Free Republic

President Donald Trump openly challenged U.S. allies Wednesday by increasing tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25% as he vowed to take back wealth “stolen” by other countries, drawing quick retaliation from Europe and Canada. “The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent U.S. leadership,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of the companies that left.” Trump removed all exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on the metals,...

President Joe Biden on Friday moved to block the multi-billion-dollar sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US has been reviewing the $14.1 billion deal on whether it poses security risks for months. On Dec. 23, CFIUS said it was at a standstill, leaving the issue up to Biden. The president’s decision is a major use of executive power on a heavily-politicized election year issue. His announcement comes with just over two weeks left in his term. President-elect Donald Trump had vowed to crush the deal when he...

President Biden has decided to block the $14 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel of Japan in an announcement expected as soon as Friday based on grounds that the sale poses a threat to national security, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision would be an extraordinary use of executive power, particularly for a president who is just weeks from leaving office. It is also a departure from America’s long-established culture of open investment, one that could have wide-ranging implications for the U.S. economy. Mr. Biden’s move to stop the transaction could cause foreign investors to...

A group of five small businesses sued President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking to block new tariffs he has imposed on foreign imports in recent weeks. The lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade alleges that Trump has illegally usurped Congress’ power to levy tariffs by claiming that trade deficits with other countries constitute an emergency. The Liberty Justice Center, which is representing the owner-operated companies, said Trump’s new tariffs of at least 10% on imports from most countries and higher rates for scores of other nations are devastating small businesses across the country. “His claimed emergency is a...

If you think bringing American manufacturing jobs back is a steep climb, it’s nothing compared to one of the key efforts this year: saving America’s retail sector. Retail is absolutely critical to the American way of life. Shops fill our malls and business districts; they draw customers to our restaurants and movie theaters, they create important part-time jobs for students and adults, and for those of you who like taxes, retailers produce sales taxes and property taxes and income taxes, and by employing people, they provide income taxes and FICA taxes as well. Retail is everything from the single-location gift...

President Trump on Monday suggested he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector to give carmakers time to overhaul their complex supply chains. Mr. Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office that automakers "need a little bit of time" to relocate production from Canada, Mexico and elsewhere to the U.S. Car manufacturers' supply chains are tightly interwoven with other nations, making it almost impossible to make vehicles entirely in the United States. Because U.S. automakers source many of their car parts from key trade partners, including Canada, Mexico and China, a fully...

“Every western society is confronted by an internal cultural conflict between those who wish to distance society from its civilizational legacy and those who wish to renew it.” —Frank Furedi on Substack Whatever else you think is happening in our world, contraction is the reality-based order-of-the-day, and everything else is downstream of that. The world has to get by with less. Nothing is going to fix this for everybody, though any number of schemes for redistributing what’s left will preoccupy the political mojo. Right now, it’s tariffs, which are an attempt to restore industry ceded to the formerly left-behind people...

<p>No one wants a “trade war” with China, or for that matter with any nation. Nonetheless, China has been waging one for years and is now locked in a tariff recalibration with the Trump administration.</p><p>In this American effort to find trade parity and equity, China can do some short-term damage to the U.S., especially in terms of ceasing exports of some pharmaceuticals, phones, and computers. But ultimately, it cannot win—and will eventually lose catastrophically. It will likely accept that reality sooner rather than later.</p>

In Trump’s second term, he aims to leave a lasting legacy. To do this, he should draw from the lessons learned during the previous trade war.Last week, President Trump announced a strategic pause on his “reciprocal tariffs” affecting nearly 100 countries, while simultaneously ramping up tariffs on Chinese imports to a staggering 125 percent. This move is a direct response to China’s tit-for-tat retaliation that has persisted since February. Drawing from the lessons of the previous trade war during his first term, the Trump administration has a unique opportunity to secure a decisive and lasting victory in his current trade...

I'm going to gloss over all the criticism of Trump's tariffs from the left because, well, so few of the critiques are made in good faith. There are liberal free traders out there. Establishment economists who have consistent theories of how the economy works and actually believe what they say--yes, such people DO exist, even though they are no longer influential in their party--to whom I would listen and give respect in a one-on-one conversation. But most liberal critics of Trump's trade strategy are critics of Trump and would say exactly the opposite of what they are saying now if...

Not since Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff has a president chosen to disregard a larger body of informed opinion than President Trump did when he instituted his protectionist trade policy. Based on a series of verifiably false grievances—wages haven’t grown in 50 years, manufacturing has been hollowed out by imports, countries with trade surpluses are “ripping us off”—Mr. Trump used constitutionally questionable powers to abrogate congressionally approved trade agreements and undermine the world’s trading system. Markets convulsed in anticipation of the massive wealth annihilation that would accompany the shredding of global supply chains and a transition to a more...

Amid the escalating US-China trade war, a report in the Glitz says China may give free rein to counterfeiters, particularly those which target luxury brands in America, in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. Amid this, TikTok is flooded with videos that show how luxury brands manufacture their products in China. Trump has imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, and in its own tit-for-tat tariffs, the Xi Jinping government imposed 125% tariffs. China has now urged Washington to “completely cancel” what it calls the unfair practice of reciprocal tariffs... In the video, a man, while showing several bags that resemble luxury brands’...

In addition to Howard Lutnick, Peter Navarro and Kevin Hassett explaining the nuances of Section 232 tariff exemptions, White House Senior Policy Advisor, Stephen Miller, appears on Fox News to deliver the same message.Steel, Aluminum, Automobiles, Pharmaceuticals and components for semiconductor manufacturing all fall under the Section 232 “National Security” tariff umbrella. Meaning, the products within each of those sectors of manufacturing are handled ¹differently from all other tariffs as executed. WATCH:[¹NOTE: This approach could present a problem in future lawsuits, because the administration is now beginning to define what is classified as a ‘national security’ product. Lawfare operatives will...

Taiwan's first phase of tariff talks with the United States went "smoothly" and the government hopes to take this challenge as an opportunity to promote a new Taiwan-plus-the-United States layout for trade, President Lai Ching-te said Monday.Major semiconductor producer Taiwan had been due to be hit with a 32% tariff by U.S. President Donald Trump, until he put all tariffs ex-China on hold for talks to take place.Taiwan and the United States on Friday held their first direct talks about the tariffs.Speaking to representatives from university alumni associations at the presidential office in Taipei, Lai said Taiwan has overcome challenges...

China is no longer welcome in Britain's steel sector after the government had to pass emergency legislation on Saturday to ensure control of Chinese-owned British Steel, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday.Reynolds said the refusal of China's Jingye Group to accept a roughly 500 million pound ($654 million) government aid package last week to stop irrevocable damage to blast furnaces left the government with no alternative to intervening directly.British Steel was not immediately available for comment outside office hours.Against a backdrop of global overcapacity in much of the steel industry and challenges from U.S. tariffs, Jingye wanted to import...

China's trade war bluff may backfire as the U.S. pushes allies to choose between a rogue economic actor and a flawed but fairer partner with unmatched global power. No one wants a “trade war” with China, or for that matter with any nation. Nonetheless, China has been waging one for years and is now locked in a tariff recalibration with the Trump administration. In this American effort to find trade parity and equity, China can do some short-term damage to the U.S., especially in terms of ceasing exports of some pharmaceuticals, phones, and computers. But ultimately, it cannot win—and will...

President Trump is taking exception to the idea that his Administration is offering exceptions to his punishing tariffs. That’s the story after a confusing weekend that offers more lessons in the arbitrary nature of Trump trade policy. Late Friday his own Customs and Border Protection (CBP) department issued a notice listing products that will be exempt from Mr. Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs that can run as high as 145% on goods from China. The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives, computer processors, servers, memory chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and other electronics. The CBP notice takes the tariff rate...

President Donald Trump on Sunday insisted there will be no exemptions in the tariffs after there was some confusion when it came to electronics. 'NOBODY is getting “off the hook” for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!' the president posted on Truth Social. A notice released late on Friday suggested gadgets would avoid Trump's 125 percent import tax on Chinese goods and even his sweeping 10 percent global tariffs. But his administration clarified on Sunday that electronics would be subject...

As China reacts to the latest round of Trump’s tariffs on Friday, announcing a 125% tariff on all American goods, vice president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, Victor Zhikai Gao, commented: “We don’t care! China has been here for 5,000 years. Most of the time, there was no U.S., and we survived.” When pointed out that China “will lose the U.S. market,” which accounts for 15% of all trade, he added: “If the United States wants to bully China, we will deal with a situation without the United States, and we expect to survive for another 5,000...

Republican lawmakers say there’s a good chance that President Trump’s trade war will boomerang on Republicans politically in 2026, as rising prices and shrinking growth could offset other accomplishments by the GOP. Republican senators are pointing to the 1932 and 1982 elections as historical examples of when trade wars and resulting price inflation hurt their party at the ballot box, and they are worried that history could repeat itself. Many Republican lawmakers view tariffs as a tax hike on American consumers, and some note that the last two times Congress enacted tax hikes on the scale of Trump’s recent tariffs,...