Free Republic

Democrats insist that Congress investigate President Donald Trump's administration over its actions just before announcing a 90-day reprieve on his so-called retaliatory tariffs this week. Trump on Wednesday announced that every country except China would receive a 90-day delay on the tariffs, with a 10% baseline on countries subject to the pause. This was a reversal from top aides who had claimed there would be no negotiations. China faced a tariff of 125% from the United States before the White House announced on Thursday that the rate was 145%. The 90-day pause announcement led to a stock market surge, with...

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary argued during a recent interview that President Trump’s tariffs against China are necessary because the U.S. has to train Beijing “like a puppy” to not “steal” intellectual property. “It’s not just trade tariffs. It’s you cheating and stealing. We’re tired of it, and you’ve got to stop. They actually don’t care that they steal IP [intellectual property] — they don’t. They think it’s OK,” O’Leary said during a Friday morning appearance on CNN. “It’s almost … the analogy is like a puppy when you’re training it. You stick the nose in the poo poo, and...

In private discussions hours before China announced new retaliatory tariffs, the Trump administration warned Chinese officials against such a move, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The Chinese were also told – once again – that Chinese President Xi Jinping should request a call with US President Donald Trump. Instead, US officials woke up to news of increased Chinese tariffs and no request for a leader level call. Xi also made comments that only dug him in further. “For over 70 years, China’s development has relied on self-reliance and hard work — never on handouts from others, and...

The Democrats’ once-vociferous endorsement of high tariffs on foreign countries has evaporated. Fizzled. Gone kaput. The reason: President Donald Trump’s recent imposition of tariffs, and particularly high tariffs on China, something Trump has advocated for years. Yet if Trump is for it, Democrats must oppose it, even if opposing it makes no sense. Thus did White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt read back Representative Nancy Pelosi’s pro-tariff tirade of 1996, while others pulled up quotes from Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Tariff TussleTrump is taking heat for imposing tariffs on Mexico,...

Kentucky businessman and potential Senate Republican candidate Nate Morris on Breitbart News Saturday said that President Donald Trump’s use of reciprocal tariffs are “leveling the playing field for the American worker.” Morris could run for the U.S. Senate to replace the outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who will not run for reelection. He spoke to Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle as Trump has unleashed reciprocal tariffs to fight for better trade deals with nations across the world that have higher tariffs and other barriers to trade for American goods. Morris said he believes that this trade strategy will ultimately...

What’s lost in all the doomcasting is that Americans — particularly Democrats — are behind Trump’s goal to achieve truly free trade deals.Fueled by fear, nearly three-quarters of Americans surveyed believed President Donald Trump’s tariffs would hurt the U.S. economy in the short-term, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. The sentiment check dropped as the Trump administration announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs, with the exception of serial free-trade abuser China. Instantaneously, the battered markets surged. Trump said he paused his sweeping reciprocal tariffs on the many nations who have long screwed the U.S. consumer because...

1. The headlines from the past couple of weeks have been Trump's war on tariffs and the "reciprocal" tariffs strategy he has come up with. Yes, I'm over simplifying what he's doing; I simply want to frame a couple of simple questions. First, does anyone know where I can find a schedule, chart, and/or website that details the tariffs that residents in foreign countries ACTUALLY pay for American goods they purchase? Example, Trump is imposing tariffs of 46% and 49% on Vietnamese and Cambodian goods imported into the U.S. while the people of those countries do not pay tariffs that...

President Trump is wielding tariffs to try to close the massive U.S. trade deficit in goods, which he sees as a sign of economic weakness. It is only part of the trade story. While the U.S. buys more goods from abroad than it sells, the opposite is true for services, which include everything from streaming subscriptions to financial advice. Trump left these service exports out of his tariff math, but they are being pulled into his trade wars. On Wednesday, Trump ratcheted up the U.S. trade war with China, but put broader tariffs above 10% on most other countries on...

Stanford University Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson recommends everyone “take a deep breath” when it comes to all the talk about tariffs. Appearing this week as a guest on Sirius XM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the author and podcast host made several important points for Americans to consider as many in the media and Wall Street pundits predict calamity for the economy due to President Donald Trump’s trade policies. “There is a lot of misinformation,” Hanson said, first pointing out that many who are critical of Trump are only criticizing him because he is “Trump.” “Donald Trump did everything...

Some thoughts on a climbdown for the ages. The reaction was widespread relief in America and the world. Americans want their country to be the world’s growth engine but not, as a former Reagan administration official put it, through policies “that risk the collapse of the global financial system.” Donald Trump scared people he hadn’t scared before. He didn’t use to scare his policy allies—small-business people, workers, retirees. He did this week. Fear dampens reflexive support. Politicians need reflexive support from the bottom of their base as a platform from which to move. The president weakened his position. It is...

Within the Executive Order modifying the April 2nd global reciprocal tariffs [SEE HERE] section #4, we note a massive increase in the duty fees for mailed products from China formerly shipped under ‘de minimis’ rules.REMINDER: The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. However, the e-commerce world exploded,...

The rapid change in Ursula von der Leyen now starts to make sense. According to a press release [SEE HERE] from European Big Pharma, they recently had a meeting with the EU Komisar and threatened to leave Europe if the trade system is not renegotiated quickly.President Trump is on the cusp of announcing a big change in tariffs against foreign pharmaceutical companies in an effort to get the manufacturing of medicines brought back to the USA. Details are soon to surface.In a proactive move, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), went to the European Commission (EC) yesterday...

The rapid change in Ursula von der Leyen now starts to make sense. According to a press release [SEE HERE] from European Big Pharma, they recently had a meeting with the EU Komisar and threatened to leave Europe if the trade system is not renegotiated quickly. Trump is on the cusp of announcing a big change in tariffs against foreign pharmaceutical companies in an effort to get the manufacturing of medicines brought back to the USA. Details are soon to surface. In a proactive move, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), went to the European Commission (EC)...

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting that countries are approaching the United States with offers they never previously would have because of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Lutnick was the second cabinet member to speak after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just a day after Trump put a pause on his reciprocal tariffs on countries that did not retaliate against them. According to the White House, some 75 countries are looking to negotiate, while escalations with Beijing have led to the administration ramping up reciprocal tariffs to 125 percent on China. “They have come with offers that...

Thrifty Big Apple shoppers were rushing to stock up on the basics Wednesday after President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs briefly went into effect — before he then announced a 90-day pause. “Pray to God that we all survive,” said Angelia Gonzalez, a 48-year-old mother who was filling her cart at the East Harlem Costco. “I feel some kind of way. I mean, I have a family.” Gonzalez travelled across town from her longtime home in West Harlem to stock up at the wholesaler over fears that prices will soon skyrocket from Trump’s massive “reciprocal” tariffs, which went into effect at...

China’s increasingly shrill and desperate efforts to prove itself tough and fearless against President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit a new low on Thursday, when Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning decided to post old footage of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party – and the worst mass murderer in history. Mao Ning’s tone-deaf decision to post 72-year-old footage of Mao declaring his determination to “fight” until we “completely triumph” against President Eisenhower illustrates how badly the Communist elite has sunk into the revisionist history pushed by the ruling Party. No sane person on Earth, outside of the...

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said on Thursday China was now isolated and other U.S. trading partners were lining up to make deals following President Donald Trump's stunning reversal of his tariff decision.Trump said on Wednesday he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries while further ramping up pressure on China."Time is not China's friend as every U.S. corporation with a supply chain based in China is seeking to move it to countries that are likely to make favorable tariff deals with the United States," Ackman said in a post on X.

Komisar von der Leyen informs the union members that she has decided to pause the retaliation tariffs against the USA, based on the 90-day pause announced by President Trump. However, in actuality there’s not much difference even within the pause as the German/EU autos are still tariffed (25%) and the steel and Aluminum tariffs’ (25%) still apply. The only gain from yesterday’s modification in the global tariff regime for the EU was a switch from 20% EU tariff to a baseline 10% tariff during the pause. The total EU relief is 10% for 90-days; but that was enough for Komrade...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused China of manipulating its currency to offset the impact of U.S. tariffs."You got to hand it to them. They're manipulating their currency today as an offset against the tariffs," Trump said at an event at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

File this one under "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished." The liberal media has been leading the charge against the Trump tariffs. So what happens when Trump heeds the warning signs and pulls back? Does the MSM applaud his statesmanship, his courage in changing course given changed circumstances? C'mon—of course not. This is the liberal media, after all. Get the rest of the story and view the video here. Thus, on today's Morning Joe, Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei, purporting to explain Trump's change of direction, declared: "Make no mistake: he panicked."