Free Republic

Quote of the Week: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry FordTalk about chaotic markets. Donald Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico caused markets to see-saw last week.Regardless of what happens next, the uncertainty could now weigh on markets until permanent trade deals are negotiated.The auto industry is right in the crosshairs of these tariffs and is understandably under pressure. The outlook for automakers was already looking shaky with electric vehicle sales losing momentum and consumer spending beginning to slow.On the other hand, pessimism creates opportunities. So...

Canada's governing Liberals will announce a replacement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday as the country deals with U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats and as a federal election looms. Liberal Party members look set to pick former central bank governor Mark Carney as the new party leader and Canada's next prime minister in a vote to be announced on Sunday evening. Carney, 59, navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada and when in 2013 he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. His appointment...

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she did not oppose tariffs. However, she said President Donald Trump’s tariffs were “reckless and “chaotic.” Slotkin said, “I think most of us aren’t against tariffs full-stop. I think tariffs are an important tool in the tool kit. I think it’s just the way he’s handling tariffs is the way he’s handling everything else right now. We want change, but there’s reckless change, and then there’s responsible change. The way that he’s on again, off again, you know, pounding Canada as if they’re the exact same thing as...

Want to switch addictions this weekend the local casino has some offers to lure in new customers for overspending just a sign of how money is getting short in our inflationary age... "During his trial at Inner London Crown Court, jurors had to watch footage found on Zou's devices of nine of the rapes. Zou, now 28, claimed he has been..."... Not too many weeks ago Congresswoman Nancy Mace told a sordid story... That kind of image takes me back to "Ancient Art and Archaeology" in high school and college classes the "temples" with graven images of... The raging sexual...

Remarks by China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Mar 7 aim to portray the country as a responsible global player, contrasting with the US’ unilateral turn, say analysts. Whether Beijing is seen as walking the talk is the rub.China’s latest pitch for major powers to rebuff a “might is right” approach and be globally responsible is carefully crafted to win over countries by portraying itself as a benign, international player, say analysts. Observers note that Beijing could very well carve out some gains in the short run, especially as the United States under Donald Trump edges towards expansionism and unilateralism...

China announced tariffs of up to 100 percent on canola, pork and other foods from Canada on Saturday, in retaliation for Canada’s decision last August to collect steep taxes on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. The Chinese tariffs, which take effect on March 20, were also a clear warning to Canada — and, indirectly, Mexico — not to cooperate with the United States on trade. The Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, has been demanding that Canada and Mexico not serve as back doors for low-cost Chinese goods to enter the U.S. market under North...

Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that President Donald Trump’s tariff plans for Canada were the “dumbest” in history. Freeland said, “There have been more flip-flops than we can keep track of here in Canada. But what we do know is, you know, the prime minister is right the Wall Street Journal is right, these are the dumbest tariffs in history. This is utterly self-mutilating. It’s really a perverse approach, Anderson, because America is hurting itself, moving in this direction.” She continued, “The president is killing the U.S. stock market. Your stock...

China on Saturday announced retaliatory tariffs on some Canadian farm and food imports, after Canada imposed duties in October on Chinese-made electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products. The new duties become effective March 20, according to a statement by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council. Additional 100% tariffs will be imposed on Canadian rapeseed oil, oil cakes and peas, and additional 25% tariffs will apply to pork and aquatic products

President Donald Trump threatened to slap a new 250% reciprocal tariff on Canadian lumber and dairy products, perhaps as soon as Friday, one day after pausing a 25% tariff on other Canadian goods.Trump made the comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, citing Canada’s 250% tariffs on U.S. dairy exports to the north.“Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products,” Trump told reporters. “They will be met with the exact same tariff unless they drop it. That’s what reciprocal means.”“We may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait until Monday...

US president Donald Trump sees himself as a born negotiator with a knack for driving a hard bargain and striking a good deal. When it comes to trade, his approach is clearly positional, and negotiations are treated as zero-sum games with winners and losers. Imposing tariffs – or threatening to do so – is his preferred way of exerting influence over US trading partners. While tariffs are unilaterally imposed – and not the result of negotiations – they can be interpreted as an opening gambit to gain leverage in trade negotiations further down the line. Since taking office, Trump has...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that President Donald Trump’s tariffs were a “one-time price adjustment.” Bessent said, “I don’t think it’s a radical change. It’s just a much needed course adjustment. And when we go back and look at what’s happened, there’s a new paper out called the China Shock and it talks about what happened post 2004, that some of the communities recovered, but the workers never recovered and that it was much more devastating on a human level. And what we are trying to do is make free trade fair trade, because the...

Marc Rosenberg, founder and CEO of The Edge Desk in Deerfield, Illinois is getting ready to introduce a fancy ergonomic chair designed to reduce customers’ back pain and boost their productivity. He figures the most expensive one will sell for more than $1,000. But he can’t settle on a price, and he is reluctantly reducing the shipment he’s bringing to the United States from China. There’s a reason for his caution: President Donald Trump’s ever-changing, on-again, off-again tariff war with America’s three biggest trading partners – Mexico, Canada and China. The latest reversal came Thursday. Two days after imposing 25%...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) signaled Thursday that President Trump’s threat to levy tariffs on key trading partners of the U.S. is hurting his constituents, saying “when we start losing, you back off.” “Almost every industry in Kentucky has come to me and said, ‘It will hurt our industry and push up prices of homes, cars,’ and so, I’m going to continue to argue against tariffs,” Paul said late Thursday in an interview with CNN. The Kentucky Republican argued the U.S. has “more leverage” than any other nation, but not “all the leverage.” He urged the Trump administration to be “smart”...

Justin Trudeau was brought to tears as he spoke of the ongoing feud with President Trump and the US-imposed tariffs that have rattled Canada in his final days as prime minister. Trudeau, 53, appeared at a press conference on Thursday in Ottawa, where he discussed childhood health care, but became visibly emotional while vowing that he’s always “Canadians first.” “On a personal level, I made sure that every single day in this office, I put Canadians first, and I have people’s backs, and that’s why I’m here to tell you all that we got you,” the outgoing PM said as...

Walmart, one of the nation’s biggest retailers, is telling its China-based suppliers to absorb the cost of President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on Chinese-made products. Sources told Bloomberg News that Walmart is asking Chinese suppliers to cut their prices — some by as much as 10 percent — so that Trump’s increased tariffs on China will be absorbed by the retailers rather than American consumers. Chinese suppliers are reportedly trying to resist any lowering of their prices while some manufacturers are having to go outside China to source their materials. A spokesperson for Walmart told Bloomberg that the retailer is...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely. "After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd." Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on...

After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!

It looks like it’s Warren Buffett’s turn to say, “I told you so.” Late last year, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO was busy selling stocks when the S&P 500 logged more than 50 record closes, leading many market observers to scratch their heads. Now, the answer looks much clearer. The stock market’s 2025 slump proves Berkshire’s fourth-quarter trades to be prescient. Buffett was at odds with the bullish sentiment that marked the end of 2024, according to Berkshire’s latest 13-F filing, which tracks its holdings. In the last three months of 2024, Berkshire sold some $5 billion of Bank of America...

.."For 40 years, we’ve seen the devastating effects of so-called 'free trade' on the working class," the UAW, headed by Shawn Fain, said in a press release. "Corporations have been driving a non-stop race to the bottom by killing good blue-collar jobs in America to go exploit some poor worker in another country by paying poverty wages. Tariffs are a powerful tool in the toolbox for undoing the injustice of anti-worker trade deals." "We are glad to see an American president take aggressive action on ending the free trade disaster that has dropped like a bomb on the working class,"...

Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman’s CEO Lawson Whiting said on Wednesday Canadian provinces taking American liquor off store shelves was “worse than a tariff” and a “disproportionate response” to levies imposed by the Trump administration. Several Canadian provinces have taken U.S. liquor off store shelves as part of retaliatory measures against President Donald Trump’s tariffs. “I mean, that’s worse than a tariff, because it’s literally taking your sales away, (and) completely removing our products from the shelves,” Whiting said on a post-earnings call. Canada on Tuesday also imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from the U.S., including wine, spirits, and beer....