Free Republic

Democrat Sherrod Brown just won reelection resoundingly in a Trump state running on Trump’s issues — taking a hard line on trade and helping blue-collar workers. Now the Ohio senator is talking increasingly like he’s prepared to take on the president himself.

Sorry I slightly altered the title, shortening the word "companies" to "cos." That change was made in order to actually post the article (FR limited the title in this case) Please see the original article, for the correct spelling. - American companies may be finding an ingenious way to skirt around the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on importing Chinese goods, as a means of avoiding the financial hit caused by the 25% taxes. According to a note from Paul Donovan, the global chief economist for UBS Wealth Management, some US firms are likely funnelling imports from China through...

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries will likely need to cut crude supplies, perhaps as much as 1 million barrels of oil a day, to rebalance the market after proposed U.S. sanctions on Iran failed to cut Tehran's output, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said Monday.

NEW YORK • Chinese suppliers flooded the US solar market with panels at the end of last year, as customers sought to avoid paying President Donald Trump’s 30% import tariff. Fourth-quarter deliveries from China were almost 11 times higher than in the first nine months of 2017, according to a report last Friday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Manufacturers also hauled panels and cells across the border from Mexico, Canada and other countries to beat the import duties that were announced last month. (please see link for full article)

President Trump wants Chinese solar panels firms to make more of their products in the U.S. -- and they appear to be getting the message. A week after the Trump administration unveiled tariffs of up to 30% on imports of solar panels, one of China's biggest manufacturers announced that it plans to open a new plant in the U.S. JinkoSolar said in a statement Monday that its board of directors had given the go-ahead to "finalize planning for the construction of an advanced solar manufacturing facility in the U.S." The statement suggested Jinko's decision was tied to the new tariffs,...

Just days after US President Donald Trump called for further isolation of Iran, a Norwegian solar company signed a deal Tuesday to invest €2.5 billion in the country over the next five years. “Norway is fully committed to the JCPOA (nuclear deal), and this is proof that we have taken the opening very seriously, and we will see more investment very soon,” Norwegian ambassador Lars Nordrum told AFP. He was hosting the signing at his Tehran residence between Norway’s Saga Energy and Iran’s Amin Energy Developers, who will work together to install two gigawatts of solar panels in multiple sites...

President Donald Trump campaigned on deals. Making deals — like an Israel-Palestine peace accord. And breaking deals — like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Iran Deal, both of which he labeled disasters. Since entering the Oval Office in 2016, Trump — a self-professed negotiator —has delivered on many of his promises to abandon international pacts that previous administrations had authorized. As the United States plans for an early exit from a key, Cold War-era nuclear agreement with Russia, here is a look at some of the landmark international deals, partnerships, and organizations the Trump White House has spurned. The Trans-Pacific...

An interesting thing is happening right now in America's industrial heartland. Manufacturers are adding new workers at a brisk pace. And it's happening right in front of the very pundits and free-trade economists who predicted economic catastrophe over the past year. Simply put, President Donald Trump's tariffs are working. U.S. manufacturing employment has now shown year-on-year growth of more than 250,000 employees for six consecutive months. That's the largest and most sustained manufacturing job growth since 1998. In fact, the U.S. added 32,000 manufacturing jobs in October alone, for a total of 296,000 new factory jobs since October 2017. Overall,...

California is a place unlike any other on the Globe. It boasts perhaps the greatest natural resources of any state along with shining high-tech industries. However, like many good economic stories, government policies threaten its future. Indeed, its government has made California unsustainable. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. As the 1960s came to a close in California, it had a population of nearly twenty million. In the decade before, its economic strength afforded the construction of a vast State Water Project and higher education system that was the envy of the world. Matched with a majestic and trade...

Close to the end of the year each year going back decades, The Economist magazine puts out an issue in which they take a look at the coming year and 2018 is no exception. As we had reported on ANP back on July 11th of 2017, back in 1988, The Economist put out a story in which the cover photo featured the mythical ‘phoenix’ rising out of the ashes of burning dollar bills and other paper/fiat money, wearing a gold medallion with the year ‘2018’ on it with their title, “Get Ready For A World Currency“. Reporting in their story...

French President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated calls for a European Union army, this time saying that it is needed to protect the bloc from China, Russia, and even the United States. The progressive leader, a proponent of greater EU federalisation which will result in the reduction in sovereignty for European nations, told Europe 1 Monday night that the bloc needs a “real European army”. “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America,” Macron said, according to Agence France-Presse. (snip) “We will not protect the Europeans unless we decide to have a...

The blue wave is now a bygone figment of a liberal Hollywood fantasy. Voter excitement is clearly with the Republican Party and President Donald Trump! There is a Red Wave Rising! One pundit, Michael E. Newton, has been tracking the 2018 mid-term election data to date. He addresses people’s questions about mid-term voting to date: Newton explains that because Democrat and Republican voting may have gotten closer each day, doesn’t mean that the Democrats are really catching up in early voting. It just means the Republican percent of gains over 2016 are not as great as they were yesterday: What...

Mixing political summitry with a trade fair, heads of state, trade ministers and executives from multinational companies will gather in Shanghai on Monday to hear President Xi Jinping tout China’s role as a global importer. Beijing is billing the China International Import Expo (CIIE) as its most significant event this year and as a demonstration of commitment to globalisation as its economic growth slows and a trade battle with Washington continues. But the US is snubbing the expo and European countries are generally sending lower-level ministers, with diplomats expressing scepticism over Beijing’s commitment to easing barriers to trade and complaining...

Beijing, CNN (CNN)Spike Wang, a 29-year-old financial professional based in Shanghai, is struggling to live the Chinese dream. Wang is one of millions of Chinese middle-class men and women who grew up in a roaring economy. Now, amid soaring rents and a plunging stock market, they are finding daily life increasingly difficult. The past year has been especially tough. Like many middle-class investors, Wang dumped most of his shares in Chinese stocks after his portfolio suffered a 40% loss in just two years. Unable to afford a 37% rent increase, he left his old apartment in Beijing this year and...

A high-stakes competition is emerging among energy exporters proposing multi-million-dollar crude terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast to handle a gusher of shale oil coming from West Texas oilfields. On Monday, private equity firm Carlyle Group became the latest to place a bet, proposing with the Port of Corpus Christi what it said would be the first onshore U.S. export facility able to load the world’s largest crude tankers.

More voters credit President Trump than former President Obama for the current state of the economy, according to a new poll. The Harris Poll, conducted with Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies, found that 47 percent of respondents said they believe President Trump is responsible for the current economy, compared to 21 percent who said they believe Obama is responsible. Among those surveyed, 15 percent said they think Republicans in Congress are responsible for the state of the economy, versus 10 percent who said the same of Democrats in Congress. Trump has frequently touted the success of the stock...

U.S. small businesses and the overall economy have benefited tremendously from the tax and regulatory relief implemented by Congress and the Trump administration. Unfortunately, President Trump’s trade policies, including a mounting trade war with China featuring higher tariffs, work against enhanced growth and opportunity. Argus Media recently summarized the state of trade policy between China and the U.S.: “The latest, third round of U.S. tariffs and Chinese counter-tariffs went into effect on 24 September. The U.S. tariffs now cover about half of overall imports from China, and the U.S. administration has a fourth round of tariffs ‘ready to go’ on...

As 2018 has unfolded, new tariffs on imports have only grown in size. Initial tariffs, such as those levied on imported solar panels and washing machines, probably added less than $1 billion each to government coffers. The president warned that "if China takes additional retaliatory action, which is almost certain, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports." Yes, that's a 25 percent tariff on virtually everything imported from China. For well over a decade, policymakers have discussed a revenue-neutral carbon tax, in which new taxes paid on emissions would be offset...

I will be interviewed by Laura Ingraham tonight at 10:00 P.M. on @FoxNews 8:31 PM - 29 Oct 2018

Stocks closed lower on Monday, giving up sharp gains from earlier in the day in a wild session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average travel more than 900 points. The S&P 500 closed in correction territory, down 10 percent from its recent high. Traders blamed the possibility of more U.S.-China tariffs