Free Republic

Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs—and by Mr. Trump’s own hand. Witness the agreement Monday morning to scale back his punitive tariffs on China—his second major retreat in less than a week. This is a win for economic reality, and for American prosperity. Make that a partial win for reality. The Administration agreed to scrap most of the 145% tariff Mr. Trump imposed on Chinese goods on April 2 and later. What remains is his new 10% global base-line tariff, plus the separate 20% levy putatively tied to...

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/05/02/an-unavoidable-trade-war-with-canada-is-looming-trigger-date-july-august-2025/According to the people present, when former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, his primary objective was to inform President Trump his public demands for U.S. trade reciprocity with Canada were unachievable. Trudeau was not lying. In this outline we will explain a dynamic that is certain to surface this summer. President Trump has deferred all North American trade negotiations with Canada and Mexico until later in the year, after the priority trade deals with other large trade partners are completed. The USMCA trade pact is due for review and renegotiation this...

April was not the cruelest month for investors—although the tariffmageddon-obsessed naysayers may be smarting. Despite a month of wild swings and gloomy forecasts, U.S. stock markets ended April nearly flat, brushing off predictions that Trump’s trade policies would trigger a historic collapse. The S&P 500 finished the month down just 0.8 percent. The Dow dropped 2.1 percent, and the Nasdaq edged lower by 0.3 percent. That mild performance stood in stark contrast to a mid-April Wall Street Journal article that warned of a “Trump rout” and suggested the Dow was on track for its worst April since 1932. It wasn’t....

according to Bloomberg News. Most of the hikes in US prices came on Friday, with markups significantly higher in some categories than others, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The average price for the top 100 products in the beauty and health category increased by 51% from Thursday, with several of the items more than doubling in price. For home and kitchen products and toys, the average jump was more than 30%, led by a massive 377% increase in the price of a 10-piece set of kitchen towels. For women’s clothing the rise was 8%. E-commerce shopping platforms like...

The race was called by 10:15 Eastern Time Zone.Poilievre was up by 50 points in the Polymarket polling back in February.Then he couldn’t keep his mouth shut about Trump. What a dummy.The GREATEST comeback of all time? In Jan: Polymarket odds of the Liberals winning were 3% CTV just projected Mark Carney's Liberals to win- thanks to Trump's attacks on Canada's economy,sovereignty &suggestions it should become 51st state which spurred a surge in nationalism pic.twitter.com/Ver8c796ir— Joumanna Nasr Bercetche (@JoumannaTV) April 29, 2025Canada called the election within hours of the first polls closing.Canada used paper ballots and one day voting.FYI: Canada...

Inflation risk has been a significant topic of discussion in the mainstream media for the last few years. Such is unsurprising given that inflation spiked following the pandemic in 2020 as consumer spending (demand) was shot into overdrive from stimulus payments and production (supply) was shuttered. To understand why that occurred, we need to revisit “Economics 101.”“In economics, inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services. Changes in inflation are a function of fluctuations in actual demand for goods and services (also known as demand shocks, including changes in fiscal or monetary policy or recession), changes...

WSJ policy on excerpting. But these are quotations made by Trump President Trump is actively considering at least 15 trade proposals with countries, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Last week, the Trump administration announced a 90-day pause on so-called reciprocal tariffs to allow time to negotiate deals with nations. “He has made clear, he wants to personally sign off on all of these deals,” Leavitt said. “There’s a lot of work to do, we do believe we can announce some deals very soon.” She did not say which nations were close to reaching a deal with the...

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Trump administration was negotiating trade policy with 130 countries. Host Jake Tapper said, “What do you say to small business owners or even big business owners who say they’re having difficulty making long-term business decisions because the country seems right now to be run by capricious whim?” Hassett said, “Oh, I don’t think at all that it’s run by a capricious whim. The way that I would think about it is that in the previous administration, you could sort of say, if you’re thinking...

Reagan-era economist Art Laffer recently appeared on the FOX Business Network and praised Trump’s tariff plan. Laffer broke it down, even including what he sees as the apparent exit plan, describing it as a ‘win-win strategy.’Laffer’s view is quite a change from the hair-on-fire approach to this topic embraced by the vast majority of the media. He even suggests that this will be better for other countries in the long run.Of course, the biggest beneficiary will be the United States.From the FOX Business Network:Economist says Trump’s tariffs are a ‘win-win strategy’ to negotiate trade dealsFormer Reagan economic advisor Art Laffer...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed the meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday evening practically empty-handed. Expectations in Israel were high that Netanyahu would be able to secure either a reduction in the 17% tariffs announced by President Trump last week, or a strong stance against Iran for resisting U.S. efforts at negotiations over the country’s nuclear ambitions, or possibly even positive developments in the issue of the hostages, after Netanyahu met with Trump and his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. However, to the disappointment of many in Israel, Netanyahu left with little good news for Israel. Instead...

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)(IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)(NEA), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that underlying conditions, including a lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships, disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers, and U.S. trading partners’ economic policies...

Here are the basic resources you need to dive into President Trump’s global trade and tariff reset. Topline opinion at the end of the document summaries. ♦ United States Trade Representative: 397-page detailed analysis of global trade relationships with the United States. The 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the 40th report in an annual series that highlights significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce. This document is a companion piece to the President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report, published by the Office of the...

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...