Free Republic

More than 6-in-10 midterm voters support President Trump’s tariffs on imports, designed to protect American jobs and industry while forcing multinational corporations to bring manufacturing back to the United States. Just as Trump has imposed an additional $200 billion worth of tariffs on foreign products imported from China, about 63 percent of midterm voters said they either support the protective tariffs or would like to give them more time to work. The poll — conducted for the Alliance for American Manufacturing by The Mellman Group, Inc. and Public Opinion Strategies — found overwhelming support for Trump’s economic nationalist agenda among...

Photos posted online from Las Vegas show a massive turnout for President’s Trump’s campaign rally being held Thursday night at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The half-mile-plus lines in the 95 degree heat are reminiscent of the huge crowds that turned out in 2015-2016 for Trump’s presidential campaign rallies. The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker reported on the enthusiasm of the Trump supporters, “Some brief anecdotal scene from the Trump rally here in Las Vegas: One woman drove in from San Diego. Another drove 16 hours from Elk City, Idaho. A man and his son flew down from Washington State. And...

President Donald Trump showed he's willing to wield a big stick in trade by levying tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods, starting next week. Will this lead to a trade war without end, or bring China to the table for talks? We've been on the record as being anti-tariff. However, as has been noted numerous times, Trump has used tariffs, and the threat of tariffs, as a way to lower overall trade barriers. At least, that's what the White House maintains, and we see no reason not to believe it. But it goes deeper than that. As the...

BEIJING – China on Tuesday announced a tariff increase on $60 billion of U.S. products in response to President Donald Trump’s latest duty increase in a dispute over Beijing’s technology policy. The announcement followed a warning by an American business group that a “downward spiral” in their conflict appeared certain following Trump’s penalties on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The Finance Ministry said it was going ahead with plans announced in August for the increases of 10 percent and 5 percent on 5,207 types of U.S. goods. A list released last month included coffee, honey and industrial chemicals. Please see...

President Trump in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV said Tuesday he ordered the release of classified documents in the Russia collusion case to show the public the FBI probe started as a “hoax,” and that exposing it could become one of the “crowning achievements” of his presidency. “What we’ve done is a great service to the country, really,” Trump said in a 45-minute, wide-ranging interview in the Oval Office. “I hope to be able to call this, along with tax cuts and regulation and all the things I’ve done… in its own way this might be the most important thing...

The United States' commitment to global development does not look good compared with that of other wealthy countries — and it's likely to get worse. According to an annual index released Tuesday by the Center for Global Development that ranks 27 of the world's wealthiest countries, the U.S. scored dead last on foreign aid contributions and quality — despite being the largest donor in dollar amount. That's because in 2017, it allocated a mere 0.18 percent of its gross national income for development assistance. That is well short of the 0.7 percent that wealthy countries have committed to strive for...

President Trump just took the latest escalatory move in a trade war the United States and China are vigorously waging as either a proxy for a shooting war, or a run-up to one. The outcome of the trade confrontation, and the lessons it teaches, will greatly influence the likelihood of actual conflict in the future. It is essential that we win this one in order to deter a real one. The psychological dynamics at play in the trade dispute are the same as would apply in a kinetic conflict. As important as the parties’ actual strengths and vulnerabilities are their...

There were times during a Thursday rally Barack Obama couldn’t help but talk about himself, even though he was supposed to be talking about other people. There were other times he could barely talk at all. During the Cleveland rally for Rich Cordray and Betty Sutton, Obama repeatedly talked about himself, despite the candidates sitting behind him. Several times, he stuttered as he attempted to attack President Trump and the success of recent Republican initiatives.

President Trump is expected to speak at what the White House is describing as the inaugural meeting of the President's National Council for the American Worker on Monday. The president praised the efforts of first responders after Hurricane Florence lashed out at the East Coast. "Will not rest until that job is done and done perfectly," the president said, according to the White House press pool. "... It's a very dangerous situation. You have collapses. You have slides. Its very scary." The council was formed to develop a national workforce strategy to help students and workers have access to the...

“It will be a lot of money coming into the coffers of the United States of America," Trump said of the tariffs. "A lot of money coming in, but you’ll be seeing what we’re doing right after close of business today." Trump made the announcement to reporters in the Roosevelt Room. The administration has repeatedly said the tariffs are needed to address China's policies, which it claims are predatory and cannot be tolerated. "We can't do that anymore," Trump told reporters. Trump has already enacted tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods and has threatened tariffs on a further $200...

Let’s take Donald Trump both seriously and literally. When he says he wants to abolish all trade barriers, let’s assume he means it. Back in June, the President stunned his fellow heads of government at the Quebec G7 summit by telling them: “No tariffs, no barriers, that's the way it should be. And no subsides.” A world where all such distortions were removed from markets would indeed be vastly wealthier. We would all benefit, especially people on low incomes, who would gain the most from a fall in prices. Pretty much every mainstream economist, from both ends of the political...

Mid Continent Nail Corporation says it could shutter its Poplar Bluff plant, which employs about 335 workers, as early as this month without an exemption to tariffs, the site’s operations general manager, Chris Pratt, told reporters in early September. The company previously had said that it might not survive through Labor Day but stayed open. After Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, the company in June cut 60 of 500 positions at the plant in rural Butler County, where the unemployment rate is above the national average and the company is the area’s second-largest employer. Pratt said...

Chinese power is expanding. Chinese claims to the South China Sea are not going to go away in a hurry. At the moment, American power represents a restraint on Chinese expansion. It is not clear how that will hold into the future. In his landmark foreign policy speech in April 2016 candidate Trump said, “……our resources are totally over extended. ……. the U.S. must be prepared to let these (European and Asian) countries defend themselves. We have no choice.” My unique country, Australia, a predominantly European nation on the edge of Asia, does have very deep emotional, cultural and historical...

It was virtually guaranteed to happen, the only unknown was the actual timing of when they would execute their self-interested plan.  Remember, there are trillions at stake and the multinationals will not give up their power, influence and control over the U.S. economy. The media are reporting on a “group” of lobbyists “uniting” in a common strategy to oppose President Trump, ahead of the mid-terms, based on Chinese tariffs.  Those who have followed this “group”, also known as “the big club”, for decades know full well the lobbyists are financed through Wall Street multinational corporations and foreign money (hint: China).  The foreign...

President Donald Trump’s trade war may soon escalate if the U.S. slaps more tariffs on import goods from China. Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at the Allianz Group and former CEO of PIMCO, assuaged U.S. investors by noting that the chance of the U.S. getting a better deal from the trade war is 3-in-4. “I think it’s really important to make a distinction between the journey and the destination,” El-Erian said on Yahoo Finance’s The Final Round on Tuesday. “The journey will involve lots of noise, lots of rhetoric about trade wars, and the technically vulnerable asset classes, such as...

When President Trump promised to make America great again, the employees at Mid Continent Nail in Missouri probably didn’t expect he would put them out of work. But the steel tariffs imposed in June have the company hanging by a thread. Mid Continent is the largest nail manufacturer in the U.S. and has been in Missouri for more than 25 years. It had 500 employees at its Popular Bluff plant and was the second largest employer in the small town before the Trump tariffs hit. The trouble for Mid Continent is that foreign producers making nails abroad use low-price steel...

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Ford won’t be moving production of a hatchback wagon to the United States from China — despite President Donald Trump’s claim Sunday that his taxes on Chinese imports mean the Focus Active can be built in America. Citing Trump’s new tariffs, Ford on Aug. 31 said it was dropping plans to ship the Focus Active from China to America. Trump took to Twitter Sunday to declare victory and write: “This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!” But in a statement Sunday, Ford said “it would not be...

Analysis: As the Trump administration continues to express greater support for Taiwan, China is exerting more effort in peeling away as many of Taiwan’s remaining 17 allies as it can, as a way to further isolate the island. Moving into regions so close, geographically and politically, to Washington is akin to the Soviet Union moving into traditional U.S. zones of influence in the Caribbean (Cuba) and Latin America during the Cold War.

U.S. President Trump tweeted on Saturday that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) should make products inside the United States if it wants to avoid tariffs on Chinese imports. The company told trade officials in a letter on Friday that the proposed tariffs would affect prices for a “wide range” of Apple products, including its Watch, but it did not mention the iPhone. Trump, speaking on Friday aboard Air Force One, said the administration had tariffs planned for an additional $267 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump tweeted that “Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on...