Free Republic

Are the tariffs working? The headline from the BBC, Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports.The details, Goods brought into the US plunged by 20% in April, recording their largest ever monthly drop in the face of a wave of tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump. You literally have to go down to the final two sentences to learn the bottom line of the report, Exports so far this year are up about 5% compared with 2024. The overall goods and services deficit in April was $61.6bn, down from $138.3bn in March. Wut? Exports are up? How can that...

One reason America has become the economic superpower is that the 50 states comprise one giant free trade zone. The Europeans wanted to emulate that model with the creation of the EU, but it hasn’t worked. Here is a stunning fact from the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Sternberg: The International Monetary Fund calculates that Europe’s complex economic regulations impose the same costs as would a 44% tariff on goods traded between EU countries. For services, the costs of complying with different national rules are equivalent to a 110% tariff. By comparison, the regulatory costs associated with trading manufactured goods across...

By every honest metric, President Donald J. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill dramatically improves the fiscal trajectory of the United States and unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.HOAX: The One Big Beautiful Bill increases spending.FACT: The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers nearly $1.7 trillion in mandatory savings — a fact that even the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) admits is true.FACT: This is the highest level of mandatory savings in history — dwarfing spending reductions from similar reconciliation bills in 2005 ($140 billion), 1997 ($800 billion), 1993 ($370 billion), and 1990 ($440 billion) on an inflation-adjusted basis.FACT: The One Big...

A call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken place, according to Chinese state media. The bulletin from China was not immediately confirmed by Trump or his team. It offered no immediate details about the call itself other than to say the talks took place and that they happened at Trump's request. Either way, the apparent call would be a significant step in Trump's highest-stakes trade talks and the first time Trump and Xi have spoken since Trump's inauguration. The long-awaited call also comes at a fraught moment for US-China trade talks, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent...

As U.S. tariffs tighten the screws on China’s export machine, Beijing is striking back with strategic precision. Export restrictions on rare earths are now Beijing’s latest move to break down European trade barriers and push back against escalating pressure from Washington.In today’s global trade standoff, the gloves are off. The U.S. is wielding its market clout -- 25% of global consumption originates from the American domestic market. Anyone in the export business must deal with the United States. China, meanwhile, holds an current monopoly on rare earths -- and is making it clear it will not hesitate to weaponize that...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that recent U.S. tariff increases will reduce federal deficits by $2.8 trillion over the next decade, primarily through increased customs revenue and lower interest payments on federal debt—more than enough to offset the projected cost of President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cut bill. In a separate analysis, the CBO recently estimated that extending the 2017 tax cuts, as proposed in the administration’s new tax and spending bill, would increase the deficit by roughly $2.4 trillion over the same period. That legislation would reduce federal revenues by $3.67 trillion while cutting spending by $1.25 trillion,...

The economy appears to be booming, consumer confidence is rising, inflation is coming in lower, and job growth higher, than expected. Normally, we’d all be celebrating good news like this. But not when Donald Trump is sitting in the White House. Then it must be ignored or explained away. Ever since Trump took office, we’ve been treated to a steady diet of doomsaying. His tariffs would fuel inflation. He was driving the economy toward a recession. When the Commerce Department reported a slight contraction in the first quarter – so slight that future revisions could show that the economy expanded...

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday making official his vow to double tariffs on steel and aluminum, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing.Trump on Friday announced that he would increase tariffs on the two metals from 25% to 50%. On Monday, U.S. steel and aluminum prices jumped while shares of foreign steelmakers fell.

If we cut through all the polite pretending, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on Fox News to tell the bobble head the nation specific tariffs are going to hit regardless of what approaches need to be taken. President Trump is going to remain focused on structural changes to the global economic system of trade, manufacturing and USA commerce despite all of the grandiose efforts of the multinationals and their Lawfare foot soldiers.As Lutnick again repeats, there are a variety of legal mechanisms that can be used to enforce the tariff program triggered by President Trump. Adhering to them is not...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's factory activity shrank for a fourth month in May as frail domestic demand and the impact of U.S. tariffs took a heavy toll on factory output while overall orders plunged at their steepest pace in five years, a business survey showed on Monday. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for manufacturers in Asia's fourth-largest economy, released by S&P Global, edged up to 47.7 in May, from 47.5 in April. The index has stayed below 50-mark, which separates expansion from contraction, since February. "South Korea's manufacturing sector came into May on an unstable footing," said Usamah Bhatti,...

In light of the new wave of liberal lawfare being waged against President Trump’s tariffs, it’s worth considering: do the liberals have a point? Rand Paul certainly thought so—recall that a few weeks ago he brought the Senate to a tiebreaking vote to halt the tariffs. This is because Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” and to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations”. Strictly speaking, Congress has these powers—not the Executive. However, Congress also has the authority to delegate powers to the Executive for...

President Trump railed against judges blocking his tariffs on Thursday while taking aim at advice he received on some of his legal picks. As Breitbart News reported on Thursday, an appeals court “stayed the ruling of the U.S. Court of International Trade that blocked President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, meaning the tariffs are back in effect.” “The U.S. Court of International Trade issued an injunction on Wednesday night, ruling that President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs are illegal,” the article noted. “The White House filed a motion to stay the ruling, and the tariffs were reinstated Thursday afternoon.” In...

Rhode Island was the first colony to foreswear allegiance to Great Britain on May 4, 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence. It was also the only state not to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, fearing that a strong federal government, empowered to tax, would suppress smuggling. And it was the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790, more than a year after the federal government had come into existence. It did so then only under the threat of having its exports taxed as if from a foreign nation.

The judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade who ruled that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal have a history of Democrat Party activism.Each of the members of the three-judge panel issuing the Wednesday ruling – which was stayed Thursday by an appeals court, allowing the tariffs to continue – fit the profile of other activists judges who continued their political activism after joining the court.Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif, and Jane Restani have histories of supporting Democrat candidates that span as far back as 45 years ago and have thwarted Trump’s authority in both of his...

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported cars have yielded yet another win for the American auto industry as Volkswagen plans a “massive” investment in the United States to avoid such duty costs. In April, Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on auto imports to protect the nation’s auto workers and industry from unfair competition. Volkswagen, as a result, has entered negotiations with the Trump administration, reportedly resulting in plans for a large investment in the U.S. auto industry, according to The Guardian: Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, has said it will make a “massive” investment in the US. The group, which...

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Thursday on “The Ingraham Angle” that President Donald Trump has the authority to hit other countries with reciprocal tariffs. A three-judge panel on the New York-based Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that the president could not use his executive powers to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports. While discussing the ruling, Fox host Laura Ingraham told Turley that the tariffs could “withstand judicial scrutiny,” as previous tariffs from Trump’s first administration were upheld after being dragged through court. “Correct. The fact is the administration wanted to try this approach. This was a...

There is no other way to say it: liberal judges are waging unrestricted lawfare against President Trump. First, they protected illegal immigrants from deportation—literally sheltering criminals from justice. Now, they’re protecting foreign governments and multinational corporations from President Trump’s tariffs. Case in point: yesterday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the tariffs were illegal. Today, a second court followed suit. This is not surprising. Wall Street is engaging in total warfare against President Trump. Why? Because Wall Street profits tremendously from the trade deficit—to the tune of over $1.2 trillion per year. If President Trump is successful, this gravy...

In a ruling heard ’round the world, the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. This is an important moment for the rule of law as much as for the economy, proving again that America doesn’t have a king who can rule by decree. The Trump tariffs have created enormous costs and uncertainty, but now we know they’re illegal. As the three-judge panel explains in its detailed 52-page ruling, the President exceeded his emergency powers and bypassed discrete tariff authorities delegated to him by Congress. The ruling erases his April 2 tariffs as well as...

We're getting a bit of federal court whiplash Thursday on the tariff front. As RedState reported Wednesday evening, in a pair of cases, the Court of International Trade (CIT) held that the Trump administration's actions on tariffs, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), exceeded the president's authority under the statute and thus violated the separation of powers set forth by the Constitution. The ink had barely dried on that decision before the administration appealed it to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, that court has pressed pause on the lower court ruling. In a per curiam order...

Two courts ruled against the tariff policy enacted by President Donald J. Trump. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump’s tariff policy was unlawful, blocking a central tenet of the president’s agenda on the economy and trade. The Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs led to scores of nations lining up to renegotiate their deals. We’ve already inked our new one with the United Kingdom. D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras also ruled earlier today that the tariff policy was illegal, though he stayed his decision for 14 days to allow for the appeals process. Yet, before the...