Free Republic

United States Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark made a veiled attack against former President Donald Trump’s economic nationalist agenda, declaring that tariffs and reshoring America’s manufacturing base threaten the global economy.During Clark’s annual speech to big business late last week, the Chamber executive said Americans must embrace globalization and free trade rather than seek to reshore American jobs that have been lost to China and other foreign countries over the last three decades.Alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China since 2001 has eliminated nearly four million American jobs. Almost three million of these lost jobs, or about 75 percent,...

The George W. Bush Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, and the billionaire Koch brothers’ network of donor class organizations are banding together with other mass migration groups to demand President Joe Biden expand overall immigration to the United States. The groups, along with others, have teamed up to create the Alliance for a New Immigration Consensus that will lobby Biden and members of Congress to pass amnesty for illegal aliens, increase security at the southern border, and increase the ability of businesses to import foreign workers. AD “Employers are also struggling to find workers to fill jobs in many industries,”...

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told Breitbart News that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has no place in the modern Republican Party and that the big business lobby is not going to be welcome back if and when Republicans are back in power. McCarthy’s comments came during the latest On The Hill long-form video special, taped in December at an Eastern Market establishment on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. “The Chamber left the party a long time ago,” McCarthy said. “In the last election, the Chamber supported Democrats. The Chamber gave a higher score to Democrats who are voting for...

The United States Chamber of Commerce is cheering the newly confirmed head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has the backing of China. Okonjo-Iweala, who was opposed by the Trump administration for the top WTO spot, was supported by the Biden administration and received praise on Monday from China’s Commerce Ministry, which said they have “full confidence” in her appointment. Former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer previously suggested that the Trump administration did not support Okonjo-Iweala because of her lack of experience with trade issues — the core function of the WTO.

More than 150 business and nonprofit groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are asking President Trump to withdraw his executive order that puts a limit on some diversity training. In a letter sent to the White House Thursday, the groups said that the order creates confusion, leads to unnecessary investigations and hinders employers from combating workplace discrimination. The group said the order “is already having a broadly chilling effect on legitimate” diversity training and its ambiguity could lead to unwarranted complaints and investigations. The executive order, issued on Sept. 22, prohibits federal agencies, companies with federal contracts and recipients...

Minority-owned small businesses have been hit disproportionately hard due to the pandemic and corresponding economic crisis, according to a new special report released today by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife. Minority-owned business owners are more likely than non-minority owners to report difficulty obtaining loans, express fears about permanently closing, and predict declining revenues in the coming year. The poll finds that two in three (66%) minority small businesses are concerned about having to permanently close their business versus 57% for non-minority small businesses. However, the gap has narrowed significantly from May, when 52% of non-minority-owned businesses said they...

There are three negative supply shocks that could trigger a global recession by 2020. All of them reflect political factors affecting international relations, two involve China, and the United States is at the center of each. Moreover, none of them is amenable to the traditional tools of countercyclical macroeconomic policy. The first potential shock stems from the Sino-American trade and currency war, which escalated earlier this month when President Donald Trump’s administration threatened additional tariffs on Chinese exports, and formally labeled China a currency manipulator. The second concerns the slow-brewing cold war between the U.S. and China over technology. In...

A small group of conservative leaders had gathered in the Trump International Hotel last week for a friendly discussion about the year that was ending and their priorities for the year to come, when Stephen K. Bannon spoke up. “I’m not going to name names,” he snapped, looking around the room as he complained about being left virtually alone to defend Roy S. Moore, accused of sexually molesting and assaulting teenage girls, while the Republican leadership and Democrats bludgeoned the Alabama Senate candidate. “If we want to win,” he added, according to three people who were in the room, “We...

Long-time pro-mass immigration billionaires Charles and David Koch became the latest force to pressure congressional Republicans to nullify the end of DACA with a legislative amnesty Thursday. Koch spokespeople said the brothers will throw their weight behind the growing effort to force a two-house GOP majority that has refused to pass either funding for the southern border wall or the RAISE Act, a key nationalist immigration reform, to quickly pass an amnesty for those who were once exempted from federal immigration law under President Barack Obama’s DACA. The Koch amenability to open borders and amnesty is nothing new. In 2013,...

U.S. companies feel less welcome in China and some are shifting operations to other countries, a business group reported Wednesday, amid rising tension between President-elect Donald Trump and Beijing over trade. The report by the American Chamber of Commerce in China reflects frustration among companies that see China as a key market but face growing efforts to block access to technology and other promising industries. […] Communist leaders have promised to make China’s state-dominated economy more productive by opening more industries to private and foreign competitors. Business groups say such initiatives have had little impact. The American chamber said 81...

Republican lawmakers upset about the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage have advanced measures in about a dozen states this year that could strengthen protections for those who refuse on religious grounds to provide services to same-sex couples. The bills could benefit court clerks, photographers, florists, bakers, wedding-hall operators and others who say gay matrimony goes against their beliefs. For a party already being torn apart by the presidential contest, the state legislative efforts have exposed deep rifts between the GOP’s social conservatives and its pro-business wing. Business leaders worry that such measures will allow discrimination and scare away companies...

Senate GOP leadership is staying away from a proposal to ensure illegal immigrants don’t get tax break payouts from the government, with the party still smarting from a battle over Department of Homeland Security funding. Senior Republicans generally say they support the goals of the bill from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that seeks to keep immigrants protected from deportation by President Obama’s executive actions from claiming several years’ worth of earned income tax credits. But with the most recent immigration fight having just finished, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said he’s still examining the...

Rand Paul told GOP activists Saturday that the GOP can’t nominate another “Chamber of Commerce Republican” and expect to win the presidency in 2016. It’s time, he said, for a “libertarian moment.” “Chamber of Commerce is fine, I was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, but a Chamber of Commerce Republican is not going to win a national election,” Paul (R-Ky.), the libertarian-leaning senator and likely presidential contender, said. “I’m not saying we give up on what we believe in, but we have to expand what we believe in.” His comments came during an address to the Republican Liberty...

Republican Rep. David Valadao says he’s not worried that Congress’ failure to pass immigration legislation will hurt his prospects for re-election to a district in California’s agricultural heartland. Same goes for GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, who represents a neighboring district in the state’s San Joaquin Valley. Still, the California congressmen are making sure voters know they support an immigration overhaul. They’re aware that Democrats will try to turn the congressional gridlock into an advantage during this year’s midterm elections. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $300,000 on television ads in Valadao’s district, noting that he is the son of immigrants....

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching ads this week in North Carolina and Georgia in a crunch-time effort to help establishment-backed Republicans in crowded Senate primaries. It is also pumping money into commercials praising GOP hopefuls in Michigan, Montana and Alaska. The powerful business organization’s ad buy is a clear attempt to tip the balance in Republican contests and help the GOP nominate viable general election candidates. In 2010 and 2012, tea party and far-right conservatives cost the GOP seats in Nevada, Delaware, Colorado, Indiana and Missouri and shots at Senate control, a fate Republicans are determined to avoid...

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce today announced its endorsement of Dave Trott for U.S. House. Trott is seeking election to represent Michigan's 11th Congressional District, which includes portions of Oakland and Wayne counties. "We are pleased to announce the Michigan Chamber endorses Dave Trott for Congress," said Michigan Chamber President & CEO Rich Studley. "Dave possesses the business experience, leadership skills and vision needed to build Michigan and America's economic competitiveness, create jobs and move our country forward."

More than five years after U.S. governors began a bipartisan effort to set new standards in American schools, the Common Core initiative has morphed into a political tempest fueling division among Republicans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce leads establishment voices—such as possible presidential contender Jeb Bush—who hail the standards as a way to improve student performance and, over the long term, competitiveness of American workers. Many archconservatives—tea party heroes Rand Paul and Ted Cruz among them—decry the system as a top-down takeover of local schools. The standards were developed and are being implemented by states, though Common Core opponents argue...

The Chamber of Commerce and 635 big businesses, including Facebook, sent a letter on Tuesday to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urging "legislative action to seize this opportunity to fix our dysfunctional immigration system by enacting meaningful immigration reforms this year." Saying they are encouraged by the House GOP leadership's "immigration principles" that they consider "guideposts," the business organizations wrote that they are "united in the belief that we can and must do better for our economy and country by modernizing our immigration system." They also pressed for amnesty by writing about the need to respect "family unity.""Done properly, reform...