Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Friday demanded that the Federal Reserve slash interest rates or else he will cut off trade with countries with which the U.S. maintains trade deficits. Trump issued the sweeping ultimatum in a Truth Social post reacting to a much-stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report by urging the central bank and its chairman, Kevin Warsh, to “get smart” and cut rates. Read Trump’s full post: Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple - And you haven’t seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A....

With midterms rapidly approaching, Republicans had appeared to catch a break on the economy. After a year in which the war with Iran sent gas prices soaring and pushed inflation to multi-year highs, both June and July’s Consumer Price Index came in tame. Even grocery prices slipped for the first time in months. But then President Trump returned to his longtime obsession: tariffs. Indeed, last weekend, talks between the White House and Canada collapsed, and Trump immediately slapped 50 percent tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of Canadian goods, reviving what the Wall Street Journal called “The Dumbest Trade War...

The U.S.–Canada trade talks broke down on Aug. 21. Although both sides hold completely different views, they agreed on two common dealbreakers: bilateral coordination on Canada’s future trade deals with third countries and how deep tariff-rate cuts should go across sectors like autos, steel, and aluminum. A third, exempting U.S. companies from having to feature French-language content on streaming platforms, was resolved on Aug. 27 when the United States dropped the demand. Analysts say both sides share one other thing: the China factor, which neither names but looms over both positions.Neither the Canadian Prime Minister Carney nor U.S. Trade Representative...

The Irish Rovers sang about the biggest mixup that you have ever seen: he was christened David Anthony, but still in spite of that, his father called him William while his mother called him Pat. Picture the feelings of Lake Ontario this morning. It was christened Lac Saint-Louis by Samuel de Champlain, but it’s woken up to Canada calling it William and the US calling it Pat – or rather, Lake America (without the “of,” as Trump helpfully specified in his video on Truth Social). Although Lac Saint-Louis is surely a better and more historically founded name than Lake America,...

JD Vance Wants To Ditch The Dollar’s Reserve Status Tony Katz isn’t buying what JD Vance is selling on the dollar. “What is he talking about?” Katz said, reacting to the vice president’s recent comments questioning whether America should even want to be the world’s reserve currency. “And then why is he talking about it?” Vance has argued that reserve currency status is a raw deal — that it floods the country with “mostly useless imports,” hollows out domestic manufacturing, and effectively taxes American producers to subsidize American consumers. Katz brought in Phil Magness, the David J. Theroux Chair in...

Canada is preparing dollar-for-dollar tariffs on American goods after negotiations with the Trump administration collapsed, escalating a trade dispute that could raise prices and disrupt some of North America’s most integrated industries. The retaliation will begin September 8 and target U.S. steel, dairy products, electronics, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper. The announcement came hours after the United States imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian imports. For investors, the immediate tariffs are only part of the risk. The deeper concern is that Washington and Ottawa are losing confidence in the trade framework that has connected their factories,...

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. will wave through 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef over the next three months with the out-of-quota tariff switched off, and that "this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices." Sold by whom went unmentioned. Shipped from where, likewise. Which foreign exporters agreed to any of this is a question the announcement left for later, along with the executive order itself, which the White House says arrives within 2 weeks. Ground beef hit $6.885 a pound in July, an all-time high and 83% above where it sat in...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled his country’s negotiators from trade talks with the U.S. on Friday evening, just hours before the Trump administration’s new round of tariffs were set to go into effect. This decision followed weeks of intense negotiations between the two nations over President Trump’s proposed 50 percent tariffs on over $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. These new tariffs — which were originally scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday — would impact a range of goods, including wine, hockey sticks, cement, plywood and more. The prime minister has said these new policies are in “direct...

Trade talks with Canada collapsed late Friday night, setting in motion steep 50% tariffs on a wide swath of Canadian goods. The duties went into effect at the stroke of midnight. This particular time, PM Mark Carney was the one to cancel further negotiations and say, Canada would match US Tariffs dollar for dollar. Carney and the Liberals have used Anti-Trump rhetoric as a political tool to advance their agenda, basically the more they fight Trump the more popular they become in Canada for a significant percentage of the population. If you have been watching Canadian Media in the last...

President Donald Trump on Friday morning said the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported over the next three months without being subject to out-of-quota tariffs. Trump also said, “We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.” The president’s Truth Social post announcing the move did not say which companies had made those commitments, which he said came “as we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers.” Trump did not say who he had reached a deal with on...

At a conference I attended recently in DC, I had the chance to show a lot of my colleagues around the downtown monuments. For them, many from other countries, seeing the Lincoln, the Washington, the Capitol, was once in a lifetime – for me, it was Tuesday. At one point, a German in the group – fatigue in his voice – asked me, “Tell me… How can Americans keep voting for Trump?” The term Trump was shorthand for Americans’ embracing nationalism and rejecting globalism, which seems oh-so backwards to our European cousins. I think he expected me to dance around...

President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday a temporary pause on 50% tariffs on Canada as both countries race to finalize a trade deal. The President’s announcement came hours before a series of tariffs set to cover about $20 billion worth of imports into the U.S. from Canada were set to take effect. “I have paused the 50% tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a deal!” Trump said on social media. Canadian Prime Minister Mark...

Trade team told Americans Trump's newest tariffs would kill will for talks if implementedThe Canadian government is preparing to meet some U.S. demands — including ending bans on American alcohol sales — in exchange for tariff relief as trade talks heat up ahead of the latest tariff deadline, according to sources. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a new 50 per cent levy on hundreds of Canadian imports by Aug. 19, citing complaints about provincial booze bans, dairy import quotas and the auto tariffs. The Canadian side is willing to offer movement on those concerns, according to industry sources...

Amazon said this week that it received hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds from President Trump’s tariffs and pledged to return some of the profits to its customers. This follows a Supreme Court decision earlier this year that many of the Trump administration’s tariffs were illegal, prompting the U.S. government to start a process to refund billions of dollars in import taxes to affected companies. Brian Olsavsky, the chief financial officer of Amazon.com, Inc., said during a Thursday earnings call that the company is “participating in the tariff refund process” and received an amount of $600 million in its...

Insulin Glargine Injection (Recombinant)Products Affected - Description Basaglar Tempo Pen subcutaneous injection, Lilly USA, LLC, 100 units/mL, 3 mL pen injector, 5 count, NDC 00002-8214-05 Lantus Solostar Pen subcutaneous injection, Sanofi-Aventis, 100 units/mL, 3 mL pen injector, 5 count, NDC 00088-2219-05 Semglee subcutaneous injection, Biocon, 100 units/mL, 10 mL vial, NDC 83257-0011-11 - discontinued Semglee Pen subcutaneous injection, Biocon, 100 units/mL, 3 mL pen injector, 5 count, NDC 83257-0012-33 - discontinuedReason for the ShortageBiocon discontinued Semglee vials and pens on December 31, 2025. The generic vials and pens are available. Lilly has Basaglar and Rezvoglar Kwikpens available. Lilly is discontinuing...

The Trump administration is ratcheting up tariffs on 60 countries that have failed to ban imports made from forced labor, as 10% global duties are set to expire Friday. Senior administration officials said Thursday that countries that have begun implementing a forced labor prohibition will be hit with 10% duties, while those that haven’t will receive an import tax of 12.5% — with the levies taking effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 24. “The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to...

President Donald Trump took back his 20% fee on all cargo transported through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, some twenty-four hours after first making the surprise announcement. In yet another yo-yo move of his tariff and trade policy, Trump claimed that he will replace the transit fee on the Strait with “trade and investment deals” for individual countries using the key energy hub. “Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the awesome Power of the United States Military. A special salute to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, and Commander...

Transition: Amid the heavyweights on Barack Obama's economic team, his choice for trade rep doesn't measure up. Congressman Xavier Becerra is not only a protectionist, he would compromise U.S. moral authority.Would someone who favors tariffs, backs subsidies and opposes free-trade pacts be the best face to put forward as U.S. trade representative? Not in this case. Becerra's name has apparently been put forward for USTR as a sop to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She wants her people in the new administration, and she has always seen to it that the former congressional aide has gotten plum assignments. Becerra, whose district...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government can continue collecting the 10% worldwide tariff it imposed in February while legal challenges to the levies continue to work their way through the courts, a federal court ruled Thursday. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington decision handed a procedural win to the Trump administration, concluding that its case was “likely to succeed on the merits.’’ At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs President Donald Trump imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth....

Australian beef exports to China could be hit with a 55 per cent tariff within days. Earlier this year, Beijing announced a quota on Australian beef of 205,000 tonnes a year...