Free Republic

While the President is overseas honoring D-Day, the cable news talking heads back home have been busy critiquing his recently announced plan to impose an increasing series of tariffs on Mexico unless that nation stops the flood of migrants passing through their country toward the United States. The plan has been described in the press with a variety of terms ranging from reckless to impossible. After all, even if Mexico was willing to consider such a deal, how could they possibly stop the human tide from flowing across their own southern border?Well, the tariffs must have gotten their attention....

President Trump on Thursday threatened China Opens a New Window. with possible tariffs on “at least” another $300 billion worth of goods, escalating tensions in the trade war Opens a New Window. between the two countries as negotiations drag on. Trump, before heading to France for D-Day commemorations, told reporters that “a lot of interesting things are happening” during talks with China, but did not provide further details. The countries have been stuck at a trade standoff which escalated last month when Trump increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent. “Our talks with China, a...

For more than a generation, James Carville's campaign maxim, "It's the economy, stupid," has been held up as an essential truth of American politics. There's no denying that a strong economy is an incumbent president's best friend. Seventy-three percent of voters currently rate the economy as a very important issue. As a result, if the economy remains strong for another 1 1/2 years, many analysts believe President Donald Trump will be favored to win reelection. On the other hand, if a recession hits next year, we will almost certainly have a new president in 2021. However, recent data about the...

Amid the question of whether Democrats will enact impeachment proceedings, a majority of Americans say they expect President Donald Trump to win re-election in 2020, according to a new poll released Wednesday. The CNN/SSRS poll found that 54% of Americans said Trump will likely win the 2020 election, including those who disapprove of his job performance. Only 41% said they think he will lose. The number represents a significant shift from December when 51% said they thought Trump would lose in 2020. The change in numbers comes largely from those who disapprove of the president. Seven months ago, 81% of...

Donald Trump has declared he wants the NHS to be on the table in any US-UK trade deal and refused to meet the “negative” Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who pledged to oppose US corporations taking over the health service with every breath in his body. On the second day of his state visit, during which he has been hosted by the Queen and Theresa May, the US president set out his ambitions for a “phenomenal” post-Brexit trade deal with the UK. But following a cross-party backlash, the president later appeared to row back on his comments. In an interview with...

The U.S. and Mexico failed to reach a deal on immigration issues during their Wednesday meeting. Officials met just days before 5% tariffs on all Mexican imports are set to kick in, while President Donald Trump was in the U.K. on a state visit. Trump announced the tariffs in a surprise tweet last Thursday, saying they would be imposed “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.” On Wednesday evening, Trump tweeted that “progress is being made, but not nearly enough!” The president said talks will continue on Thursday and that if no deal...

FULL TITLE: Trump says tariffs on Mexico will be imposed MONDAY after a breakdown in talks, despite an increase in military and police presence south of the border to stop the surge of migrants Despite efforts by security forces south of the border to stop a migrant caravan, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard says no agreement was reached on tariffs during Wednesday's White House meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Ebrard says both countries will keep talking Thursday to find a way to stave off President Trump's threatened tariffs on all Mexican goods flowing...

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTlvxphIQk

A number of Republicans in the Senate are standing with President Donald Trump over his threat to apply tariffs to Mexico on Tuesday after several party members spoke out against it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that “there is not much support in my conference for tariffs” and he is hoping that the tariffs are not implemented. Other Senators also decided to speak out against Trump’s threat. Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he will not support applying a tariff to Mexico, saying he “would not be inclined to vote [for] a tariff against a friend,” Politico reported...

Senate Republicans say President Trump should postpone tariffs set to be imposed on Mexican exports Monday, and allow more time for negotiators to reach a deal. The senators say further negotiations could help prevent an escalating trade fight they say would damage the U.S. economy. “We have a lot of people who don’t want to see this go into effect next week,” said Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.).

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) says the votes aren’t there to block President Trump’s threat to impose a new round of tariffs on Mexico, despite broad concerns among GOP lawmakers. Johnson, an outspoken critic of Trump’s trade policies, says there won’t be enough votes to override the president’s expected veto of a disapproval resolution to block additional tariffs against Mexico. He said he informed Mexican Ambassador Martha Bárcena Coqui of the political reality on Capitol Hill in a phone call Wednesday morning.

Former presidential adviser Dr. Sebastian Gorka blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other “RINO” members of the Senate GOP caucus for opposing POTUS Donald Trump’s decision to levy an escalating tariff regime on Mexico for failing to do more to interdict illegal aliens enroute to the United States. On Tuesday, McConnell told reporters in a classic understatement, “There is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure,” when discussing the president’s plan to impose a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports beginning June 10, then steadily raising them throughout the remainder of this year until they...

Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials will meet Wednesday with Mexico’s top diplomat as both sides try to avert the potentially crippling economic consequences of President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican imports. Mr. Trump has vowed to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico beginning Monday and to increase the tax to 25 percent by October if Mexico does not prevent migrants from illegally entering the United States. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that it was “more likely that the tariffs” would be imposed. But on Wednesday, the president said he...

Mexico is going to cave, and it's not just the tariffs. We've got the Mexicans over a barrel on energy, and if we want, we can wipe their economy out. Without American energy imports, the Mexican economy collapses. This actually doesn't make any sense. Mexico is awash in petroleum and natural gas. But the Mexicans just can't get it out of the ground. American petroleum engineers were critical to the early success of the Mexican oil industry. From 1918 to the late '20s, Mexico was second only to the United States in oil production, and it was number one in...

Metapa, Mexico - Some 200 military police, immigration agents and federal police were awaiting a group of about 1,000 Central American migrants who were walking north along a southern Mexico highway on Wednesday. The group of migrants, including many women and children, set out early from Cuidad Hidalgo at the Mexico Guatemala border and was headed for Tapachula, the principal city in the region. State and local police accompanied the caravan. ...

Two in states won by Clinton and six in states that backed Trump ANALYSIS — The fight for the Senate starts off with only a handful of seats at risk. And that’s being generous. A few other states are worth your attention because of their competitiveness or questions about President Donald Trump’s impact, but almost two-thirds of Senate contests this cycle start as “safe” for the incumbent party and are likely to remain that way. Of course, a retirement or a public scandal could create a contest where one should not exist, and an implosion of the Trump presidency could...

“I’ve talked with a number of people today, all of them off the record, but I can tell you tonight, I fear for the republic,” he said. “The Republican Party is being led on, well, in the U.S. Senate, on Capitol Hill, by cowards. They don’t represent the Americans who sent them there to represent the national interests. Instead, they’re clearly led by multi-nationalists, big business and Wall Street and the lobbies that represent those multi-nationals and business interests.” As he spoke, images of Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were displayed on the screen. Earlier Tuesday, McConnell issued a statement...

The 2.2 million diapers are being bought with funds provided in the February border spending bill for the DHS. The bill included “$192,700,000 for improved medical care, transportation, and consumables to better ensure the health and safety of migrants who are temporarily in [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] custody,” according to a congressional Explanatory Statement of the provisions. The money is also being used to fly migrants from the border to their target job sites and homes in the United States.

Tariffs are a popular remedy to maintain a favorable balance of trade and create domestic jobs. Some believe tariffs will foster a renaissance of American manufacturing, but let’s consider the facts. America has six million unfilled jobs, with almost every industry desperately trying to hire qualified personnel. Our trade surplus is widening as these trade wars progress, and international relations are very stressed. Free trade allows buyers and sellers to be winners and facilitates comparative advantage and the division of labor. For example, iPhones are designed and engineered in the United States, manufactured in China, and sold worldwide. China assembles...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mexican officials will seek to persuade the White House in talks hosted by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday that their government has done enough to stem immigration and avoid looming tariffs. U.S. authorities at the southern border with Mexico have become overwhelmed in recent years by an increase in mostly Central American families and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum to escape violence back home.