media will naturally betray the country and everything the American Constitution once stood for. They will support all the illegal aliens and Kamala no matter what. When Communism fell, they tore down statues of Lenin everywhere. He was the champion of the mainstream press, and ushering in equality and fairness was the dream. The...

Recently released data points to a possible reason for the reported increase in abortions in the United States two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled abortion is not a constitutional right. According to the latest data from the pro-choice Society of Family Planning's #WeCount research project, the monthly average of abortions between January through March was 98,990. The group found between 94,670 and 102,350 abortions monthly, with the national monthly total of abortions reportedly exceeding 100,000 in January for the first time since #WeCount began. States with the highest average number of abortions per...

While support for Donald Trump has held steady, Kamala Harris has improved on Joe Biden’s 2024 election numbers in four battleground states, driven by strong support among women, Black voters, and young voters. In addition, while Trump leads on top issues, more voters see Harris as the one who can unite the country -- and who will "fight for people like you." That’s according to new Fox News statewide surveys in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina. Each survey includes about 1,000 registered voters and was conducted August 23-26, post Democratic National Convention and just after Robert F. Kennedy Jr....

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro denied on Monday that antisemitism played a role in his not becoming the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has charged. Shapiro said Trump was the “least credible person” when it came to standing up against hatred and bigotry, in comments quoted by NBC News. “He’s trying to use me and he’s trying to use other Jews to divide Americans further,” Shapiro said. He then clarified, “Antisemitism played absolutely no role in my dialogue with the vice president. Absolutely none. It is also true that antisemitism is present in our commonwealth,...

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are effectively dead even where it counts — the battleground states, according to a new poll. Mirroring the polling group’s findings from a separate survey released earlier this month, both presidential contenders scored 50% apiece in the battleground states, per a CBS News/YouGov survey released Sunday. Harris, 59, came away with the lead in a national head-to-head matchup between the pair 51% to 48%, which marks an uptick from her prior 50% to 49% edge over him in the prior survey. Strikingly, 36% of voters felt that they don’t know what...

Nikki “Birdbrain” Haley is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our Country. Her False Statements, Derogatory Comments, and Humiliating Public Loss, is demeaning to True American Patriots. Her anger should be aimed at her Third Rate Political Consultants and, more importantly, Crooked Joe Biden and those that are destroying our Country - NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL SAVE IT. I knew Nikki well, she was average at best, is not the one to take on World Leaders, and she never did. That was up to me, and that is why they respected the United States. When I ran...

Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has burned up $11.1 million of the $11.2 million he raised across July, August, and September, with no progress in the polls to show for it and donors increasingly reluctant to throw good money after bad.New filings show a campaign running out of firepower, with almost $6 million spent in July, with a precipitous drop to $3.8 million in August, followed by a crash to $1.3 million in September.They also show DeSantis’s campaign operation, which once boasted by far the biggest staff in the GOP race, is still being slashed, with 90 people on the...

Donald Trump “demanded” an apology from Forbes magazine after it dropped him from its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the US for the second time in three years. “I hereby demand a full apology from the failing Forbes magazine,” the former president wrote on Wednesday on Truth Social, the reportedly struggling social media platform he set up after being expelled from mainstream platforms over the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Forbes released its Trump-free list last week, saying the his net worth was down $600m from a year before. Trump has been on the list since the...

Save America, the political action committee financing former President Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, spent over $40 million on legal fees in the first half of 2023. These expenses reflect the ballooning costs of defending the embattled former president as he faces a growing list of legal challenges. (snip) Even where the charges against Trump are contrived (Alvin Bragg Slowly Realizes His Trump Indictment Is Going to Backfire, and He’s Getting Desperate), he has to spend a lot of money protecting his interests until the case is closed. Should he prevail in all the cases, the final legal bill will dwarf...

On Friday night, a judge dismissed former President Donald Trump's lawsuit against CNN in which the current 2024 front-runner for the Republican nomination claimed CNN’s coverage of his election lies equated him to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Judge Raag Singhal, a Trump-appointed judge, ruled that CNN referring to Trump’s claims about the election being stolen as “The Big Lie” did not meet the criteria for defamation despite Trump’s belief to the contrary. "There is no question that the statements made by CNN meet the publication requirement for defamation under Florida law," Singhal wrote. "The next question is whether the...

WASHINGTON — A Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol wearing a “Make Space Great Again” hat had two guns and 400 rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested Thursday near former President Barack Obama’s home, federal authorities said Friday. A federal prosecutor said in court Friday that Taylor Taranto, a 37-year-old man first identified by online sleuths in August 2021, also had a machete in the van he appeared to be living in. Taranto's van has been parked near the D.C. jail in recent weeks and he has appeared at protests in support of other Jan. 6...

Washington — A California man who prosecutors described as "one of the most violent defendants on January 6, 2021" was sentenced to 151 months — about 12 ½ years — in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to violent and obstructive conduct during the Capitol riot. Daniel "DJ" Rodriguez admitted as part of a plea agreement in February that he attacked former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone with a taser, causing him to lose consciousness, and that he worked to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rodriguez will also have to pay $96,000 to cover...

John Eastman, the Trump-allied lawyer who created a memo arguing that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, is set to face disciplinary hearings starting Tuesday in Los Angeles. The counsel for the State Bar of California is asking a court to revoke Eastman’s license to practice law in the state. Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges for allegations that he engaged in a plot to push a far-fetched legal strategy for Pence to overturn Biden’s electoral victory during the certification of Electoral College votes by a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors alleged...