Free Republic

President Barack Obama used Washington’s grandest stage—the State of the Union speech—to announce negotiations with Europe aimed at creating the world’s largest free trade agreement. Just weeks later, there are signs that old agriculture disputes could be deal-killers. European Union leaders don’t want the negotiations to include discussions on their restrictions on genetically modified crops and other regulations that keep U.S. farm products out of Europe. But Obama says it’s hard to imagine an agreement that doesn’t address those issues. Powerful U.S. agricultural lobbies will do their best to make sure Congress rejects any pact that fails to address the...

Commerce: In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced talks with Europe for the most ambitious trade partnership ever attempted. So how come it doesn't include the words "free trade"? bfgs'Tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union — because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs," President Obama said in his State of the Union address. It's hard to think of any greater tonic for two stricken economies than free trade with one other. The U.S....

The re-election of Barack Obama hasn't done anything to make more jobs available to Americans, and there is no indication that it will. America now has 23 million people who want a full-time job but can't find one. Obama doesn't think American citizens or businessmen create jobs. His Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt, recently said on a television interview referring to China, where he has outsourced General Electric's light bulb plants, "state-run Communism may not be your cup of tea, but their government works." In his first presidential debate last year, Obama claimed that passage of free trade agreements with...

NEW DELHI—India has proposed sweeping curbs on the import of technology products ranging from laptops to Wi-Fi devices to computer-network equipment. The proposed regulations, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, would create an expansive "Buy India" mandate requiring a large percentage of the high-tech goods sold in the country to be manufactured locally. If implemented, the rules could wreak havoc on the business plans of a wide range of U.S. and other foreign firms, including hardware-makers Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO and Dell DELL Inc.; services companies such as International Business Machines IBM Corp.; and telecom-gear suppliers such as...

The shutdown of the Genk plant announced by the American manufacturer has sent shock waves through Belgium. But in Valencia, Spain, where the production is moving to, Ford is looking forward to the competitive advantage the region offers. Ford employees blocking the entrance to the US car manufacturer’s Genk plant, October 24, 2012 The October 24 announcement that Ford’s plant in Genk will down tools in 2014 has provoked a wave of anger in the Flemish press. More than 10,000 jobs in the plant itself and in its sub-contractors will disappear. In Gazet van Antwerpen, columnist Paul Geudens rails against...

Jobs. That is the issue in the election – at least that is the issue Obama and Romney are focused on – who will create more jobs for a country in desperate need of them. During his convention speech, President Obama mentioned jobs 19 times, Romney did so 16 times. Obama promised a future where the U.S. will "outsource fewer jobs." Of course, Romney is known as someone who made hundreds of millions by outsourcing jobs. Former President Clinton put forth a job scorecard, arguing Obama and the Democrats will create more jobs. Neither candidate is arguing for a New...

Major electronics firms Panasonic and Canon have temporarily suspended production at factories in China after a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea triggered violent anti-Japanese protests. Sites linked to auto manufacturers Toyota and Honda have also been attacked in the unrest, which has forced frightened expatriates into hiding and sent relations between Asia's two biggest economies into crisis. Ratcheting up tensions further on Monday, Chinese state media warned Japan it could suffer another "lost decade" if trade ties soured. Japan counted China as its top trade partner last year, with total two-way trade...

The EU is today to confirm moves to strengthen economic ties with Israel, facing off criticism that trade conditions should be frozen due to the diplomatic impasse over Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. … The EU is Israel’s main trading partner with total trade worth €29.5 billion ($35.6 billion) in 2011. The 27-member bloc agreed to its first bilateral trade deal with Israel in 2000. However, plans for a comprehensive EU-Israel free trade agreement were frozen by the EU in January 2009 following Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip. The EU said that progress on trade talks was dependent...

China now boasts 73 of the biggest global companies – stealing the number two spot on the Fortune 500 list from Japan. China has landed 73 companies on the list, Japan has 68 and the U.S. has 132. Although the U.S. has a clear margin, China added 12 companies to the list since last year while the amount of U.S. companies has dropped by 14. In the last decade, the amount of U.S. companies on the list has fallen from 197 to 132. Conversely, China only had 11 companies on the list in 2002 compared to today’s 73. …

The European Union and the United States are giving serious thought to starting talks on a free trade agreement covering all business sectors, including agriculture, a traditional source of friction between the two sides, a top US trade official said. "A comprehensive agreement is obviously an important option to consider. It's one that we're taking a very close look at," Deputy US Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro told Reuters. The United States and the 27 countries of the European Union already have the largest economic relationship in the world. Two-way trade was about €490 billion in 2011 and investment by US...

As pressure on the eurozone eases, Europe and the United States are becoming increasingly convinced that they need to strengthen their partnership in order to maintain a leading competitive edge in the global economy. “The old boys need to say clearly that they are still in business,” said EU Ambassador to Washington João Vale de Almeida, speaking at an event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham EU). The state of the transatlantic economy has suffered the blow of the euro crisis but remains the largest and wealthiest in the world, with over 50% of world...

Protectionism, and economic nationalism more generally, are usually held up by the supposed sophisticates today as dumb ideas. Sometimes, of course, they are. Bone-headed protectionism belongs in the junkyard of history with all the other ideologies rusting there. Nothing in this booklet is intended to defend it. But it can also be a smart, productive, pro-growth policy—and very much in the American and conservative traditions—when implemented correctly. The fundamental message of this booklet is that nations, including the U.S., should seek strategic, not unconditional integration with the rest of the world economy. Economic openness, like most things in life, is...

This Article Explains Why Apple Makes iPhones In China And Why The U.S. Is Screwed Henry Blodget | Jan. 22, 2012, 5:30 AM | 3,191 | The manufacturing processes of Apple and other electronics companies have come into sharp focus of late, with the revelation of more details about what life is like for the Chinese workers who make the world's gadgets. When one reads about these working conditions--12-16 hour shifts, pay of ~$1 per hour or less, dormitories with 15 beds in 12x12 rooms--the obvious assumption is that it's all about money: Greedy manufacturers want to make bigger profits,...

Fifty people have been accused of conspiring to sell the identities of hundreds of Puerto Ricans to illegal immigrants on the U.S. mainland in the largest single fraud case ever for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said Wednesday. Hundreds of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver's licenses were sold for up to $2,500 a set as part of a black market ring based in Puerto Rico that operated from since at least April 2009, according to ICE Director John Morton. (SNIP) About 80 percent of the documents involved were sold by Puerto Ricans whose names were on them,...

China REQUIRES all foreign investors to give up their technology to them for the "right" to build goods there. Obama-seized GM can deny it till the cows come home, but it's still a lie. Dismantling America, chunk by chunk, piece by piece. Anybody see the tyrant-in-chief's body language, facial expressions and hand gestures, not to mention his words, at his Ohio press conference today? He simply can't hide his hatred for America. The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America -- read it. GM deal moves electric car development to China -- a 'shakedown'? USA Today (hat tip Van)...

Praying for their full recovery.

Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering SoresJanuary 1, 2012 Once upon a time, the people of the United States constructed beautiful, shiny cities from coast to coast that were the envy of the entire globe. We had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen and life was quite good in America. But now all of our prosperity is coming crashing down and many of our formerly great cities are turning into open, festering sores. Unfortunately, we are drowning in so much debt that we can barely even slow down...

Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda." During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called his Tea Party-backed Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, "a foreign worker's best friend." In a recent news conference, President Obama gave his support to the anti-China campaign, declaring that China "has been very aggressive in gaming the trading system to its advantage," adding that "we can and should take action against countries that are keeping...

Communist China is this month celebrating its tenth anniversary of joining the World Trade Organization. The subtitle ought to be China's tenth anniversary of cheating the United States. The globalists talked us into supporting this cozy trade relationship with China by getting U.S. manufacturers and farmers to salivate at the prospect of gaining access to the world's biggest market. China, on the other hand, joined the WTO to implement its plan to grow into an economic superpower the same way the United States became powerful in our pre-New Deal century, i.e., by protecting local industries and financing our government with...

Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda." During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called his tea party-backed Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, "a foreign worker's best friend." In a recent news conference, President Barack Obama gave his support to the anti-China campaign, declaring that China "has been very aggressive in gaming the trading system to its advantage," adding that "we can and should take action against countries that are...