Free Republic

President Trump’s delay on implementing announced tariff increases on Chinese goods that would be on many Christmas shopping lists sparked a stock market bump yesterday. But, while domestic considerations (i.e., his re-election) are important, the move must be seen in the broader context of a staredown with President Xi.  Even though China is a dictatorship, XI’s hold on his job is not something he can take for granted. Xi has grabbed power, purging some of his enemies and ending limits on his tenure, which makes him personally responsible for the serious ill-effects of his tariff war with Trump and...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is delaying some tariffs on Chinese imports ahead of the Christmas season to stem their potential impact on holiday shopping. The Trump administration announced hours earlier that it would delay until Dec. 15 some of the tariffs that were originally scheduled to come into effect Sept. 1. “We’re doing this for the Christmas season,” Trump told reporters on an airport tarmac around noon Tuesday. “Just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers.” “But so far they’ve had virtually none,” the president added. “But just in case they...

These are prosperous times in America. The country is plump with jobs. Out of every 100 people who want to work, more than 96 of them have jobs. This is what economists consider full employment. The economy has grown for almost 10 years, making it one of the longest economic expansions in U.S. history. And over that time, the job market has come back. It grew slowly at first, then steadily, finally reaching a point at which there are many more openings than job seekers. Unemployment has reached . The jobless rate for Hispanics has never been lower; the past...

Leland Vittert interview with Peter Navarro goes off the rails A Saturday afternoon interview between Fox News weekend anchor Leland Vittert and White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro ended on a contentious note as Navarro accused Vittert of being “very overbearing” and consistently “interrupting” his attempts to answer questions. The “America’s News Headquarters” conversation on U.S. trade policy toward China began with Vittert pressing Navarro on the “serious consequences” that will occur should China manipulate their currency. “There’s no threat, Leland,” said Navarro. “What are the consequences?” asked the Fox News host. “For China,” Navarro responded. “What’s happening...

Show me where Bread Line Bernard Sanders has voluntarily implemented "democratic socialism" into his own life. You can't, because he hasn't. Ever. Politics is sales. Why should any of us buy what Sanders is selling if he himself won't buy what he's selling? Sanders wants businesses to pay $15.00 per hour to their employees, but some of his own campaign staff earn less than that due to the number of weekly hours they work. Now some of those employees are demanding they be paid what Sanders wants to force upon all business-owners. Sanders has responded by limiting the number of...

The United States is not doing enough to promote free trade and the elimination of trade barriers around the world. In fact, it’s doing just the opposite and imposing barriers on billions of dollars’ worth of imports. As a result, new trade restrictions implemented by World Trade Organization member countries have reached historic highs. Over the last two review periods, new trade restrictions totaled $588.3 billion and $339.5 billion, respectively. For the previous two periods, new trade restrictions totaled roughly $100 billion or less. The latest figures present a worrisome and unpredictable climate that is harming the overall health of...

Shortly after the Chinese New Year holiday in February, the People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, reported with a celebratory tone that domestic retail and restaurant spending during the festival had topped 1 trillion yuan ($145 billion) for the first time. Against the backdrop of the trade war with the U.S., this result "defied doomsayers," the paper said, and continued a string of annual gains in consumer prowess that showed China's sustained economic strength. Foreign media reports this year, however, have been portraying a starkly contrasting picture of Chinese economic slowdown as seen in declining gross domestic product growth...

Bernie Sanders says the industry is a criminal enterprise. Joe Biden is vowing to take action against it. Other candidates are competing to say who will wean America from its products the soonest. The fossil fuel industry is squarely in the cross hairs of Democrats running for the White House as they move sharply to the left on climate change, evoking growing alarm from a sector that’s found a cheerleader in the Trump administration. It has moved to rescind regulations on oil drilling and proposed extraordinary measures to aid coal mining. “We are made to be just some kind of...

Back in the summer of 1982, about 18 months into the Reagan presidency, the Washington Post wrote an editorial that sneered, “Reaganomics is now a failure for all to see.” Two months later began one of the strongest and longest economic revivals in American history, with growth rates that surged above 7 percent. Whoops! The timing of the Washington Post editorial could hardly have been worse. I framed that old editorial and kept in my office for many years. Reagan used to say joyfully, “I knew our economic plan was working when they stopped calling it Reaganomics.” I was thinking...

President Trump’s strategic counter-tariffs on China have been deliberate, predictable and business-like – contrary to Beijing’s series of broken promises and the self-serving misinformation that China’s state-run media are peddling. The president recently announced that the U.S. will follow through to implement a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports Sept. 1. The10 percent tariff had been put on hold earlier this year after a personal meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese government is now attempting to portray President Trump’s action as erratic and capricious, but nothing could be further from the truth....

China has embarked on a high-stakes strategy that makes it very unlikely to agree to a deal quelling trade tensions with the U.S. before the 2020 presidential elections, many investors and China watchers say. The plan that appears to have emerged in Beijing is to keep trade talks going while avoiding any real reforms or enforceable deals until after the election, according to several reports. At that point, China could find itself facing a new administration that would likely be far easier to cut a deal with than President Donald Trump.Under this scenario, China would tolerate the short-term economic pain...

President Trump says he will impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports beginning September 1. The tariff would affect consumer goods primarily, according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs. Cue the histrionics. The Washington Post laments that these tariffs will ruin America’s “holiday” shopping season. The Post cites a study claiming that the price of toys will rise by 17 percent, while the cost of laptops and tablets could increase by $120. Basically, President Trump is the Grinch who will steal Christmas by making toys too expensive. How could he do this to poor little...

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out today with a new investor note covering Apple’s supply chain and how President Trump’s latest rounds of tariffs might affect things. Kuo says that he believes “the tariff may not impact the prices of Apple’s hardware products” in the United States.... ...Kuo writes that Apple has likely made “proper preparations” for such a tariff, and he predicts that Apple will “absorb most of the additional costs” in the mid-short term. Thus, Kuo believes that “prices of hardware products and shipment forecasts for the U.S. market will remain unchanged” despite the tariff. In the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department labeled China a currency manipulator Monday after Beijing pushed down the value of its yuan in a dramatic escalation of the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies. The decision, which came hours after President Donald Trump accused China of unfairly devaluing its currency, marks a reversal for Treasury: In May, it had declined to sanction China for manipulating its currency. The U.S. has not put China on the currency blacklist since 1994.The designation could pave the way for more U.S. sanctions against China.Earlier Monday, China had allowed its currency to weaken...

EXECUTIVE ORDER BLOCKING PROPERTY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA... All property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in... unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in section 1(b) of this order would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and...

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a freeze on all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and barred transactions with its authorities, in Washington's latest move against President Nicolas Maduro. Trump took the step "in light of the continued usurpation of power by Nicolas Maduro and persons affiliated with him, as well as human rights abuses," according to the order. The Wall Street Journal said the move was the first against a Western Hemisphere government in over 30 years, and imposes restrictions on Caracas similar to those faced by North Korea, Iran, Syria and Cuba. Asked...

(Reuters) - China has approved wheat imports from the Russian region of Kurgan, the Chinese customs office said on Friday, bringing Russia a step closer to its goal of dramatically increasing grain exports. It also approved soybean imports from all parts of Russia, the General Administration of Customs said in a separate statement on its website, having all but halted U.S. soy imports as the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington deepened. China was the top buyer of U.S. soybeans until Beijing slapped a 25% tariff on shipments last year in response to U.S. tariffs on a range of Chinese...

US Treasury Dept. designates China a currency manipulator.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading presidential candidate, warned on Monday that the next financial crises is on its way. Surprisingly, that dire prediction was mocked by Politico's chief economic correspondent, Ben White, the same day on CNBC's The Exchange. Only a few days before, White had been giving Warren some praise by writing that Wall Street wouldn't be too worried about her as president. This contrast makes White's change in tone even more noteworthy. Here are White's comments on CNBC in which he declares that Warren is using bad numbers for her forecast.

Earlier this week Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that an economic crash is right around the corner. She’s right. But it’s her own plan that would bring about the collapse she’s predicting. Warren says that she sees all the signs of a “coming economic crash” that she — and she alone, apparently — saw before the 2008 financial crisis. Let’s leave aside the dubiousness of Warren’s self-proclaimed economic forecasting abilities, and the fact that Democrats have been predicting an economic calamity since November 2016. Here’s her central point: “The country’s economic foundation is fragile. A single shock could bring it all...