Free Republic

British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Industrials on Monday reopened a shuttered South Carolina steel plant in a move that will allow his U.K.-based firm to circumvent the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on steel imports. Liberty Steel, a London-based company owned by Gupta’s group, held a relaunch ceremony at Georgetown Steel Mill on Monday. The mill originally closed in 2015 and was acquired by Liberty House in 2017, the Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. Liberty Steel said the facility would employ about 125 workers at launch and more than 300 workers in the “medium term,” according to a press release. GFG...

President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday that Harley-Davidson will be "taxed like never before" if the motorcycle maker moves production overseas. He claimed that the iconic U.S. company was using increased trade tensions as an excuse to justify planned changes in manufacturing. "A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end - they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!" Trump said in a tweet.

Harley-Davidson, the American motorcycle manufacturer, said on Monday that it would shift some production of its iconic bikes overseas to avoid retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union in response to President Trump’s trade moves. The decision, announced in a public filing, is the latest and most high-profile example of how Mr. Trump’s trade war is beginning to ripple through the United States economy as domestic companies begin struggling with a cascade of tariffs both here and abroad. While Mr. Trump says his trade policy is aimed at reviving domestic manufacturing, Harley-Davidson’s decision shows how the administration’s moves could have...

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said Senators should stand up to President Donald Trump by not approving any more judges until they get votes on things like tariffs. Flakes said, “I can tell you Republicans need to stand up on issues like tariffs. Facing us right now — we’re at the nascent stages of a full-scale trade war that the president seems to want to escalate. It all stems from the steel and aluminum tariffs. Congress needs to stand up and say, ‘No, we’re not going to do that.’ You can’t use section 232 to claim...

International trade has always been in the news. Business reporters talk about a trade deficit, politicians wail about jobs being exported overseas, and every so often, the government signs a new free trade agreement or trade promotion agreement (they are different things) with one or two or a hundred faraway countries. But despite all this, international trade policy has not been at the forefront of the news cycle in a generation; not since the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement was voided 25 years ago, to be replaced by NAFTA, a three-party FTA between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Thanks to...

The Trump administration’s recently announced 25 percent tariff on myriad China-made goods—including vehicles—would add a levy of approximately $8250 to the price of a Buick Envision crossover. That’s 25 percent of the 2019 model’s $32,990 starting price. Whether that increase is reflected in full on the sticker price come July 6, when the tariffs are set to take effect, is totally up to General Motors. The automaker would not provide detail on any potential financial impact of the tariff; a spokesperson said the company is assessing the situation. The Chinese tariffs could still be adjusted before July 6. But as...

Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, may be the leader of the world’s most valuable public company, but lately he has had to act a lot like the tech industry’s top diplomat,” Jack Nicas and Paul Mozur report for The New York Times. “Last month he visited the Oval Office to warn President Trump that tough talk on China could threaten Apple’s position in the country. In March, at a major summit meeting in Beijing, he called for “calmer heads” to prevail between the world’s two most powerful countries.” “In a trade and technology showdown between the United States and...

In recent weeks, several major rounds of tariffs have moved from proposals to realities, and major new tariffs have been threatened—shifting the stakes for President Donald Trump’s trade actions on the U.S. economy. Tariffs raise the price of imported goods, increasing costs to consumers, and making domestic producers (who don’t face the tariff) more competitive. Examples of how new tariffs might ripple through the economy have already been provided by earlier, smaller rounds of tariffs. These earlier examples also show why broad effects from tariffs, on the otherwise booming U.S. economy, might be hard to detect. One of the first...

When you plant your tree in another man’s orchard, you might end up paying for your own apples; it’s a risk you take… ….and President Trump knows how to use that leverage better than anyone could possibly fathom; because in this metaphor Beijing relies upon the U.S. for both the seeds and the harvest. President Trump drops the $200b M.O.A.T (Mother of All Tariffs):

While overshadowed by other remarks during the Group of Seven meetings last week, President Trump suggested that trade agreements could be “much simpler” and that they should eliminate all barriers to trade. The president’s instincts that trade agreements could be both simpler and more comprehensive are correct. Paradoxically, simpler agreements could go further than existing lengthy agreements in eliminating trade barriers. In fact, the surest way to eliminate all trade barriers would be through a simple, postcard-sized Free Trade Agreement (FTA). A postcard-FTA would involve a single but comprehensive obligation whereby each party would agree “to treat foreign goods, services...

Canadians have started to boycott U.S. goods in the wake of President Trump's war of words with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the recent steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, the European Union, and Mexico. CTV News reported on Thursday that Canadian shoppers were boycotting Florida oranges, Kentucky bourbon and California wine over the diplomatic rift. Canadians have also employed hashtags such as #BoycottUSProducts, #BuyCanadian and #BoycottUSA.

11:02:22, FBI Employee: “All the people who were initially voting for her would not, and were not, swayed by any decision the FBI put out. Trump’s supporters are all poor to middle class, uneducated, lazy POS that think he will magically grant them jobs for doing nothing. They probably didn’t watch the debates, aren’t fully educated on his policies, and are stupidly wrapped up in his unmerited enthusiasm.”

Original plan called for $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods; retaliation likely Reuters A worker walks among containers at the port in Shanghai, China. The Trump administration, deepening its global trade offensive, is preparing to levy tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Chinese goods in the coming week, perhaps as early as Friday — a move that is likely to spark heavy retaliation from Beijing. Senior trade officials in the White House, the Commerce and Treasury departments and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office met on the issue before President Donald Trump went to a summit of the...

More than a few conservative intellectuals have warmed to Donald Trump’s trade protectionism because it supposedly helps blue-collar Americans. But what if his tariffs do the opposite? Erica York at the Tax Foundation crunched some numbers recently showing that Mr. Trump’s proposal for a 25% tariff on imported cars, trucks and parts could eliminate half of the income gains from tax reform for millions of Americans. Those in the lowest income quintile could lose 49% of their tax gains. Say for ease of calculation that these folks received a $100 after-tax bonus from changes like the doubled standard deduction. After...

One of the greatest gifts President Trump provides through his policy discussion(s) is an awakening to how much U.S. voter perspective has been driven by constructed fallacy. This is especially true in the discussion of domestic economic policy. There are trillions of dollars at stake; and the stakeholders are growing increasingly angry as President Trump places a spotlight on decades of economic fraud and abuse. Prior to the 2016 election few people understood that DC politicians don’t actually write legislation, lobbyists do. Politicians don’t write laws, their role is to sell legislation created by lobbyist groups. That is the modern...

Trump called out Trudeau's hypocrisy and now the two nations are on a brink of an all-out trade war. Trudeau only has votes to gain, risking the entire Canadian economy to get them; meantime, Trump could start to patriate the entire auto sector, securing mega votes in Michigan once again. Why are Cuckservatives siding with Trudeau and is there any sane way to make Dairy Nationalism Great Again?

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Someone really needs to relieve John McCain of his I-phone. – The guy whose rejection by the American people gave us Barack Hussein Obama got all upset on Saturday over President Trump’s refusal to bow to our Euro-Canadian betters at the G7 summit, and decided to send the following tweet: John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t. 7:55 PM - Jun 9, 2018 There...

The White House is on the verge of introducing penalties against companies engaged in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will deliver Russian natural gas to the EU across the Baltic Sea. Apart from Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom, the project is being undertaken by German energy firms Wintershall and Uniper, French multinational Engie, British-Dutch oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, and Austrian energy company OMV. Initially, Gazprom's European partners were planning to become stakeholders in the Nord Stream 2 AG, which is registered in Switzerland. However, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Poland’s...

“Keep calm and carry on.” In the wake of a disastrous G7 summit where US president Donald Trump all but broke off the Western alliance, the EU should stay cool and prepare to take over global leadership. That is the message on Monday (11 June) by a former member of the EU leaders club, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “The US is leaving a vacuum. And who should step in? For me, it is completely obvious, it is Europe’s time to step in,” the former Danish prime minister said at an event in Brussels. “That’s where our new next opportunity is,” she said,...

The president’s top economic adviser on Wednesday implied that the U.S. may not abide by any rulings from the World Trade Organization (WTO), a tough signal ahead of a Group of Seven summit this weekend where Trump is expected to face a backlash from allied leaders over his protectionist trade agenda. “International, multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters at a press briefing organized to preview President Trump’s trip to Canada for the G-7. The comments paint an unyielding stance on trade as the president prepares to meet...