Free Republic

LAREDO, Texas — The edges of this small border city bustle with activity as construction vehicles clear flat expanses of land for massive warehouses, and semi-trucks moving American and Mexican goods appear to cover every inch of roadway. To James Gonzalez, 33, the sterile, boxy buildings and traffic congestion only a few miles from the five bridges that connect the U.S. to Mexico represent financial success and future business opportunities. The city's fortunes, based entirely on trade between the two countries, is forever tied to the United States’ kinship with or animus for its southern neighbor. The closeness of that...

I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measur

A number of Republicans in the Senate are standing with President Donald Trump over his threat to apply tariffs to Mexico on Tuesday after several party members spoke out against it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that “there is not much support in my conference for tariffs” and he is hoping that the tariffs are not implemented. Other Senators also decided to speak out against Trump’s threat. Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he will not support applying a tariff to Mexico, saying he “would not be inclined to vote [for] a tariff against a friend,” Politico reported...

Metapa, Mexico - Some 200 military police, immigration agents and federal police were awaiting a group of about 1,000 Central American migrants who were walking north along a southern Mexico highway on Wednesday. The group of migrants, including many women and children, set out early from Cuidad Hidalgo at the Mexico Guatemala border and was headed for Tapachula, the principal city in the region. State and local police accompanied the caravan. ...

China on Friday threatened to unveil an unprecedented hit list of "unreliable" foreign firms, groups and individuals who harm the interests of Chinese companies as a slate of retaliatory tariffs on imported U.S. goods was set to kick in at midnight. The commerce ministry did not single out any country or company, but the threat could further heighten tensions after Washington this month put Huawei on a blacklist that effectively blocks U.S. firms from doing business with the Chinese telecoms equipment giant. Beijing's "unreliable entities list" would apply to those who violate market rules and the spirit of contracts, block...

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.

Nobody is happy about Donald Trump’s new threat to slap tariffs on Mexico unless it clamps down on migrants crossing the border. Well, almost nobody. Investors? They’re panicking. Stocks are down. So are treasury yields, which is a sign that folks are worried and fleeing to safe assets. Mexico? What do you think? Republicans in Congress? Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley says the move is a “misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent.” The business lobby? It’s peeved. Trump’s own advisers? Some of them are reportedly furious. Specifically, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, a free trader, and U.S....

Mexico's president on Saturday said he's open to negotiating with the United States after President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on all Mexican imports over immigration. "I believe we will be able to reach an agreement, because reason is with us," Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a news conference in Veracruz, insisting that Mexico wants to maintain a good relationship with the United States.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) condemned President Trump's new tariffs on Mexico late Thursday, calling the move a "misuse" of presidential tariff authority and cautioning the levies could derail passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). "Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent," Grassley said in a statement. The lawmaker cautioned that following through on Trump's tariff threat "would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA," a revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "I support nearly every one of President Trump’s immigration policies,...

The proposed Trump tariffs on Mexico in an attempt to get them to stop the flow of immigrants across the border, has solicited response from the Mexican National Farm Council. They say: It supports surgical application of retaliatory tariffs aimed at US states that support trumps Republican Party, if the tariffs are enacted Such retaliatory tariffs voting US states should be a last resort US exports to Mexico include greens, pork, apples could form part of a new list of possible Mexican targets for retaliatory tariffs

<p>WASHINGTON – The president of Mexico says he wants to avoid a confrontation with the United States, but had harsh words about President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Mexican goods to pressure the nation to stem the flow of Central American migrants.</p>

Just hours after President Trump announced he will be imposing 5% tariffs on Mexican imports over illegal immigration, Mexico’s president Lopez Obrador sent Trump a letter begging for a meeting to work toward a solution. “Mexico’s President Lopez Obrador asks Trump to have U.S. officials meet with the Mexican foreign minister in Washington on Friday to seek a solution that benefits both nations,” Reuters reported.

Trump announced a new 5 percent tariff on Mexico beginning in early June, saying the levy will "gradually increase" until the ongoing illegal immigration surge at the southern border is "remedied" and illegal migrants "STOP." "On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP," Trump wrote. "The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, ... ..at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow."

On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,.. ...at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.

On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,.. ....at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.

*** Maxsa, which manufactures many of its products in China, had to start paying 25 percent more to import some goods after the United States introduced tariffs on Chinese-made products last summer. Faced with higher costs, Maxsa says it managed to persuade several small U.S. retailers to pay roughly 20 percent more for the company’s wares. But its biggest customer, Amazon, drove a much harder bargain. Amazon, which buys products from Maxsa and then sells them to consumers, initially rejected Maxsa’s attempt to charge more for a laser-guided parking aid called Park Right, forcing Maxsa to cut off sales to...

... Atchison County, my small farming community in northwest Missouri, is home to about 5,000 people. One hundred thousand acres of soybeans are planted here each year. The drop in soybean prices has meant a loss of around $100 in potential income on each of those acres. Atchison County farmers will be looking at a decline of $10 million in gross income this year, or about $2,000 per capita. We won’t be buying many Whirlpool washers. Supporters of the tariffs begin each conversation with a litany of Chinese wrongs. They say China ignores the rules governing international trade and is...

The biggest damage from a renewed trade war with the United States will be China’s swing from 25 years as a net domestic saver to a global net borrower. More than $1 trillion in stock value was wiped out on Monday due to the collapse of the expected U.S./China Trade Deal. The American government mostly ignored the 600 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and soybean futures hitting an 11-year low; but China’s central bank was forced to inject $3.5 billion into the financial system after foreign investors dumped a record $1.6 billion worth of mainland shares...

Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber said Monday that the company shuffled its operations over the past year in anticipation of high tariffs on imports from China. The home goods retailer made adjustments over the past year believing that tariffs on Chinese imports could reach 25%. “I think that you’re better off preparing for the worst,” she said in a one-on-one interview with “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer Monday in San Francisco. “Unfortunately that pessimism has come true, and we are more prepared.” Williams-Sonoma shifted some furniture production to Vietnam, Indonesia and the United States after President Donald Trump slapped 10% duties...

As his limo carried him to work at the White House Monday, Larry Kudlow could not have been pleased with the headline in The Washington Post: "Kudlow Contradicts Trump on Tariffs." The story began: "National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that American consumers end up paying for the administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, contradicting President Trump's repeated inaccurate claim that the Chinese foot the bill." A free trade evangelical, Kudlow had conceded on Fox News that consumers pay the tariffs on products made abroad that they purchase here in the U.S. Yet that is by no means the...