Free Republic

We're now getting a wider picture of how investors are reacting to Trump's sweeping tariffs. In Asia, major stock indexes have fallen in morning trading as concerns grow over the threat of a global trade war. Stock markets in mainland China have just opened with the Shanghai Composite index trading broadly flat, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down by 1.2%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo is down by 2.9%, the Kospi in South Korea is down by 1.7%, and Australia's ASX 200 is around 1.2% lower. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by around 800...

@RandPaulReview Rand Paul today on blocking Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada: "Despite arguments to the contrary, Americans know tariffs are a tax they are going to have to pay." The Founding Fathers “so feared the power of taxation that they gave it only to Congress.” "I stand to speak against the tariffs. I stand to speak against the idea of skipping democracy, of skipping the constitutional republic, of rejecting our founding principles." "Not because I have any animus towards the president. I do this because I love my country..." "We should vote. This is a tax, plain and simple."...

Michigan union workers are hailing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made cars, telling a crowd in the Rose Garden on Wednesday evening that the president’s economic nationalist agenda will revitalize communities gutted from decades of free trade policies.During the speech, Trump brought up a man named Brian — a leader in the United Auto Workers (UAW) — who said the 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made cars will drive an economic boom in areas like Macomb County, Michigan, and save American industry.“I grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan in Macomb County — known as the home of the Reagan...

Several countries have announced plans to reduce or eliminate tariffs on U.S. imports in response to President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” policy, set to take effect on April 2, 2025. This policy aims to match the tariffs that other nations impose on U.S. products. The White House released a detailed chart showing how badly many countries have been ripping off American workers, charging high tariffs on U.S. goods while benefiting from America’s generosity in return. The White House fact sheet released today clarified that Canada is exempt from the reciprocal tariff announcement. This exemption comes after a series of trade...

President Donald Trump announced today the implementation of a 10% baseline tariff on all imports, effective April 5, 2025. This decisive action aims to correct decades of unfair trade practices that have disadvantaged American workers and industries.Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, President Trump proclaimed April 2 as “Liberation Day,” marking a new era of economic independence. He emphasized that this measure is essential to protect American jobs and revitalize domestic manufacturing.“For too long, other nations have taken advantage of our open markets while imposing barriers to our products. Those days are over,” the President asserted.Trump added via Fox...

A group of Republican senators voted along with Democrats on Wednesday for a resolution to undo President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, dealing an embarrassing blow to Trump. The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate and doesn’t have the force of law, but its 51-48 passage is unwelcome news for the president on the very day he announced a host of new tariffs.

Does anyone remember the Freeper “CNN”? I think it stood for cringing news network. He was always talking about bringing back US jobs, manufacturing jobs especially from China. I think he’s long gone, but I’ll bet he would’ve liked “liberation day”

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will impose a new 10 percent tariff on all imported goods along with an additional punitive import tax tailored for each of about 60 countries that his advisers say maintain the most unfair barriers against U.S. products. The president’s long-awaited tariff plan is designed to spur a renaissance in domestic manufacturing and to fill government coffers with tax revenue, even as many economists warn that he is steering the U.S. economy toward slower growth and higher prices. “In the face of unrelenting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue with a...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a long-promised, sweeping set of baseline tariffs on all countries and what he described as "kind reciprocal" tariffs on nations he claimed were the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S. "My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day," Trump said as he kicked off his remarks in the Rose Garden, claiming the action will free the U.S. from dependence on foreign goods. "April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,"...

Trump's reciprocal tariffs aim to address what the Trump administration views as persistent and unfair trade imbalances, targeting specifically the 'Dirty 15,' a group of nations including China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and India, among others. Countries such as Canada and Mexico have already voiced their readiness to counteract, while India, Japan, and China seek diplomatic routes to soften the blow and protect their economic interests.

President Donald Trump, in an all-caps social media post early Wednesday, declared it is the nation's "Liberation Day" in advance of his making his call for sweeping tariffs official. "IT’S LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA!" the president proclaimed on Truth Social. Trump has been referring to April 2 as "Liberation Day," saying his tariffs mean the United States will no longer be taken advantage of by trade imbalances with other nations. Trump last week announced a 25% tariff on all auto imports to begin Thursday and 25% worldwide tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect in mid-March. In March, tariffs of...

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has officially caved, telling her nation’s press corps that she has no intention of escalating a trade war with the United States if President Donald Trump makes good on his promise to levee new tariffs on imports from her nation. Addressing the media on Tuesday from the National Palace in Mexico City, Sheinbaum declared that she would not pursue “retaliatory” tariffs if Trump slaps new ones on Mexican-made imports such as vehicles, agriculture, manufacturing products, and other goods. She promised on Thursday to “announce a comprehensive program, not a tit-for-tat on tariffs.” Instead, her administration will...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that if President Donald Trump removes tariffs, Canada will drop all of their tariffs. Host Andrew Ross Sorkin said, “Do you expect this to be a negotiation? meaning there has been a sense, implied or otherwise, that we’re going to hear a number, whether it’s 20% or something else, as a sort of top, and that if folks like yourself come forward and say, you know what, we’re going to take some tariffs off of this and we’re going to do this, perhaps that those tariff numbers come down?” Ford...

Every time Donald Trump has mentioned his plan to levy massive tariffs on imports into the US, there has been a widespread assumption that they will be delayed, watered down or rowed back. Today, he will reveal in the White House Rose Garden not just how serious he is about "the most beautiful word in the dictionary", but effectively call time on decades of economic globalisation. And it is still possible that he will do this by launching the equivalent of a salvo of ballistic missiles into the global trading system, with a universal tariff on all imports into the...

President Donald Trump is expected to impose tariffs on a bunch of U.S. trading partners on Wednesday as part of his "liberation day" event. The White House on Tuesday said the president would reveal even broader tariffs than he has already indicated during an event on Wednesday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden. He has already teased tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. The president first announced tariffs on the three countries earlier this year, but delayed imposing them until April 2. Here is a list of the tariffs that are currently expected to take effect on Wednesday: Auto...

New York -- As the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump continue to escalate, all eyes are on Wednesday. Trump has repeatedly called April 2 “Liberation Day,” with promises to roll out a set of tariffs that he says will free the US from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he'll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on US products. But a lot remains unknown about how these levies will actually be implemented. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump would unveil his plans to...

Wall Street, the Bankers, the Hedge Funds, the multinational corporations, K-Street Lobbying firms, Democrats, Republicans, leftists, globalists, and every other segment of the financial media who define themselves through the prism of their bank accounts, need someone else to blame for the Trump tariffs; because Trump doesn’t care.It looks like the professional political class have decided to focus all financial firepower against Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.With the anticipated reciprocal tariffs announcement tomorrow, Liberty Day as President Trump calls it, the high-finance multinationals and Wall Street crowd are going bananas. Here come the hits against Lutnick.(Politico) -‘I don’t know anyone that...

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro estimated the U.S. would raise about $600 billion to $700 billion a year from tariffs...Economists say the true number will probably be less than half of that sum.

Israel announced Tuesday that it would end all tariffs, or customs duties, on U.S. imports — just one day before President Donald Trump was set to announce reciprocal tariffs in a Rose Garden ceremony dubbed “Liberation Day.” A joint statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry and Economy and Industry Ministry said: At the directive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, Israel has cancelled all of the customs duties that have been levied until now on products from the US, Israel’s largest trading partner. After the approval of the...

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said Tuesday on CNN’s “News Central” that President Donald Trump’s tariffs “could have catastrophic economic consequences for our country.” Co-host John Berman said, “Do you know what tariffs the president is going to announce tomorrow? And do you think the president knows what new tariffs he’s going to announce tomorrow?” Markey said, “I think the president is making it up as he’s going along. I don’t think he knows. But when he calls it ‘Liberation Day,’ it could be Obliteration Day if he doesn’t act in a way that invokes the law of unintended consequences. So,...