Free Republic

The Trump administration on Friday announced that it would allow for the year-round sale of gasoline with higher concentrations of ethanol. The action addresses a rule the Environmental Protection Agency had in place preventing the sale of so-called E15 fuel, which contains 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline, between June 1 and Sept. 15. The purpose was to prevent air pollution and curb dependence on foreign petroleum, but the ban has stopped some retailers from selling E15 at all because of the need to change out pumps.

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Meanwhile, in news that actually matters to Americans… – While everyone else is focused on President Donald Trump’s first state visit to the future Islamic Republic of England, paying tribute to a monarchy that is doomed to fall within a generation, I thought I’d focus on something of actual substance. If you perused the Drudge Report this morning – which I still do despite his lurch off into leftist paranoia over the past year – you would find the following links at the right side of the landing page: PLANET TECH ROCKED:...

President Trump believes, not without good reason, that the Mexican government is not doing its utmost to stop the illegal flow of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border. And so he has responded with . . . a $17 billion–a–year–and–rising sales tax on Americans. The president loves tariffs. He believes that they are an effective means of protecting American firms from unfair overseas competition and a good negotiating tool as he works to reform trade agreements that he believes are disadvantageous to Americans. But the question of who ends up actually paying any given tax is complicated. The price of...

China’s oil import dependence is at 70 percent currently, so it can’t achieve this self-sufficiency in a decade or two, even if it were to start steadily reversing its declining oil production and tap more shale oil and gas resources. A PetroChina test oil well at a shale field in western China could finally mean a strong commercial potential for shale oil for the first time in the world’s top crude importer, Morgan Stanley said earlier this year. The shale boom in China, however, would be just a fraction of the U.S. shale revolution—Morgan Stanley expects Chinese shale oil production...

Sen. Mitt Romney warned Friday that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs against Mexico were the wrong approach and could harm Americans more than they help curtail illegal immigration. “A tariff targeting Mexico that negatively impacts our own interests will only end in a waiting game of increasingly harmful consequence to the American people,” Romney said.

Donald Trump is “deadly serious” about slapping tariffs on imports from Mexico, his chief of staff said on Sunday, even though the president “intentionally left the declaration sort of ad hoc” amidst fears of damage to the US economy if he follows through on his threat. Mexico could tighten migration controls to defuse Trump tariffs threat Speaking to Fox News Sunday, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged there are no concrete benchmarks being set to assess whether Mexico is acting to reduce numbers of migrants from Central America entering the US via Mexican territory enough to satisfy the White...

Now, a story in the Sunday Telegraph is just the latest to pose serious questions. The newspaper reports that China has been "rigging" 5G equipment testing to discredit Huawei's rivals, including Nokia and Ericsson. According to government and industry sources, "Beijing is feeding secret details of security vulnerabilities" to the testers to tip the balance in Huawei's favor. The testing encompasses "hacking techniques used to check for weak spots... vulnerabilities discovered by China’s secret state hackers have been passed to the 5G testers to ensure Nokia and Ericsson’s equipment is found to be insecure." Huawei's security issues have always been...

Beijing’s latest missive on trade issues struck a newly measured tone, despite accusing Washington of scuttling negotiations. After weeks of escalating trade tensions with the U.S., China modulated its rhetoric, suggesting negotiations remain a priority and laying out conditions for doing so. A government policy paper on trade issues with the U.S. released Sunday accused Washington of scuttling the negotiations, which broke down in all but name last month. It said the Trump administration’s “America First” program and use of tariffs are harming the global economy and that China wouldn’t shy away from a trade war if need be.

...Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard arrived at the Mexican embassy on Saturday and is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, Ebrard announced on Twitter. Ebrard, a former Mexico City mayor who has served as foreign secretary since December 2018, has been open in his disdain for Trump in the past. ... Now, Ebrard is in the position of leading negotiations with the Trump administration over the tariffs Trump slapped on his country.

The Chinese government said in a white paper issued on Sunday that the US government “should bear the sole and entire responsibility” for the stalled trade talks between the two countries, hitting back at allegations that Beijing had backtracked from its earlier promises to cause a collapse in negotiations. Wang Shouwen, Vice Commerce Minister and China’s international trade negotiator, said at a press conference in Beijing that the US is “irresponsible” in alleging that China had backtracked its earlier promises.

Mexican president hints at migration concessions

Republican Sen. Martha McSally broke with President Donald Trump on Friday over his threat to hit all Mexican imports with steep tariffs. In doing so, McSally finds herself aligned with her potential Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly.

Our patience has been rewarded because the solution to the border crisis that we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.Despite all of the obstruction and dismissal by the Democrats of the worst humanitarian crisis to ever hit our border, Donald Trump has found perhaps the most effective way to solve this crisis.The madness at the border will end. The flood of human traffickers, drug smugglers, and gang members will be stopped. The mockery that these criminal invaders have made of our immigration laws and our generous asylum system will be rectified.And Mexico is going to step up and help...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) condemned President Trump's new tariffs on Mexico late Thursday, calling the move a "misuse" of presidential tariff authority and cautioning the levies could derail passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). "Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent," Grassley said in a statement. The lawmaker cautioned that following through on Trump's tariff threat "would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA," a revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "I support nearly every one of President Trump’s immigration policies,...

... Only months ago Mr. Trump signed a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada to replace Nafta. The deal reassured financial markets. But now he whacks Mexico with unilateral tariffs that violate Nafta and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Other national leaders can be forgiven for concluding that any trade deal with Mr. Trump is subject to revision on his personal political whim. The tariffs could also complicate passage of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal in Congress. Mr. Trump is invoking a 1977 statute—the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—to impose the tariffs after declaring an emergency. The Congressional Research Service...

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador dispatched his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday, as the country scrambles to negotiate a solution with the United States following President Trump’s surprise move this week to slap tariffs on Mexico in the hopes it would remedy the illegal immigration surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Stocks and bond yields around the world fell Friday after President Trump threatened to impose escalating tariffs on Mexico, capping a brutal month for markets as rising trade tensions roiled investor confidence. The threat pushed stock markets down as investors feared applying tariffs on Mexican products could hurt corporate earnings, increase prices for U.S. consumers and crimp economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 both fell more than 1%. As investors sold stocks, they moved to government bonds, gold and the Japanese yen, all assets typically perceived...

Experts are warning America has become too dependent on China for its medicine -- everything from painkillers, to antibiotics, and even aspirin can all be sourced back to a country the Department of Defense considers an adversary. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that at least 80 percent of the active ingredients found in all of America's medicines come from abroad – primarily China. "Imagine if China turned off that spigot," said Rosemary Gibson, author of "China RX: The Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine." "China's aim is to become the global pharmacy to the world -- it...

It hasn’t been China that has been the source of sudden escalation; nor Iran; nor North Korea; nor Turkey, who admittedly gave it a good go in announcing they may install Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles in the area of the Mediterranean they are looking for energy in despite protests from the EU’s Cyprus it’s their naval territory; nor even Italy, where Deputy PM Salvini is threatening new elections that would very likely strengthen his hand further has he prepares for battle with Brussels. No, it was Mexico. (Or rather US President Trump, which is less of a surprise.) Don’t get...

The surprise announcement by President Donald Trump of an escalating tariff regime against Mexico sent ripples through almost every economic sector in the U.S., hammering American companies that sell automobiles or run railroads, grow vegetables or build power infrastructure. Trump tweeted late Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, and will raise those tariffs to 25%, “until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.” Whether it’s avocados on a taco or a new Chevrolet Blazer SUV in the driveway, if the tariffs go into effect, Americans could feel it. The companies that produce...