Free Republic

Washington — American farmers are having a tough year, in no small part because of President Donald Trump’s trade war. Now, the White House is gearing up to extend them a multi-billion-dollar bailout, sources tell CNN. Surging costs and foreign retaliation from tariffs have hurt the US agriculture industry — as have immigration-related labor shortages and plummeting commodity prices. Farm production expenses are estimated to reach $467.4 billion in 2025, according to the Agriculture Department, up $12 billion from last year. Farm bankruptcies rose in the first half of the year to the highest level since 2021, according to US...

The status quo is not going to cut it for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington. With an unemployment rate of 7.1%, the highest level in nine years and half a percentage point higher since the start of this year, Canada’s economy is faltering. Steep tariffs Trump slapped on cars, steel and aluminum — key Canadian exports to the United States — are making matters worse. And Carney’s meeting is happening just as Trump is prepared to deal another blow to the Canadian economy: tariffs on softwood and lumber, among the...

MARYVILLE, Tenn.—Tucked in the foothills of Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains is a factory that has figured out a way to manufacture in America that’s cheaper, quicker and better. It’s the home of a famous American writing implement: the Sharpie marker.Pen barrels whirl along automated assembly lines that rapidly fill them with ink. At least half a billion Sharpie markers are churned out here every year, each one made of six parts. Only the felt tip is imported, from Japan. [snip] Newell began moving some Sharpie production to China in the 2000s, part of the wave of outsourcing by U.S. companies looking...

Conservative law professor William Jacobson of Cornell University, publisher of the Legal Insurrection blog, appeared on the Jesse Kelly show this week and outlined an upcoming Supreme Court case for Trump that he describes as ‘very high stakes.’ The case has to do with the Trump tariffs, and depending on how the court rules, it could have a significant effect on Trump’s economic policy. Jacobson suggests that it could be a very close call. Transcript via Legal Insurrection: Kelly (00:05): The Supreme Court is about to begin another term. I don’t understand these terms. I don’t understand what they’re doing...

In light of Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) announcement on Tuesday that it will offer its drugs at reduced prices to American consumers, President Trump is backing off his threat to impose 100% tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals to give other drugmakers timeto cut their own deals. A White House official told Politico that it is seeking deals with other large pharmas that would be similar to Pfizer's. On Tuesday, the president also announced the launch of TrumpRx , a direct-to-consumer website for consumers to find discounted drugs. The official alluded to comments made by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a press event announcing...

Companies could face probes into their compliance with the H-1B visa program as part of the Trump Administration’s effort to clamp down on the program and force companies to hire more Americans. The Department of Labor announced on Friday that it was launching Project Firewall, an “enforcement initiative” that will investigate employers for potential abuse of the H-1B visa process. The initiative may be the first time the federal government has sought to broadly enforce H-1B legal standards intended to protect both the H-1B employee and American workers, such as paying wages on par with other workers of similar qualifications...

Two of the US Senate’s most senior lawmakers are once again teaming up to overhaul America’s high-skilled H-1B and L-1 visa systems, saying companies have turned what was meant to be a tool for innovation into a loophole for outsourcing. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin reintroduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act. This latest push comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump signed a sweeping presidential proclamation on H-1B visa applications. Under the new order, companies are now required to pay a one-time fee of $100,000 (around Rs 88 lakh) on every...

President Trump on Monday night announced tariffs of 10% on softwood timber and lumber alongside a 25% tariff on "certain upholstered wooden products" due to take effect on Oct. 14, according to the White House. This was the latest set of tariffs to be announced impacting the furniture industry, after Trump posted last week about a flurry of tariffs on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and other upholstered products on that will take effect Oct. 1. Trump said the lumber tariffs will help "strengthen supply chains" and "bolster industrial resilience." Yet home builders have warned this could deter investments in new homes...

American President Donald Trump's decision to finally impose a massive 100% tariff — import duty or tax — on movies made outside the US comes as another major blow to India, which has been facing his wrath, with blips of bonhomie, for the past three months and more. -snip- The Indian diaspora in the US spends around $100 million a year to watch Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali and other Indian language movies released in the US country, according to the Producers Guild of India. Indians are about 1.6% of the total US population, with other South Asians also...

The Weekly Wrap: Trump Derangement Syndrome Visits The Supreme CourtWelcome back to Friday! This week the grand poobahs of the U.S. economy gathered together in a friend-of-the-court brief to let everyone know they still really do not like what Trump is up to. The prices of goods affected by tariffs fell in August, crushing the hopes of everyone at the Cato Institute. And Americans once again made it clear that they really, really don’t like Democrat economic schemes.Here’s this week’s pain-free roundup of the economic news—no Tylenol necessary.A Supremely Unpersuasive Amicus BriefEvery living former Federal Reserve chair, former Treasury secretaries...

Peter Navarro, senior counselor to President Donald Trump for trade and manufacturing, during a special Founders Roundtable on Breitbart Fight Club said that President Donald Trump has proven the country could use tariffs to reduce its trade deficit.“We run chronic trade deficits which exceed a trillion dollars a year. Now, we’ve exported $18 trillion of wealth so far through the chronic trade deficit, and we’ve seen a reduction in our resilience, in our supply chains, our availability. It’s hurt our defense industrial base. It’s a national emergency in every possible way that you could think,” Navarro said in response to...

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced sweeping tariffs on various household products, including imported kitchen cabinets and certain kinds of furniture – potentially adding even more costs to a category that has surged in price in recent months. Trump also announced heavy truck tariffs and pharmaceutical tariffs.“We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025. Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday evening. Various tariffs that Trump has imposed have already boosted furniture prices considerably over the...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will use tariff revenue to offer cash bailouts for farmers who are struggling with trade uncertainty and other economic headwinds. “We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we’re going to give it to our farmers, who are, for a little while, going to be hurt until the tariffs kick into their benefit,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “So we’re going to make sure that our farmers are in great shape, because we’re taking in a lot of money.” Trump officials expect that Congress will need to...

A mix of high borrowing costs, dwindling job openings and growing economic and political uncertainty have left many U.S. households at a standstill, with many Americans saying they feel unable to buy new homes, take new jobs or move to new cities. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut last week — the first of the year, with the expectation that more will follow — may have boosted stock prices, but it isn’t likely to make much of a difference to everyday Americans, economists say. While the economy is generally in good shape, many people feel stuck. “Consumers have been increasingly...

President Donald Trump on Friday rolled out a version of his administration’s long-promised gold card, a $1 million fast-track for wealthy foreigners to live and work in the United States. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a call later with reporters, said the gold card will replace the current EB-1 and EB-2 visa programs for people who are of “exceptional value” to the United States. He said the administration expects to initially make 80,000 gold cards available but will continue to evaluate the model and could eventually phase out other visas.

India said on Saturday that the Trump administration’s move to increase U.S. H-1B visa fees to $100,000 per year was likely to have humanitarian consequences, warning of potential disruptions for families. India was the largest beneficiary of the U.S. H-1B skilled worker visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved applications. Companies will now have to pay the new $100,000 per year fee, which is set to take effect from Saturday midnight. (0400 GMT on Sunday). The move, announced on Friday, could further strain ties between India and the U.S., which hit their lowest point in decades after President Donald...

Hours after the US administration put a prohibitive USD 100,000 (about Rs 88 lakh) as fee for H-1B visa applications, India said on Saturday that this measure is likely to have “humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families” and the Indian government expressed hoped that these disruptions can be “addressed suitably by the US authorities”. The Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The Government has seen reports related to the proposed restrictions on the US H-1B visa program. The full implications of the measure are being studied by all concerned, including by Indian industry,...

New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump hiking H-1B non-immigrant visa fees to a steep USD 100,000 would affect thousands of Indian students with the American dream. It will sharply reduce low and mid-paid H-1B hiring, concentrate approvals on senior and high-value roles, and force employers and employees to shift to alternative pathways, or restructure staffing models. Immediate effects are already visible in travel advisories and market reactions; medium-term effects will reshape sourcing strategies in tech, professional services, and higher education. The hike would mainly affect those aspiring for a middle or entry-level jobs, where the early career median wage...

India’s top IT industry body, Nasscom, has raised alarm over the US’ decision to impose a steep USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, warning that the move could disrupt global operations of Indian technology services companies and unsettle thousands of skilled professionals working onshore in the US. The IT body added that what is even more concerning is that the order, which takes effect at 12:01 am on September 21, leaves just a one-day window for compliance. Nasscom said the abrupt rollout has created “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world.” Adjustments of this nature...

The Trump administration said on Friday it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India as well China. Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have already advised their foreign employees holding H-1B and H-4 visas to immediately return to the United States and urged the H-1B holders to stay in the US "for the foreseeable future", according to internal communications seen by Reuters. In internal notes circulated to staff, Amazon urged H-1B visa holders currently in the United States to...