Free Republic

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 700 points today amids Wall Street fears of a potential trade war with China sparked by punishing tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

Britain’s post-Brexit trade deal with the United States could lead to even higher rates of obesity through the import of American foods high in fat and sugar, children’s doctors have warned. US “hostility” towards measures aimed at promoting healthier eating habits, such as traffic light labelling, is also a major threat to the government’s anti-obesity drive, it has been claimed. {snip} Recent research by the Harvard University school of public health pinpointed free trade deals involving the US as a key factor in a process of “nutrition transition” – from a traditional native diet to a much more western one...

MAPLE PARK, Ill. — Snow and sleet were falling on Eldon Gould’s 500 acres this week, but he was already looking ahead to planting season; depending on ground conditions and the temperature, that could be just several weeks away. But now the prospect of steel and aluminum tariffs was adding to the list of worries and uncertainties that come with every corn and soybean season. “It’s the retaliation risk,” Mr. Gould said from his kitchen table in Maple Park, in a region of northern Illinois where farmland runs on for miles. “The world’s already awash in grain,” Mr. Gould said,...

President Enrique Peña Nieto told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday he wants a significant increase in trade with the European Union, vowing to complete a new trade deal by year’s end. Peña Nieto’s Mexican government has been actively seeking new trade opportunities since US President Donald Trump came to office with a threat to curb Mexico’s privileged access to American markets. Mexico is currently in negotiations with the European Union to modernize a free trade agreement they signed 20 years ago. Both Merkel and Peña Nieto vowed on Friday to conclude the expanded deal by the end of the...

The European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on steel products from China to stop them flooding Europe’s struggling steel market. […] The Chinese exports will now be taxed with duties ranging from 18.1 percent to 35.9 percent. …

Brussels last night made an extraordinary threat to disrupt flights to Europe and hold British goods at the border if the UK refuses to pay a £50 billion Brexit divorce bill. The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK would pay a heavy price if it tried to walk away from the EU without paying for its “responsibilities”. In a mocking speech, he quoted Winston Churchill, saying: “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Government lawyers have told Theresa May that the UK has no duty to pay a penny towards the EU’s ongoing costs after leaving. A report by...

MOSCOW/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Russian state-controlled oil producer Gazprom Neft said it had received positive responses from Asian clients about the possibility of using euros as a settlement currency instead of the dollar. Company head Alexander Dyukov said this week Gazprom Neft had broached the idea of dropping the dollar, traditionally the currency of choice for the global energy sector, in response to a possible new round of Western sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea. He said the company had discussed with buyers the possibility of switching contracts to euros and that 95 percent had said they were ready to do...

Katelyn Fossett / Foreign PolicyYou may not have heard of Gennady Onishchenko, but if his own accounts are to be believed, he’s the Russian government official who single-handedly averts major public health crises posed by foreign countries’ dangerously lax and unsophisticated food safety standards (including those in a certain country where the federal government has ground to a halt). To others, Onishchenko, Russia’s chief sanitary inspector, is also Russia’s chief manufacturer of elaborate food safety scares to wage geopolitically motivated trade wars with other countries, particularly former Soviet republics. On Wednesday, Onishchenko, the director of Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer-protection agency, announced...

Russia has halted imports of Lithuanian dairy produce amid tensions over EU plans to forge closer ties with ex-Soviet republics. Russia's consumer watchdog said the levels of yeast and mould in Lithuanian dairy produce were unacceptable. Lithuania is already involved in a bitter dispute with Russia over the cost of Russian gas, which Moscow's former Soviet bloc allies rely on. Lithuania is leading EU efforts to sign new trade deals with those countries. Russia's consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has previously imposed various bans on food and drink imported from former Soviet neighbours, for example on wine from Georgia and Moldova, citing...

There were 33,000 more “discouraged workers” in April, according to the latest economic release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. … In April, there were 835,000 discouraged workers, up from 803,000 discouraged workers in March. …

The UK would be better off staying in the EU, the country's foremost euroskeptic think tank says, amid a growing debate among Conservatives on the merits of a British exit from the European Union. "From purely a trade perspective, EU membership remains the best option for the UK," Open Europe argues in a report published Monday (11 June). "All the alternatives come with major drawbacks and would all … require negotiation with and the agreement of the other member states, which would come with unpredictable political and economic risks," it continues. The report examines the idea—gaining traction among some euroskeptic...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Mexico on Monday said it would place tariffs on nearly 90 US products after Washington canceled a program that allowed some trucks from Mexico to operate in the United States. There is to be an "increase in customs duty on almost 90 industrial and agricultural products," Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said in a statement. Ruiz said the increase would represent some 2.4 billion dollars, but did not name the products. . . . . . The move drew a sharp rebuke from US Senator John McCain, who said he regretted Mexico's decision and also lashed...

The die is now cast. As the euro brushes $1.50 against the dollar, it is already too late to stop the eurozone hurtling into a full-fledged economic and political crisis. We now have to start asking whether the EU itself will survive in its current form. It takes eighteen months or so for the full effects of currency changes to feed through, so the damage will snowball late next year and beyond into 2009. Although "damage" is a relative term. As Airbus chief Thomas Enders warned in a speech to the Hamburg workers last night, Europe's champion plane-maker - the...

The European Union (EU) has claimed that US subsidies for American aircraft maker Boeing have cost Europe's Airbus $27bn (£13.4bn) in losses. EU officials put forward that figure at the start of a World Trade Organization (WTO) hearing into Brussels' complaint that the US aid broke free trade rules.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. How unfettered trade and poor policy are endangering our economic future, and what we should do about it. Dubai could have a silver lining. The government didn't think twice about the security of six major seaports in the United States. It thought that what was good for the transnationals, for globalization, was good for the country. People now realize that corporate America is blind to the nation's security and its economy. Only government can protect our manufacturers, our economic strength. The bubble of "free trade," and of "protectionism," has popped. The...

The United States says it will reactivate a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against European Union subsidies for aircraft maker Airbus. US trade officials said the decision followed the failure of latest efforts to reach a negotiated settlement. Earlier on Monday, Europe made a new offer to the US to cut state aid to help resolve the long-running row. Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson proposed that both sides cut part of their subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. Mr Mandelson suggested both sides then discuss further aid cuts later. According to one report, Brussels has offered to cut aid for the Airbus...

<p>The Federal Reserve will announce today whether it will cut interest rates once again. In an effort to stave off deflation and boost the economy the Fed has already cut rates 12 times since January 2001, pushing the funds rate down to 1.25%. These measures, combined with the passing of President Bush's growth and jobs package, have had a stimulative effect. As Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan recently noted, the financial markets are already signaling a revival of U.S. growth. Indeed, the stock market is up more than 20% since March.</p>

WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. lawmakers accused Japan on Tuesday of manipulating foreign exchange markets to push the yen lower, and urged the Bush administration to take a stronger stand against the practice, which they said has hurt American carmakers. In a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, the lawmakers say a 30% decline in Japan's yen against the dollar since Jan. 1, 2000 has made Japanese cars cheaper in the United States. "This excessive weakening, which has been mirrored by the Korean won, is having a significant negative impact on the U.S. automotive industry," says the letter...