Free Republic

Nearly 60 percent of Americans disagree with President Trump’s handling of tariffs and trade negotiations two months into his second term, a new poll found, amid Trump’s escalating trade wars with Canada, Mexico and China. The sentiment surrounding Trump’s economic policies was the lowest among areas surveyed in the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Monday, while Trump received considerably higher marks on his sweeping immigration crackdown. Just 38 percent of respondents said they approve of Trump’s approach to trade negotiations with other countries, while 40 percent said they agree with his handling of the economy overall....

One of the reasons the United States won World War II was because we could outproduce our enemies. As White House Senior Adviser for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro explained in a Fox News Sunday interview, the American "arsenal of democracy" permitted the Allies to triumph.Navarro said the "military might" of the United States allowed "General George S. Patton" to take "Berlin … with trucks, Jeeps, and tanks that were made in the auto plants of the Midwest."Sadly, American manufacturing power has moved to countries like Mexico where "50 football field-sized assembly plants … are … making the engines for...

The Trump administration's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, suggested on Sunday that the tariffs on automobiles, which are set to go into effect "on or after April 2," would raise $100 billion, ostensibly in a year.Responding to a question from "Fox News Sunday" that the tariffs, according to Investopedia, would raise car prices for consumers, Navarro discounted the concern, offering instead that tariffs represent "tax cuts." They are "jobs," he added, "tariffs are national security; tariffs are great. For America, tariffs will make America great again."Addressing the concern of tariffs among consumers, Navarro pointed to "when we...

Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser to President Trump, said the president’s tariff plan will raise more than $6 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade. Navarro joined “Fox News Sunday,” where host Shannon Bream noted that Americans are concerned that Trump’s tariffs are going to raise the price of everyday goods. “First of all, we’re going to raise about $100 billion with the auto tariffs alone. What we’re going to do is, in the new tax bill that has to pass, it absolutely has to pass, we’re going to provide tax benefits, tax credits, to the people who...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he did not warn car industry executives against raising prices as tariffs on foreign-made autos come into force, telling NBC News he "couldn't care less" if they do.The White House has been preparing to impose new tariffs on a range of consumer goods on April 2, a move that has drawn criticism from international leaders and concerns about potential price increases for consumers.In the NBC News interview, Trump said his permanent tariffs on foreign-made automobiles would be a boost to U.S.-domiciled factories and was confident the move would lead to increased sales of...

Lionel Racing, NASCAR’s die-cast collectible car licensee, is implementing a surcharge to its customers related to the U.S.’s recently implemented tariffs on China, an example of the policy trickling down to impact the sports industry. ... On Thursday, the company sent out notes to both retail customers as well as its wholesale business partners about implementing a new tariff surcharge as a result of the new 20% tariffs on all imports from China, which is the toy industry’s largest manufacturing hub in the world.

Canada is launching a billboard offensive in its trade war with Uncle Sam, targeting highways in 12 red states with messages like “tariffs are a tax on your grocery bill.” “We are launching ads in the US to make sure all Americans know that tariffs are taxes on everything they buy,” Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly said on X. The Great White North is calling it an “education campaign.” “The purpose is to increase the understanding of the American public and to counter misinformation,” said John Babcock, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, who put up the billboards in...

WASHINGTON — President Trump spoke Friday with Canada’s new prime minister as the US prepares to slap 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports — and referred to Mark Carney by his title, dropping the “governor” moniker he applied to predecessor Justin Trudeau. “I just finished speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney, of Canada,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States...

In a video posted to social media Thursday, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain praised President Donald Trump after Trump announced tariffs on imported automobiles and auto parts. Citing “national security concerns,” Trump imposed the 25% tariff Wednesday, which covers imported cars, SUVs, crossovers, minivans and light trucks, in addition to parts that include engines and transmissions. Fain said Trump’s policy would address “unfair” laws regarding trade. “We are ecstatic to see an administration finally address the unfair trade laws in this country,” Fain said. “These laws have destroyed the American working class. They’ve destroyed communities in this country, in...

Ferrari said Thursday it will raise prices by 10% on certain models after April 1 in response to new U.S. auto tariffs, adding up to $50,000 to the price of a typical Ferrari. The Maranello, Italy-based sports car maker said prices will remain unchanged for all cars imported before April 2. After that, the “commercial terms” for three of its model families — the Ferrari 296, SF90 and Roma — will “remain unchanged,” the company said in a release. Yet, its more popular models, including the Purosangue SUV, the 12Cilindri and the F80, will get price increases of up to...

Americans' anxiety about their financial situation has grown under President Donald Trump, according to a new poll. A 1,000-person survey conducted by Clever Real Estate published this week found that 26 percent of Americans feel better off than in September, with only a third (34 percent) expecting a better financial situation six months from now. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed, meanwhile, believe the government is not doing enough to address key economic issues, which they single out as rising insurance costs (95 percent), inflation (94 percent) and the general state of the economy (89 percent). The poll also revealed that...

President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on softwood lumber risk disrupting the supply chain for something nobody wants to be caught without: toilet paper. The Trump administration plans to almost double duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 27%, with the possibility of additional levies pushing the rate to more than 50%. While Trump advocates for new tariffs partly to bolster U.S. manufacturing, they may also hit the availability of northern bleached softwood kraft pulp, or NBSK, a key component in making toilet paper and paper towels. NBSK constitutes about 30% of standard U.S. bathroom tissue and half of a typical paper...

The atomic sledgehammer that President Trump just delivered to the German auto industry simply cannot be overemphasized. A 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts completely negates hundreds of billions in pre-positioned investment dollars by German auto companies in Mexico. [Executive Order Here][Cliff Notes Here]To give scale to the impact on Germany, consider that German automakers currently have 330 automotive suppliers in Mexico according to information from VDA. Audi (a subsidiary of Volkswagen) has no U.S. production sites; every Audi sold in America will be subject to a 25% tariff. The Audi brand access to the U.S. market was/is...

On top of the tariffs on Mexico and Canada set to go into effect at the end of the month the Trump administration is also planning on invoking reciprocal tariffs on all countries. This is in an effort to level the playing field for the U.S. in global trade but what does it mean for agriculture? Dan Basse, president of Ag Resource Company, says these tariffs are different than those that were imposed during the first Trump administration or even recently with the 10% increase on China imports. He says trade officials will go through with each trading partner and...

Vietnam to cut tariffs on US products including cars and gas to avoid President Trump's reciprocal tariffs.https://x.com/watcherguru/status/1904985807426908288

American businesses are losing confidence in the US economy under Trump due to the tariff wars. CNBC’s CFO Council quarterly survey for Q1 2025 learned that America’s top CFOs are increasingly pessimistic about the economy due to these “disruptive” and “aggressive” tariff policies. Around 60% of respondents believe the US will fall into a recession by the second half of this year, with 15% believing the recession will come in 2026. When this survey was conducted last quarter, prior to the tariff wars and trade volatility, only 7% of CFOs believed the nation was heading into a recession. This figure...

India is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of U.S. imports worth $23 billion in the first phase of a trade deal the two nations are negotiating, two government sources said, the biggest cut in years, aimed at fending off reciprocal tariffs. The South Asian nation wants to mitigate the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal worldwide tariffs set to take effect from April 2, a threat that has disrupted markets and sent policymakers scrambling, even among Western allies. In an internal analysis, New Delhi estimated such reciprocal tariffs would hit 87% of its total exports to...

Oil prices barely moved on Tuesday as investors weighed the impact of U.S. tariffs on countries buying oil and gas from Venezuela against the effect of tariffs on industries such as automobiles on the global economy and oil demand. Brent crude futures were up 1 cent at $73.01 a barrel by 0121 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1 cent to $69.12. Both benchmarks gained more than 1 per cent on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on countries importing oil and gas from Venezuela. "Investors fear Trump's various tariffs could slow the...

Have you taken a look around today at what's going on? Things are going rather well, economically-speaking. Sure, the stock market didn't like the uncertainty of the impact of tariffs at all, tanking for the better part of a month. But if one just ganders at the economic development and investment committed to begin in the United States due to the threat of tariffs, it's staggering when you start looking at all the zeros after the crooked numbers. There are going to be trillions of dollars flowing into America...trillions that would have remained working against American workers and taxpayers had...

President Trump makes an announcement of secondary tariffs targeting Venezuela by triggering a 25% tariff against any nation who purchases Venezuelan oil or gas.China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, followed by the USA after Joe Biden changed the sanctions regime.The tariff timeline is set to trigger on April 2nd, the same date as the reciprocal tariffs against all nations.Truth Social – “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully...