Free Republic

Tariffs will not cause inflation in the long term. In fact, they will likely lower the cost of goods over time. On April 2, Liberation Day, President Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs across the board. The President noted that they were “kind” tariffs, since they were only half the rate that American producers are charged. For now, at least. Critics have lamented that tariffs will raise the cost of goods, as if the Constitution codified the right to buy “cheap” Chinese goods. While there will be an adjustment period -- as with any major policy shift -- tariffs will not cause...

Wall Street kicked off Friday with another brutal stretch of losses driven by President Trump’s new tariffs despite stronger than expected March jobs data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 1,200 points shortly before 10:30 a.m. EDT Friday, a day after the market suffered its worse single-day of trading in five years. The S&P 500 index was down 3.6 percent, and the Nasdaq composite was down 3.5 percent. All three major indexes took serious losses Thursday, the first full day of trading after Trump’s announcement of up to $600 billion in new import taxes. The scale and...

Full List of Countries Hit With Reciprocal TariffsCountryTariffs Charged to the U.S.A. (%)U.S.A. Discounted Reciprocal Tariffs (%)China6734European Union3920Vietnam9046Taiwan6432Japan4624India5226South Korea5025Thailand7236Switzerland6131Indonesia6432Malaysia4724Cambodia9749United Kingdom1010South Africa6030Brazil1010Bangladesh7437Singapore1010Israel3317Philippines3417Chile1010Australia1010Pakistan5829Turkey1010Sri Lanka8844Colombia1010Peru1010Nicaragua3618Norway3015Costa Rica1710Jordan4020Dominican Republic1010United Arab Emirates1010New Zealand2010Argentina1010Ecuador1210Guatemala1010Honduras1010Madagascar9347Myanmar (Burma)8844Tunisia5528Kazakhstan5427Serbia7437Egypt1010Saudi Arabia1010El Salvador1010Côte d'Ivoire4121Laos9548Botswana7437Trinidad and Tobago1210Morocco1010Papua New Guinea1510Malawi3417Liberia1010British Virgin Islands1010Afghanistan4910Zimbabwe3518Benin1010Barbados1010Monaco1010Syria8141Uzbekistan1010Republic of the Congo1010Djibouti1010French Polynesia1010Cayman Islands1010Kosovo1010Curaçao1010Vanuatu4422Rwanda1010Sierra Leone1010Mongolia1010San Marino1010Antigua and Barbuda1010Bermuda1010Eswatini1010Marshall Islands1010Saint Pierre and Miquelon9950Saint Kitts and Nevis1010Turkmenistan1010Grenada1010Sudan1010Turks and Caicos Islands1010Aruba1010Montenegro1010Saint Helena1510Kyrgyzstan1010Yemen1010Saint Vincent and the Grenadines1010Niger1010Saint Lucia1010Nauru5930Equatorial Guinea2513Iran1010Libya6131Samoa1010Guinea1010Timor-Leste1010Montserrat1010Chad2613Mali1010Algeria5930Oman1010Uruguay1010Bahamas1010Lesotho9950Ukraine1010Bahrain1010Qatar1010Mauritius8040Fiji6332Iceland1010Kenya1010Liechtenstein7337Guyana7638Haiti1010Bosnia and Herzegovina7035Nigeria2714Namibia4221Brunei4724Bolivia2010Panama1010Venezuela2915North Macedonia6533Ethiopia1010Ghana1710Moldova6131Angola6332Democratic Republic of the Congo2211Jamaica1010Mozambique3116Paraguay1010Zambia3317Lebanon1010Tanzania1010Iraq7839Georgia1010Senegal1010Azerbaijan1010Cameroon2211Uganda2010Albania1010Armenia1010Nepal1010Sint Maarten1010Falkland Islands8241Gabon1010Kuwait1010Togo1010Suriname1010Belize1010Maldives1010Tajikistan1010Cabo Verde1010Burundi1010Guadeloupe1010Bhutan1010Martinique1010Tonga1010Mauritania1010Dominica1010Micronesia1010Gambia1010French Guiana1010Christmas Island1010Andorra1010Central African Republic1010Solomon Islands1010Mayotte1010Anguilla1010Cocos (Keeling) Islands1010Eritrea1010Cook Islands1010South Sudan1010Comoros1010Kiribati1010Sao Tome and Principe1010Norfolk Island5829Gibraltar1010Tuvalu1010British Indian Ocean Territory1010Tokelau1010Guinea-Bissau1010Svalbard and Jan Mayen1010Heard and McDonald Islands1010Reunion7337*White House officials said the calculations...

Walmart, one of the nation’s biggest retailers, is telling its China-based suppliers to absorb the cost of President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on Chinese-made products. Sources told Bloomberg News that Walmart is asking Chinese suppliers to cut their prices — some by as much as 10 percent — so that Trump’s increased tariffs on China will be absorbed by the retailers rather than American consumers. Chinese suppliers are reportedly trying to resist any lowering of their prices while some manufacturers are having to go outside China to source their materials. A spokesperson for Walmart told Bloomberg that the retailer is...

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia aim to boost American automobile production to avoid President Donald Trump’s planned 25 percent auto tariff, according to a report. Trump on Tuesday said the tariff rates on auto imports will be “in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” with more details to come in early April. He noted that he will give auto manufacturers time to avoid the tariff. “If they have a plant and factory here, there will be no tariff,” the 47th president remarked.

Back in November, I wrote a column for Kansas Reflector that discussed the likely adverse effects of President Trump’s proposed tariffs on U.S. farmers. The piece noted that 398 million acres of cropland has been added to the mix around the world since the start of this century, notably in tropical regions such as Brazil and India. There is increasing competition for U.S. farmers in export markets. The United States alone cannot absorb all that we produce here. Many farmers voted for Trump because he promised less regulation and greater prosperity for America’s farmers. The hard truth is that, like...

President Trump spoke to reporters on Sunday night upon returning to Washington, DC, from his Mar a Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida. The president addressed a wide range of issues from the busy news weekend and took questions from reporters. As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump imposed his long-awaited 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on China on Saturday. This was met with pushback from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced he would impose his own tariffs on the United States, which many in Canada think is a big mistake. In the fallout...

They will now be made to care. The damage done by both fentanyl and human trafficking are far more significant than any cost increases we’ll see due to tariffs. This is not even debatable and for too long China has been attacking us with fentanyl while Canada and Mexico have facilitated the trafficking because deep down they want America weakened.

The US has agreed to ease Trump-era tariffs on UK steel and aluminium shipments, resolving an issue that had strained relations between the allies. The move follows earlier deals with the European Union and Japan over the controversial taxes, which were imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2018 in the name of national security. In exchange, the UK will suspend extra taxes it had put on US products such as bourbon and Levi's jeans.

Chinese consumers are not happy about higher prices and decreased supplies of food.  Yesterday, Chinese buyers snapped up "at least 10 boatloads of soybeans," according to Reuters, as the U.S.-China trade war showed signs of compromise.  The South China Morning Post reports: Beijing will allow Chinese businesses to purchase a "certain amount of farm products such as soybeans and pork" from the United States, according to the Xinhua report. "China's market is big enough and there's great potential to import high-quality US farm products." The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce made...

Beijing announced the exemption plan in May and invited interested parties to apply to have certain products added to the list. A second round of applications started last week. The commission said it “will continue to conduct the work of tariff exemption on US goods and will announce follow-up waiver lists at appropriate times”. The statement came as top trade negotiators from China and the United States prepare to meet in Washington next month in their latest attempt to resolve their trade war. Working level preparations for the meeting are currently under way. China is expected to agree to buy...

China just waived import tariffs on more than a dozen US goods. It's the first time Beijing has issued such exemptions since the US-China trade war began. The Chinese government issued tariff exemptions on 16 products, including shrimp, fish meal and cancer treatment drugs. Chinese importers can apply for a refund of tariffs already levied on 12 of the products. Four products, including whey, are eligible for the exemption but not for refunds. The exemptions will start September 17 and last for a year.

No excerpt from Bloomberg

Christian leaders are hailing the Trump administration's decision to remove Bibles and other religious books from its lists of Chinese goods facing a 10 percent hike in tariffs. The office of U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer said Tuesday that the 10 percent tariff hike on Chinese goods starting Sept. 1 won’t affect Bibles, according to multiple reports. On Tuesday, the USTR released two lists of items that will be subject to tariffs starting Sept. 1 and items in which tariffs will be applied on Dec. 15. * * * Christian publishers are also welcoming the development because of how...

LAREDO, Texas — The edges of this small border city bustle with activity as construction vehicles clear flat expanses of land for massive warehouses, and semi-trucks moving American and Mexican goods appear to cover every inch of roadway. To James Gonzalez, 33, the sterile, boxy buildings and traffic congestion only a few miles from the five bridges that connect the U.S. to Mexico represent financial success and future business opportunities. The city's fortunes, based entirely on trade between the two countries, is forever tied to the United States’ kinship with or animus for its southern neighbor. The closeness of that...

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Monday that his country would reject a proposed solution to the immigration and tariff stand-off with the U.S. that would involve it keeping Central American asylum seekers. The proposal, which has not been formally made by the U.S., would involve Mexico being designated a "safe third country" for the immigrants, meaning that refugees passing through Mexico to the U.S. would first have to claim asylum in Mexico. The U.S. has a similar agreement with Canada. "An agreement about a safe third country would not be acceptable for Mexico,” Ebrard told reporters shortly before a...

Following president Donald Trump's threats to hit Mexico with tariff hikes if the country fails to stem the flood of illegal immigrants, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded by saying they could be "prepared to reach out the deal." White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney reaffirmed that Trump is "deadly serious" about levying a 5% tariff on Mexican goods if the Mexican government if they don't step up enforcement on the southern side of the border,

Mexico's top diplomats are knocking on doors in Washington this week, looking for a compromise to avoid the 5 percent tariffs that President Trump has vowed to impose on their exports beginning next week. Trump said he would impose the tariffs and that they would escalate over time unless Mexico took unspecified steps to curb the immigration crisis at the border. Mexico Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told reporters in Washington on Monday that the tariffs would be counterproductive in combatting mass migration from Central America, and that the economic fallout could further weaken Mexico's ability to control migration in the...

President Trump has announced that the United States will impose new tariffs of 5 percent on all Mexican imports starting this month. The White House said the tariffs will gradually increase to 25 percent by October if Mexico does not take action to “reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens” crossing into the United States. Put simply, these tariffs are bad for the country, bad for the markets, and bad for Trump. The impact of these tariffs will be felt nationally and will have painful consequences for the economies of more than two dozen states, ranging from California to...

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador dispatched his foreign relations secretary to Washington on Friday, as the country scrambles to negotiate a solution with the United States following President Trump’s surprise move this week to slap tariffs on Mexico in the hopes it would remedy the illegal immigration surge at the U.S.-Mexico border.