Free Republic

Everything I have learned as a capitalist and a Republican is that tariffs are counterproductive. They are hidden taxes that raise the price of the goods we buy and harm trade with other countries, which is not good for America or for our trading partner. If that is so, then provide us with another path to solving the China trading problem. President Trump probably made a mistake with going after steel and aluminum importers as a class. Certainly he has a point that we must maintain our own production capabilities in those areas, but just because our industries are suffering...

WASHINGTON—A little over a year after withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Donald Trump has asked his top economic advisers to study the possibility of re-entering the trade pact negotiations. Mr. Trump has deputized Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, and Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, to study the possibility of re-entering the TPP if the terms were favorable, the president told a group of lawmakers on Thursday. The president’s new openness toward the TPP, which he had said during his campaign was a deal “pushed by special interests who want to rape our...

The Trump administration is seeking to blunt domestic opposition to its trade policies with a relief package for farmers affected by the U.S. trade spat with China, say officials involved in the discussions. The aid package, which could climb into the billions of dollars, is still being developed. Agriculture and congressional officials are examining Depression-era programs like the Commodity Credit Corp., which was created in 1933 to stabilize farm incomes, and which permits borrowing of as much as $30 billion from the Treasury to finance its activities. Using the CCC would also give the administration an existing program to tap,...

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised on Tuesday to open the country’s economy further and lower import tariffs on products like cars, in a speech seen as an attempt to defuse an escalating trade dispute with the United States. While much of his pledges were reiterations of previously announced reforms that foreign businesses say are long overdue, Xi’s comments sent stock markets and the U.S. dollar higher on hopes of a compromise that could avert a trade war. Xi said China will widen market access for foreign investors, addressing a chief complaint of its trading partners and a point of contention...

It was a black Monday for Russian oligarchs as up to $16 billion was wiped off the value of the country's wealthiest tycoons' holdings in the wake of U.S.-imposed sanctions. The ruble fell to its lowest level against the dollar since late 2016, while shares in sanctioned aluminum producer Rusal, which is controlled by the billionaire Oleg Deripaska, plunged more than 50 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange. As Russian stocks tumbled, the Kremlin reportedly said it would step in to support affected companies. The latest sanctions were announced by President Donald Trump on Friday. They target leading figures...

China has filed a World Trade Organization complaint challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hike on imported steel and aluminum, the trade body said Tuesday. The tariff spat is one element of a wide-ranging trade dispute between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping's government. Trump also has threatened to increase duties on $50 billion of Chinese goods in a separate conflict over technology policy. (please see link, for full article)

Ok. It took exactly ONE DAY. China just filed a lawsuit, against America.

Call it at least a half-blink. After a war of words between the US and China spooked investors around the world, Xi Jinping indirectly offered two concessions to US trade concerns while speaking at a business conference. Xi offered to open up the auto market and increase flexibility on banking, but left out a couple of other key issues for Donald Trump: China’s President Xi Jinping may be starting to pull back from a trade confrontation with President Trump, promising to reduce Chinese tariffs on imported cars https://t.co/8sVBCFJDZ5 pic.twitter.com/53YqJpEbG2— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 10, 2018 President Xi Jinping promised...

Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed plans to further open up the Chinese economy during a Tuesday address.

Every once in a while, Wall Street has a fit. Sometimes it is warranted, many times it is not. The tariff tantrum falls under into the latter category. Late Thursday night, President Trump upped the ante in the tariff game, proposing a review of an additional $100 billion of potential tariffs. So the US and China, the two largest economies, jostle over a tiny percentage of their multitrillion-dollar GDPs to make a point — and to score points. But Wall Street uses its finest calculus, egged on by Trump-bashing media personalities dressed up as “journalists,” to extrapolate that we are...

If the world’s two largest economies are heading toward a trade war, time is on China’s side. “Don’t forget: The Chinese have a very long-term view,” Bloomberg News Chief Content Officer Marty Schenker argued on Wednesday, while noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping no longer has term limits. “He’s going to be there long after Donald Trump is gone. So they’re in this for the long haul, and they’re playing hardball.” On Tuesday evening, the Trump administration announced 25% tariffs on more than 1,000 industrial technology, transport, and medical products amounting to about $50 billion in 2018 imports. China swiftly...

The Trump administration is pursuing ways to protect domestic vehicle manufacturing by forcing imported cars to meet stricter environmental rules when entering the country, according to senior administration and industry officials, a move that would make imports more expensive. The cost of meeting the stiffer import standards would, at least in part, be passed along to U.S. consumers. This style of “nontariff barrier”—a protectionist stratagem the U.S. has long condemned in other countries—is designed to reduce the relative cost of cars manufactured in the U.S., by American workers, the officials said. Mr. Trump has asked the Environmental Protection Agency and...

The headlines on most financial publications claim the United States and our current administration is lighting the fuse to a trade war. The first shot across the bow came many years ago when China joined the World Trade Organization and its central and provincial governments began subsidizing manufacturing and production of goods in high volumes thus leaving manufacturing sectors in the west at a disadvantage. President Donald Trump vowed to remember those who were forgotten in the last 10 years and to make changes in policy. (please see link, for full article)

Lawmakers and bureaucrats in official Washington often act as if their decisions lead the nation forward. News from Iowa this week, however, shows once again that the culture leads and politicians lag behind. Kim Reynolds became Iowa's Governor last May when her predecessor (Terry Branstad) resigned to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China. Reynolds is now running for her own full term in a state where the average Obamacare premiums jumped 57 percent. "Many Iowans faced a choice of going broke or going without insurance," according to Reynolds. "And that's really not a real choice." Seizing the opportunity...

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, former CNN correspondent Heather Long and her colleague Andrew Van Dam contend that President Trump’s tariffs will hurt Trump voters the most. Their conclusion is unsurprising, as the mainstream media’s raison d’être is to rebuke the president and gaslight his supporters into thinking they have cause to abandon him. Don’t let them fool you. Tariffs are in America’s best interest, and they will help precisely the people Trump says they will: the working class. Long and Van Dam argue that tariffs are bad because they increase prices and could cause a trade...

Stocks in the U.S. are rising Thursday and major indexes in Europe are surging as global markets continue a rally that began late the previous day. Wall Street is getting more optimistic that a trade dispute between the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world, will be resolved without too much pain. Some of the biggest gains are going to technology companies, retailers and banks. The S&P 500 index climbed 18 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,662 as of 12:45 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 237 points, or 1 percent, to 24,501. It...

The U.S. and China indicated they’re willing to negotiate on escalating frictions, helping to ease fears among investors that a tit-for-tat trade dispute could derail the strongest global expansion in years. The White House’s National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow spent much of the day Wednesday trying to calm markets after the two countries announced tariffs, and said they still have time work out their differences. “Remember, none of the tariffs have been put in place yet. These are all proposals,” he said in a brief interview, without specifying if talks are planned or how they’d take place. “We’re putting...

In the escalating economic showdown between the United States and China, President Trump is trying to put American shoppers first. The administration did not place tariffs on necessities like shoes and clothes, and mostly spared smartphones from the 25 percent levy on Chinese goods announced this week. But by shielding consumers, Mr. Trump has put American manufacturers — a group he has championed — in the cross hairs of a potential global trade war. If the measures stand, along with China’s retaliatory tariffs, they could snuff out a manufacturing recovery just beginning to gain steam. “If you want to spare...

U.S. stocks were higher in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with the major indexes recovering from earlier losses as investors’ fears eased over a trade conflict between the United States and China. Beijing hit back against U.S. plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, with proposals for a list of similar duties on key American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals. However, investor concerns appeared to ease after Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration was involved in a “negotiation” with China rather than a trade war. The market also seemed to take comfort...

Is President Trump winning on trade?Two underappreciated trade wins last week suggest the answer is: Yes.First, South Korea agreed to reduce longstanding nontariff trade barriers ‎that have reduced US exports there. Though the details are still sketchy, it appears that the Koreans will buy more Ford and GM cars and trucks and other US-made products. ‎This can only be good news for American workers. Seoul has also agreed to increase reimbursement rates to American drug and vaccine producers.On the negative side, the administration extended tariffs on Korean trucks and imposed a quota on steel imports from Korea. These will raise...