Free Republic

Free Trade: Europe just walked off with the second-biggest trade deal in history with South Korea, bringing a fresh $26 billion to both economies and extending their clout globally. It's a prize that could have been ours. Welcome to the new America, the land of the left behind. As the Obama administration dithers for the eighth straight month about three pending free-trade treaties, those dust clouds you see are Europe taking off and running with the big one — South Korea. Late Thursday, Europe completed a free-trade pact with Korea in which 99% of all tariffs will be scrapped within...

In 2002, President George W. Bush helped make us poorer by signing off on higher steel tariffs. In 2009, President Barack Obama helped make us poorer by signing off on higher tire tariffs. Is this supposed to be change we can believe in? Economic analysis shows that trade creates wealth. The law of comparative advantage demonstrates that when we specialize and trade, we produce more wealth using the same resources. Preventing trade means that we use more resources to produce less wealth.

The orthodox free-trade view of most pundits holds that if Mr Obama accepts the recommendation he will fail the free-trade test. In fact, the truth is just the opposite. Not to accept the tariff recommendation would be a severe blow to open trade and globalisation as well as to America’s future economic health.

When it comes to free markets, Obama's message is mixed. The G-20 summit is a chance to provide some clarity. President Obama is in favor of free trade. Except when he isn't. Free trade creates jobs and lowers prices, as he freely acknowledges. But he also insists that American workers must be shielded from foreign labor practices that threaten job security. During the presidential campaign, Obama indicated that he was open to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, even as an advisor quietly reassured Canadian officials that he wouldn't tamper with free trade on the North American continent. Nine...

Two weeks ago, both the administration and the Fed announced with straight faces that the recession was over and the signs of economic recovery were clear. Then last week, the president made a stunning decision that signals the administration’s determination to repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression. Much like the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs that set off a global trade war and effectively doomed us to ten more years of economic misery, Obama’s decision to enact steep tariffs on Chinese imported tires could spark a trade war with the single most important trading partner we have. Not only does China manufacture...

It is no secret that the President of the United States is a supporter of Big Labor. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics only 12.4% of American Workers belong to a union. Yet wherever he gets the opportunity, the President Gives unfair favorable treatment to the 12.4% at the expense of the 87.6%. Like his bailout of the UAW, I mean GM and Chrysler. Remember the Chrysler "hedge fund investors" that President Obama berated on national TV? Among these people labeled as "no goodniks" by the President were organizations such as the the Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund, and...

It is safe to say that certain elements of the MSM are starting to see that our emperor has no clothes. Whenever a story like this comes out, one wonders whether Obama is just naive and inexperienced or a bald-faced liar. Which one do you think the Post chooses?

This was announced by the Obama administration last evening. President Barack Obama on Friday slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China in a decision that could anger the strategically important Asian powerhouse but placate union supporters important to his health care push at home. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of...

President Obama just finished a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderone in Mexico City following three way talks. Here are some highlights. Both President Obama and PM Harper renewed their support for the Mexican government in their war with the drug cartels. President Obama called the policy "courageous". He said that there were ways to defeat the cartels while respecting human rights but also emphasized that the biggest violators of human rights are the traffickers themselves. PM Harper commented that his country needed to tighten up their visa policies because entrance into...

It’s bad enough that the Obama administration wants to penalize all Americans for their energy use through the cap-and-tax scheme that will hobble our economy and hike electricity and gas costs, but until now they only proposed to penalize us for our own energy use. With China refusing to join the West in economic suicide, who will pay for their emissions ? Commerce Secretary says that the American consumer is to blame for China’s energy-production emissions — and we’ll pay for that instead of the Chinese :

- In a bid to revive support for free trade within the U.S., the Obama administration plans to press foreign nations to increase imports of U.S. agriculture and manufacturing -- but not to push so hard as to ignite a protectionist backlash. "In order to save trade, we've got to deal more honestly with those who feel like [trade's] benefits haven't been manifested for them," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in an interview Tuesday. "We've got to be serious about enforcement." White House economic-policy makers argue they need to jump-start trade to fight the global recession, but they acknowledge...

Microsoft Windows has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the global computer operating systems market for the last 30 years. But one Korean company has dared to challenge the software giant. TmaxSoft launched Tmax Window in an attempt to create viable competition in the OS market. More than 300 researchers have developed the system over almost five years. The company claims that Tmax Window has a high rate of compatibility with Microsoft software titles and the chairman of the company says the system is more stable and suitable for many users. Microsoft has been criticized for unfairly stifling competition by packaging...

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday said President Obama is “very interested in moving ahead” with a controversial trade agreement with the South American nation. Uribe described a Monday afternoon meeting with Obama as constructive, and said the trade deal was vital to bringing prosperity to his country. “We need the free trade agreement as a sign to investors from all over the world to be much more confident in Colombia,” Uribe said in comments at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Uribe met with Obama on Monday at the White House. They discussed the trade deal, as well as the weekend...

The great thing about the excess buildout of fiber optic cable back during the tech boom is that it didn't degrade, and a few years later we had it all there to use when online video and broadband got big. Conversely, the tragedy of the housing boom is that the houses we built were total crap, and in five years, when the population is bigger, and more people are looking for homes, all those extra houses that we built will be deteriorating and weed infested. And many of them will have used toxic Chinese drywall. It's a big public concern...

Americas: What does Venezuela's Hugo Chavez call a nation that develops peacefully, embraces markets, promotes property rights, pursues free trade and has no use for his revolution? A target. Welcome to Peru.Last Friday and Saturday, a police confrontation at a roadblock near the northern Peruvian town of Bagua ended in violence, with some 30 dead. A major highway had been blocked off for 55 days by some 5,000 indigenous protesters in a tactic identical to that used by radicalized indigenous protesters in Bolivia in recent years. Roadblocks are basically used to starve inland cities into submission by halting shipments of...

DAYTON, Ohio - A Florida man is sending a batch of new baseballs. A car filled with gloves, bats and catcher's gear arrived courtesy of a Columbus man. And an Illinois woman who lived through the Great Depression and has a soft spot for baseball is writing a check.

Most people agree that, when it comes to economic recovery, more economic activity is better than less. When companies buy and sell more goods and services, we get more jobs and growth. Yet, for some reason, this obvious fact eludes those who want to constrain America's access to overseas markets. At a time when government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars it doesn't have on doubtful "stimulus" initiatives, you've got to wonder why some politicians continue to argue against free trade agreements. After all, these pacts have a proven track record. Trade has created millions of jobs and is...

Yesterday I happened upon a post by a fellow FReeper. In retrospect, I am sorry for responding rudely to their post - and I hope they happen upon this apology. The post was presenting their heartfelt opinion that American industry and our system itself must be allowed to come apart so that something better can replace it. It was a Rand-ian position. The system is becoming oppressive, therefore we must weaken it.

CALEXICO, Calif. — A food distribution company in Calexico is recalling candy imported from Mexico because it contains high levels of lead. King Midas Inc. said Friday it is warning stores to stop selling Hola Pop, a caramel lollipop with a salted apricot in the center. The candy also comes in other fruit flavors.

A four-year-old boy may hold the key to a swine flu outbreak that is threatening to become a global pandemic. Edgar Hernandez Hernandez, from La Gloria in the east Mexican state of Veracruz was diagnosed with swine flu ealier this month. The village is close to a giant industrial pig farm that locals claim is ground zero for the outbreak. The youngster's case came as more than 450 members of the community claimed they were suffering respiratory problems and symptoms similar to swine flu. They claim they are ill from contamination spread by pig waste at nearby breeding farms partly...

After taking hits on product safety for everything from tainted toys to tainted milk, China wasted no time banning U.S. pork imports in the wake of the swine flu outbreak. China and a string of other countries have moved to ban pork and other meat products from some U.S. states over the past week. The trend on Tuesday drew a rebuke from U.S. officials, who are warning trading partners that such embargoes could trigger "serious trading disruptions." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations insist that the strain cannot be spread by food and that properly...

Congressional Quarterly has a short piece on team Obama's sudden revisiting of three free trade agreements that have been languishing in Congress for quite some time, all three efforts that the Bush Administration began but was unable to settle. One is a trade agreement with South Korea, the second is a Panama trade agreement and the third the Columbia Free Trade pact. It is the later that I find the most interesting and the most hopeful. I find it interesting because the Democrats have been adamantly against this agreement with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for several years now. The Democrats...

Trade: Hugo Chavez may have gotten a grinning handshake from President Obama in Trinidad. But it was our authentic friend and ally, Colombia, that got substance. The president got one right.There was quite a media din over the president's greeting of Venezuela's strongman at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain over the weekend. Sure, it was a first. But along with bones he threw to Cuba, it crowded out weightier news. Obama may have shaken hands, accepted an idiotic book and politely listened to diatribes from regional troublemakers. But for our ally Colombia, he wasn't just gesturing....

Leadership: Amid all the boilerplate about dialogue and partnership at Trinidad's Summit of the Americas, the Obama administration has shown no real leadership on its goals. If they matter, why is it left to Canada to lead?Thus far, the Obama administration seems more interested in continuing its global apology tour, Latin edition, during this weekend's Fifth Summit of the Americas than he is in leading. His accusations against America are stronger than his promotion of the institutions and treaties that bring authentic democracy and prosperity to our hemisphere. "Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with...

Trade Versus Security by: Alanna Hultz, April 08, 2009 Measures to ensure national security and consumer safety by regulating imports often come at the cost of reduced trade. David Hummels of Purdue University said at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently that “economists believe free trade is welfare maximizing and mutually beneficial for both sides.” He also said that free trade could produce economic gains and national security losses. He then went on to describe food security and discussed problems with the supply chain within China. China has had contaminated baby food, toys and pet food and Hummels believes the...

Vietnam wants to increase multifaceted cooperation with the US for peace, stability and development in the region and the rest of the world, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung while receiving Senator John McCain in Hanoi on April 7. Mr Dung told his guest that the Vietnam-US relationship has developed well on the basis of positive friendship, mutual respect and multifaceted cooperation. He noted with satisfaction the effective investment and trade ties between the two countries, saying bilateral trade reached US$15 billion in 2008 and the US was one of Vietnam’s top 10 foreign investors. He proposed that the US...

Sixty-six percent of Americans now think that, on balance, trade with other countries is good for the U.S. economy, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll. That's up eight points from a poll in March of 2008. In the poll, twenty-three percent say that trade is bad for the economy, and four percent say it has no effect. The poll also finds that fewer Americans now think that trade restrictions are necessary to protect domestic industries, though 60 percent still think they are. Sixty-eight percent said the same thing in the poll last year. Meanwhile, twenty-eight percent...

Want ads from AIG, government contractor, and minority-owned owned companies specifically targeting current H-1B work visa holders or foreign citizens eligible for the H-1B program dispel the myth that US companies recruit locally before going abroad for their top-dollar, white collar job openings. These want ads are but the tip of the iceberg that will emerge when the Dept of Labor grants permits to U.S. companies to hire foreign workers filling upwards of 85,000 job openings in Fiscal Year 2010 under the H-1B visa program. These corporations have given other citizens the first crack at these job openings; Congress should...

The Doha Dance by: Daniel Allen, March 30, 2009 Because of the increasingly global nature of trade, when the current financial crisis struck it was felt across the world. Domestic and international trade have suffered as a result, because economies have shrunk and currency has rapidly lost value. Part of current recovery efforts includes a reexamination of international trade barriers. The Doha Development Round, a series of negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is seen by many as the key to lowering trade barriers and increasing the flow of goods between cooperating nations. The negotiations began in 2001, and...

Talk about shades of Smoot-Hawley, the 1930 tariff act that was designed to protect American jobs but, not too surprisingly, crippled industries relying on international trade when other nations retaliated. Production kept on plunging and unemployment kept on rising, extending the Depression. In today's extremely global economy, we shudder to think how much worse the consequences today might be. The Mexican trade war may just be getting revved up, thanks to the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress ending a Bush administration pilot program that allowed a limit of 97 Mexican long-haul truck drivers into the United States (whereas, under...

While free trade yields a net positive to every nation that participates in it to any degree, tough economic times call for even more robust worldwide trade. With a failing economy it becomes all the more important for a country to maximize the use of its own resources and minimize the cost of the resources it brings in. But, following the shining example of the Great Depression, things are once again going the other way - according to a New York Times article. After repeated pledges by world leaders to avoid erecting trade barriers, protectionism is on the march, provoking...

BEIJING (Reuters) – Premier Wen Jiabao held out the prospect of extra stimulus spending if needed to hit China's 8 percent growth goal this year and called on Washington to ease worries Beijing has about the safety of its vast U.S. assets. In his annual news conference ending the nine-day session of China's ceremonial parliament, Wen on Friday reaffirmed China's commitment to keeping the yuan broadly steady and noted that the currency, far from having depreciated, had been rising in value. Wen, who fielded questions for well over two hours, said the 8 percent growth target was a measure of...

President Barack Obama firmly resists ideological labels, but at the end of a private meeting with a group of moderate Democrats Tuesday afternoon he offered a statement of solidarity. “I am a New Democrat,” he told the New Democrat Coalition, according to two sources at the White House session. The group is comprised of centrist Democratic members of the House, who support free trade and a muscular foreign policy but are more moderate than the conservative Blue Dog coalition. Obama made his comment in discussing his budget priorities and broader goals, also calling himself a “pro-growth Democrat” during the course...

This poster recognizes there are a lot of very well-intentioned, principled conservatives who believe to the very core of their being, that "free trade" is by definition, a good thing. If trade were in fact free - that would arguably be the case.

Rising violence in Mexico is forcing foreign companies to change their operating procedures and shipping routes, and to tighten security for their employees, businessmen said Tuesday. U.S. security consultant John Baird said his family was robbed in late 2008 for the first time in the six years he has lived in Mexico. "2009 is going to be very difficult" because of rising violence and unemployment here, he added. He said there have been problems both with drugs stowed in freight shipments and with the army checkpoints posted to detect the drugs. One popular highway shipping route to the U.S. border...

READING, Pa.A flag is flying at half-staff outside The Hershey Co. plant in Reading where production of York Peppermint Patties is ending. After 23 years in Reading, the chocolate maker is closing the plant Friday and moving production to a new factory it has built in Monterey, Mexico. It will mean the loss of 300 jobs in the southeastern Pennsylvania city. The plant also makes 5th Avenue and Zagnut candy bars and Jolly Rancher hard candies. The nation's largest candy manufacturer said two years ago the plant would close as part of a wider move by Hershey to eliminate 1,500...

Burgeoning bourgeoisieFeb 12th 2009 From The Economist print edition Financial Times For the first time in history more than half the world is middle-class—thanks to rapid growth in emerging countries. John Parker (interviewed here) reports THE crowd surges back and forth, hands above heads, mobile-phone cameras snapping one of Brazil’s best-known samba bands. It could be almost anywhere in Latin America’s largest city on a Saturday night. But this is Paraisopolis, one of São Paulo’s notorious crime-infested favelas (slums). Casas Bahia, the country’s largest retailer, is celebrating the opening there of its first ever store in a favela (pictured...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 "The Worst is Yet to Come"-America undergoing a Permanent CHANGE! Posted Feb 17, 2009 12:53pm EST by Aaron Task in Investing, Recession There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment. But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better as a result of: An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values. A $10 trillion negative wealth...

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- Semiconductor maker Intel Corp. said Tuesday that it plans to spend $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the U.S., a major capital investment at a time of uncertainty in the chip industry. Intel shares rose briefly Tuesday on the announcement, but were down 3.5% at last check. The announcement comes just a few weeks after Intel announced that it was closing five facilities worldwide, and mounting concerns of declining demand in the industry. The move could also be good news for makers of chip manufacturing tools, which have...

Trade: The new administration watered down a protectionist "Buy American" provision in the Senate stimulus bill and hoped all sides would go away happy. But they won't, as the European Union envoy to the U.S. explains.As if the $900 billion stimulus package wasn't controversial enough, provisions requiring purchase of U.S.-made iron and steel for government contracts that were slipped into the House version, and of all manufactured goods in the Senate's, have annoyed more people than expected — across the world. Last week, leaders from Canada, Brazil, China, the U.K., India, Mexico, Germany and the Czech Republic, among others, spoke...

There's a sinister backwash to all this "free trade" discussion. Having lost the out-sourcing argument based upon sound macroeconomic principles, unions now point to their labor brethren as victims of coordinated assassination plots by multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola.

As President-elect Barack Obama assembles his team of economic advisors it has become readily apparent that he has abandoned his campaign promise of a more fair trade policy after several key positions have been filled by “free traders” with a global economic outlook. Timothy Geithner, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been tapped by Obama to head up the Treasury Department. If confirmed, Geithner will be charged with shaping finance and monetary policy along with being the president’s principal economic advisor. Geithner has a wealth of experience, working for 13 years at the Treasury Department...

President-elect Barack Obama is rightly focused on preparing a stimulus plan to "jolt" the American economy toward recovery. Yet missing thus far is any mention of international trade as part of his plan. Democratic presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton -- have long been advocates for trade. What about Mr. Obama? The last time we Democrats elected a president, trade was a clear part of our plan. We knew President Clinton's strategy. He promised to conclude the Uruguay Round of global trade negotiations, complete the North American Free Trade Agreement, and to get tough on unfair foreign trade...

Economist Robert Higgs writes that a number of economists who have called themselves “free market” endorsed one statist scheme after another that lead the U.S. economy into the tank. Although he won’t mention names, nonetheless, they are legion, including one of Ronald Reagan’s chief economic advisors who now believes falling home prices have caused the recession.

(...) By traditional free-trade theory, a nation should import what it does not produce from the nations that produce it most cheaply. But in 1946, Japan produced almost no steel, no TVs and no cars. Instead of buying them from America, Tokyo subsidized its own steel, TV and auto industries for decades, and protected their market. Now, as Sony did to Philco and Dumont, Toyota, Honda and Nissan are taking down Ford, GM and Chrysler. Were the Japanese foolish to subsidize their industries and protect their market? Were we wise to let our TV industry be taken down, and watch...

SEOUL, South Korea – Brawling South Korean lawmakers tried to sledgehammer their way into a parliamentary meeting room barricaded by the ruling party as the National Assembly descended into chaos Thursday over a free trade agreement with the United States. Opposition parties were incensed by the ruling Grand National Party's move to submit the agreement to a committee on trade, setting in motion the process for the accord to win approval in the legislature.

"Made in China" label battered by product scandals By Ben Blanchard Mon Dec 8, 8:18 am ET BEIJING (Reuters) – Milk, toothpaste, cough syrup, pet food, eels, blood thinner, car parts, pork, eggs, honey, chicken, dumplings, cooking oil and rice -- if you can fake it or taint it, you can almost guarantee it's happened in China. A string of product safety scandals, including contaminated infant formula that is believed to have killed six babies and sickened thousands of others, have rocked the faith of shoppers, making them wary of buying products made in China despite the often cheaper price...

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...

Holy See Warns of Financial Crisis Worsening Says Human Person Needs to Be at Center of Solution NEW YORK, NOV. 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The worldwide financial crisis will become a catastrophe if the dignity of the human person is not protected, the Holy See is cautioning.This is the warning sounded by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, a day before the Doha conference on progress in international cooperation in development.The conference begins Saturday and runs through Dec. 2. "For some time now, we've found ourselves in the middle of a financial crisis that...

There's a growing anti-trade sentiment in our country. Much of the dialogue is grossly misinformed. Let's try to untangle it a bit with a few questions and observations. First, does the U.S. trade with Japan and England? Put another way, is it members of the U.S. Congress trading with their counterparts in the Japanese Diet or the English Parliament? An affirmative answer is pure nonsense. When I purchased my Lexus, I had nothing to do with either the Japanese Diet or the U.S. Congress. Through an intermediary, a Lexus dealer, I dealt with Toyota Motor Corporation. While it might be...