Free Republic

Police, who held a line at the very gate of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday were pelted with potatoes by angry farmers worried a new free trade deal will see their livelihoods and industry destroyed. A government-authorized protest for 50 tractors in Brussels turned into a demonstration with “around 1,000” tractors present and over 7,000 farmers on Thursday. While the protest largely passed off without incident, there were clashes at the European Parliament building, where farmers threw potatoes and eggs and received tear gas and water cannon in return. […] The farmers are protesting the forthcoming EU-Mercosur...

Inflation is only at 2.6% year-over-year. This means that nearly 100% of the cost of tariffs has been eaten by the foreign manufacturers and importers. Which is exactly what I’ve been arguing would happen. Let me explain what is happening: The notion that tariffs would be passed onto customers has always been laughable on its face, once you understand that manufacturing is only 20% to 40% of the price of an item for sale. The rest includes advertising, warehousing, transportation and sales markup. (Importers have high transportation costs to get the product to America, but that’s all part of replacing...

During President Trump's first term, the economy was a relative strength of his. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his promises to lower prices in a country grappling with post-COVID inflation propelled him back into office. But toward the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It's his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. The only time in that span that Americans had a similarly negative view of a president's handling of the economy...

PROTECTING AMERICA’S FOOD SUPPLY AND FAMILY BUDGETS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to stop price fixing, anti-competitive behavior, and foreign influence that drives up grocery prices and threatens the security of America’s food supply.The Order directs the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to each establish a Food Supply Chain Security Task Force within their respective agencies to aggressively investigate price fixing and anti-competitive practices across the food sector.Both Task Forces are empowered to bring enforcement actions and propose new rules to stop anti-competitive behavior and restore competition.The Attorney General is directed...

Trump’s tariffs and immigration raids are driving the latest farm crisis. White farmers have stood by him year after year—and still do. On Monday, Donald Trump announced that his administration will give farmers a $12 billion bailout—a tacit admission that his trade policies suck. Farmers have spent much of the last year complaining about rising production costs, falling crop prices and the loss of multiple markets due to Trump’s tariffs and the trade wars they have launched. All in all, farmers are projected to lose roughly $44 billion in profits this year, in large part because of Trump administration policies....

The United States trade deficit shrank dramatically in September, falling 10.9 percent to $52.8 billion as President Trump’s sweeping tariff policies began to reshape trade flows in line with the administration’s goals, according to data released Thursday by the Commerce Department.The deficit reduction reflected gains on both sides of the ledger. U.S. exports jumped 3.0 percent to $289.3 billion, the highest level in months, while imports rose just 0.6 percent to $342.1 billion. The combination produced the kind of outcome the Trump administration has sought: American goods finding stronger markets abroad even as the flow of foreign goods into the...

The trade deficit has narrowed to its smallest since mid-2020, down more than 35% over last year — and more proof that President Donald J. Trump’s America First trade agenda is working.Here’s what you need to know:U.S. exports are up 6% over last year — rising to their second-highest value on record — while Inflation-adjusted exports of consumer goods are the largest ever.The seasonally adjusted trade deficit with China has narrowed to its second-smallest since 2009.In the third quarter of 2025, real exports grew by a 4.1% annual rate and imports fell by around 5% — adding about 1% to...

The Trump administration announced $12 billion in one-time payments to farmers in the wake of this year's tariff hikes on Monday, primarily targeting farmers who grow crops such as soybeans and corn. The move was outlined during a White House roundtable event, featuring farmers affected as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Trump touted the program in relation to the revenue the government is taking in as a result of his sweeping tariff program and also referenced his popularity among farmers. "What we're doing is we're taking a relatively small portion of that, and we're...

NEW YORK — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday predicted that the administration still will be able to implement its tariff agenda regardless of whether it prevails in a pending case before the Supreme Court. Repeating assertions he had made prior to the high court hearing a month ago, Bessent cited several sections of 1962 Trade Act that give the president sweeping powers over import duties. “We can recreate the exact tariff structure with [sections] 301, with 232, with 122,” he said during an onstage interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit. Asked by host Andrew Ross Sorkin —...

If you think eggs are expensive, just wait until the new tariffs hit cars. Goldman Sachs estimates tariffs on imported vehicles could raise prices by $5,000 to $15,000. That’s because tariffs are taxes on foreign imports that are paid by American consumers. These tariffs apply to almost every conceivable product. As a result, energy will be more expensive, and gas prices in some parts of the country could see as much as a 70-cent increase in the cost per gallon. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the building of a single-family home could become up to $10,000 more...

Multinational retail giant Costco has sued the US government to secure a full refund of import duties if the Supreme Court rejects President Donald Trump's authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval. Costco's lawsuit urges the federal trade court to declare Trump's 'emergency' tariffs illegal, an authority the president says he has under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Two lower courts have already ruled that Trump exceeded his authority by using emergency powers to impose tariffs. The case has now reached the Supreme Court, and several companies are trying to protect their rights to refunds should the justices...

October’s haul set a new monthly high as Treasury data showed soaring customs receipts under President Donald Trump’s tariff program.Tariff revenues surged to $31.4 billion in October, setting a new monthly record as the Trump administration’s trade policies continue to remake U.S. trade flows and reshape the federal government’s balance sheet, according to newly released Treasury Department data. The Monthly Treasury Statement for October, published on Nov. 25 , shows net customs duties totaling $31.4 billion, surpassing all prior monthly readings and marking the strongest single-month tariff haul since the modern reporting era began. Treasury records show gross customs receipts...

President Donald Trump said on Nov. 27 that the United States could eliminate income taxes over the next couple of years due to revenue generated from tariffs. Trump made the remarks during a Thanksgiving call with U.S. service members, saying the tariffs he imposed on foreign nations have generated substantial revenue and pushed companies to build their manufacturing facilities in the United States to avoid tariff costs. “We’re taking in hundreds of billions of dollars like we’ve never done before. And some of that’s going to go back in a form of a sort of dividend to our people, but...

At least one Republican senator has said that the U.S. government cannot afford a Trump administration proposal to send out $2,000 tariff-derived rebate payments. “If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just to make cash payments to Americans,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo on Monday. Bartiromo then told him: “It sounds like you would vote ‘no’ in terms of $2,000 checks going to individuals.” He added that “we can’t afford it” and that he wishes the U.S. government was “in a position to return the...

The view that the stock market is in a massive bubble and bound to crash is incorrect over the medium term Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/3af620bb-6d5e-4281-879d-c3193e225803?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9 After the so-called “liberation day” tariffs announcement, the conventional wisdom about the US economy became very pessimistic....

It was, by any measure, a lot of red ink. When Volkswagen announced its third-quarter profits at the end of October, the German auto giant said it anticipated heavy losses for this year. The reason? It is taking a 5 billion euro hit from tariffs imposed in the American market. Likewise, the German sportswear manufacturer Adidas warned of a 120 million euro hit to its earnings, in part because the levies its trainers now face in the United States, while Toyota warned of a $9 billion hit from tariffs. For anyone following the corporate earnings season over the last month,...

Taiwanese National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen said that Taiwan and the United States have reached a “consensus” to keep tariffs off Taipei’s semiconductor industry.The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Oct. 20, 2021. AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, FileIn a Financial Times interview published on Nov. 20, Wu said that Taiwan will support the United States in building its chip industry, and in return, the United States will offer tariff relief for the island’s semiconductor sector.“Of course, there’s the recipes of how to make the chips, but it’s also about the science park management, attracting...

The USDA is “crunching numbers” as it considers potential relief for farmers from tariff-related losses, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen A. Vaden said Monday. President Donald Trump’s administration previously hinted that it might devote up to $12 billion to aid payments for farmers who were hurt by tariff policies this year, Politico reported in late October. “This department only woke back up on Thursday of last week,” Vaden said, referencing the Nov. 12 conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. “Lots of things changed during (the government shutdown),” including trade agreements with China, Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and...

PULSE POINTS❓WHAT HAPPENED: A 150-year analysis challenges conventional wisdom on the impact of tariffs, suggesting they lower prices and raise unemployment, contrary to establishment economic models.👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Researchers Régis Barnichon and Aayush Singh from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco conducted the study.📍WHEN & WHERE: The study analyzed data from 1870 to 2020 across the U.S., the U.K., and France, with findings published in November 2025.💬KEY QUOTE: “We find that a tariff hike raises unemployment and lowers inflation,” the authors stated in their working paper.🎯IMPACT: The findings challenge establishment economic models and suggest tariffs may work through demand-side...

Time is short for the Trump administration. Last week's elections were a setback, but not a devastating one: New Jersey is still a blue state, and while Virginia went red four years ago, it's been trending Democratic for more than a decade. Republicans also fared poorly in Pennsylvania, however, an all-important presidential battleground. Democrats even made inroads deep into the South, taking two state senate seats in Mississippi -- ending a GOP supermajority -- and picking up city council spots in South Carolina and Florida. With results like these, the Republicans' razor-thin majority in Congress won't survive the midterm elections...