Free Republic

Several postal services around the world have paused package deliveries to the United States this week, and it's not because they're overwhelmed with shipping demand. The suspensions, which affect shipments of goods valued under $800, follow a recent executive order that President Trump signed that effectively ends the de minimis exemption on August 29. The fallout has been swift and global. We're talking about major disruptions from Europe to Asia that might impact many American small businesses, limit where you can shop, and make it more complicated and expensive to receive the items you order. What countries have limited deliveries,...

Full statement from Pam Bondi: President Trump found there was a national emergency and took action under the law by imposing tariffs. The judges of the Federal Circuit are interfering with the President’s vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy. This decision is wrong and undermines the United States on the world stage. The Justice Department will appeal this decision and continue to fight to restore the president’s lawful authority.

Vance starts the 2028 race with advantages in the Rust Belt and Sun BeltAs we settle into the second Trump administration, eyes are already turning toward 2028. With President Donald Trump barred from a third elected term by the 22nd Amendment, the Republican nomination looks like a coronation for Vice President JD Vance. Polling shows Vance dominating the GOP field, with 46% support in a recent survey. That's far ahead of potential challengers. Vance, the Ohio senator and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," embodies the Trumpian blend of populism, economic nationalism and cultural conservatism that has reshaped the GOP. Operationally, his...

At least 25 countries have decided to suspend their package deliveries to the United States following the Trump administration's announcement of the abolition of a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.

In late 2023, Kent Liu finally decided to take a leap of faith: it was time to move his customised printing business from China to the United States. Liu felt he needed to make a change. For years, his company had made money by printing T-shirts, hats and other apparel in China for a range of clients, which were then shipped to the United States. But that model was increasingly under threat. In 2018, America raised tariffs on Chinese goods, and tensions between the two powers had continued to rise over the following five years. “If I don’t go,” Liu...

India is now facing a 50% import tariff against the majority of their goods (electronics and pharmaceuticals exempted). However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed not to yield to the pressure. Modi said the world was witnessing a “politics of economic selfishness.” For approximately a decade many western countries including the U.S. have heaped effusive praise on India as corporations viewed the massive Indian population, the world’s largest democracy, as both workers and consumers. However, after the western sanctions against Russia were delivered, India -a BRICS nation- began pulling back from western alignment and influence. What we are witnessing...

We saw great news earlier with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinting that interest rate cuts will be coming. Then, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that tariffs on foreign countries will likely reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the decade. Those stories likely helped to send the stock market soaring, with the Dow Jones hitting its all-time high. Now there's more positive news. President Donald Trump and Canadian leader Mark Carney had a phone call on Thursday on trade issues. As a result, Carney announced on Friday that Canada would be dropping most of its retaliatory tariffs on...

Canada will announce on Friday that it is removing many retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, a source familiar with the matter said. Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

In my career, I’ve rarely seen a more biased policy debate than the reaction to Trump’s trade agenda. Democrats want him to fail. Old-guard Republicans hate tariffs. Almost no one is evaluating the strategy on its own merits. One of my goals in this specific public discussion is to surface alternative scenarios. And there is a plausible path where tariffs—paired with industrial policy—strengthen, rather than weaken, the U.S. economy.What the consensus said (in April 2025, and largely still today): Tariffs will drive up prices Growth will slow Trade partners will retaliate Reshoring won’t happen Long-term damage will be severe But...

S&P Global on Monday affirmed its 'AA+' credit rating on the U.S., saying the revenue from President Donald Trump's tariffs will offset the fiscal hit from his recent tax-cut and spending bill. Trump signed the massive package of tax-cut and spending bill, dubbed the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act', into law in July. The bill, which delivered new tax breaks, also made Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent. "Amid the rise in effective tariff rates, we expect meaningful tariff revenue to generally offset weaker fiscal outcomes that might otherwise be associated with the recent fiscal legislation, which contains both cuts and...

A week after the latest deadline to somehow resolve the trade war that Donald Trump has launched against Canada — and with Canadian officials now looking ahead to a full renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement — many things remain unclear. But when Mark Carney spoke to reporters in British Columbia on Tuesday, he expressed clarity about at least one thing. "While we'll continue to work with the United States on the many mutually beneficial opportunities that we share in trade and investment," the prime minister said, "it is clear that we cannot count, or fully rely, on what has been...

President Trump blasted India with 50 percent tariffs. The full force of these tariffs will come into effect on August 27, 2025. President Trump’s instincts are spot on: India is on the verge of becoming China 2.0. Unfortunately, the tariffs will do little to stop this. Why? Because India isn’t coming for our manufacturing. They’re coming for our technology sector—and they’ve been remarkably successful both at scooping up jobs, and flying under the radar. Consider that America lost roughly 5 million jobs to China since 2001. During the same period, America lost up to 4 million technology jobs to India....

U.S. wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly last month, signaling that President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports are pushing costs up and that higher prices for consumers may be on the way. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers— rose 0.9% last month from June, biggest jump in more than three years. Compared with a year earlier, wholesale prices rose 3.3%. The numbers were much higher than economists had expected. Prices rose faster for producers than consumers last month, suggesting that U.S. importers may, for now, be eating the cost...

S&P's latest projections show India's GDP growth will remain steady at 6.5 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year, matching the previous financial year's performance. New Delhi: US President Donald Trump's punitive tariffs on Indian imports will not impact India's economic growth, and its sovereign ratings outlook will remain positive, according to S&P Global Ratings Director YeeFarn Phua. New Delhi is facing a 50 per cent US tariff--comprising 25 per cent that kicked in on August 7 and another 25 per cent due to come into force on August 28 as a penalty for buying Russian oil. Speaking at...

The common denominator is India’s rivalry with China...Trump recently made a show of doubling his 25% tariffs on India as punishment for its continued purchase of Russian energy and military-technical equipment.Influenced by Lindsey Graham, he expected that India would dump Russia after the costs of doing business with it spiked, the Kremlin would thus lose this important foreign revenue flow, and then Putin would make concessions to Ukraine in exchange for lifting these secondary sanctions in to avoid bankruptcy.Here’s why India defied the US:1. The “Voice Of The Global South” Can’t Bow To US DemandsIndia has presented itself as the...

President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs are raking in unprecedented sums for the federal government—so much, in fact, that a top budget watchdog says the revenue rivals the impact of creating a brand-new payroll tax or slashing the entire military budget by nearly one-fifth. (These are rough estimates, to be sure, conveyed to communicate the magnitude of the tariffs, not precise contributions to the budget.) But can these massive cash flows, already topping tens of billions monthly, truly put a dent in America’s $37 trillion national debt? Actually, yes, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which...

The proper response to foreign tariffs is nothing. Here is why. 1. A tariff is a tax on your citizens. Retaliation means you tax your buyers and your producers to “punish” a foreign government. You hurt the innocent to spite the guilty. 2. Imports are the benefit of trade. Exports are the cost you pay to get them. Blocking imports means you block the benefit and keep the cost. 3. Unilateral free trade raises real incomes. It lowers input costs for businesses, speeds innovation, and forces domestic firms to win by serving customers, not by lobbying. 4. Tariff tit for...

Aluminum production in the US rises due to Trump's tariffs reducing the dumping of Aluminum in the US by foreign producers. Interview of Century Aluminum CEO by Maria on Fox Business.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States Tuesday in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border. Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups. The transfers...

Tariffs as high as 145 percent were due to be implemented on goods from China at midnight Tuesday. The last-minute extension came hours after Trump provided a vague response to reporters on extending the deadline on Monday. “We’ve been dealing very nicely with China… they have tremendous tariffs that they’re paying to the United States of America,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “We’ll see what happens. They’ve been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself.” Trump signed a new Executive Order later on Monday. China will now have its...