April 10, 2024

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

Art Of The Deal As Trump Brings 75 Nations To The Table For Fair Trade Deals As China Isolated, While Congress Keeps Panicking  

By Robert Romano 

“We saw the successful negotiating strategy that President Trump implemented a week ago today. It has brought more than 75 countries forward to negotiate. It took great courage for him to stay the course until this moment and what we have ended up with here, as I told everyone a week ago, in this very spot, do not retaliate and you will be rewarded.” 

That was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 9 crediting President Donald Trump with successfully using his reciprocal tariff strategy announced April 2 to bring more than 75 countries to the table to negotiate with the United States, with a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs going into effect during the negotiations. In the meantime, tariffs on China have been raised by an additional 125 percent atop existing tariffs, after Beijing retaliated by raising tariffs on the U.S. to 84 percent. 

For ten years, Trump has told anyone who would listen that as president he would use tariffs to try and get better trade deals for the American people. But to have any impact, words must be backed by action, and on April 2 Trump added real substance to the threat: The U.S. would enact the same tariffs that countries were imposing on the U.S.  

Now, with the reciprocal tariffs, countries finally have an incentive to do what Trump has been asking: To engage in reciprocal tariff and other non-tariff barrier reductions. It only works if both parties are willing to use the stick. Otherwise, there’s no reason to talk to the U.S. 

And none of it would be possible with legislation now contemplated by Congress to lock in the current trade imbalances forever. Since the 1930s, Congress has seen fit more or less to allow the President the ability to use reciprocal tariffs with the goal of reducing barriers to trade.  

But it only works when there’s tariffs to be traded away.  

As Bessent explained, the goal of the tariffs was always to prompt negotiation with allies who at least for a little while learned what it felt like: “we are confident that they having seen the other side of where this could go… those were maximum levels. The countries can think about those levels as they come to us to bring down their tariffs, their non-tariff trade barriers. We're going to discuss currency manipulation, subsidy of labor and industry.” 

Bessent added, “So, every country in the world who wants to come and negotiate, we are willing to hear you. We're going to go down to a 10 percent baseline tariff for them. And China will be raised to 125 percent due to their insistence on escalation.” 

In other words, China could be able to help get the tariffs down, too, but they have to be willing to come and talk. It wouldn’t be the first time a trade deal was done between Trump and China, the other being in Jan. 2020 right before Covid. That took place despite tariffs being put into place and remaining in effect. Anything’s possible. 

As Bessent explained, “This was the President’s strategy… You might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate. It wasn’t a hard message. Don’t retaliate. Things will turn out well.”  

But you have to be willing to play hardball to get there. You have to be tough. Nobody’s afraid of you in a fight if you’re not willing to throw a punch.   

Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/04/art-of-the-deal-as-trump-brings-75-nations-to-the-table-for-fair-trade-deals-as-china-isolated-while-congress-keeps-panicking/  

What Are We Fighting For In Europe? 

As I read a recent flood of articles bemoaning the Trump administration’s stance toward the European Union and the elites that run it, I had an attack of déjà vu. I kept hearing the 1960s band Country Joe and the Fish singing in my memory. The words do apply today. As far as Europe is concerned, “what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn.” 

True, this could be nothing more than a reverberation of a misspent youth. But the issues raised are real and need to be addressed. Why are we so deeply involved in the affairs and economies of Europe, all to our own detriment? Why so many troops stationed in Europe 80 years after the end of World War II and 35 years after the fall of the Soviet Union? Why do we tolerate their incessant hectoring and their dangerous and threatening authoritarian moves?     

Since the beginning of the year, Europe as defined as the European Union (EU), has gone full tyranny. Any thought that the EU shared American values is a dangerous delusion. Just a quick check list shows that the leading candidate for President in Romania was removed from the ballot with virtually no justification other than his opposition to the “European experiment.” The populist party Alternative for Germany was boxed out of any say in government despite scoring a strong second place. In France, the leading candidate for President in the next election, Marie LePen was barred for some contrived charge. In Spain, the leading conservative-populist voice was charged with “hate speech” because he opposes the destruction of his country through mass illegal immigration. 

But it isn’t just manipulation of the electoral process to deny true democratic expression. The EU has flexed its thuggish muscles in countless other ways as well. From expelling a 4-year-old from kindergarten for allegedly being “transphobic,” to Britain establishing a two-tiered criminal sentencing scheme that imposes harsher penalties on white men, to the refusal to admit that the so-called “climate crisis” is a lie that is crushing economies throughout the continent, Europe is gone. There was a reason many of our ancestors escaped it and now we can see that all the tendencies and arrogant abuse are part of the DNA of Europe, not of just a few individuals.   

The most recent example, coming out of Germany, is a stark reminder of the ultimate expression of fascism, the very definition of it as stated by Benito Mussolini in a 1927 speech in the Italian Parliament when he said, "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State" A German court has imposed a 7-month probation sentence on editor-in-chief of Deutschland Kurier, David Bendels, for publishing a parody of a German federal official. The Bamberg District Court found that a satirical photo montage about Federal Minister Nancy Faeser to be an instance of “defamation against political figures,” under Paragraph 188 of the German Criminal Code (StGB). 

Faeser, echoing il Duce, famously is quoted as saying during her term of interior minister: “Those who mock the State must be dealt with by a strong State.” Can’t get any more clear than that. 

It is time, way past time, to get out and leave Europe to rot.   

The United States was only drawn into the European con-game by Woodrow Wilson who fell for the One World, Globalist vision a little over 100 years ago. It was a huge mistake. Then while there was overwhelming opposition to entering World War II — at least on the European front — conditions and raw propaganda brushed it aside. Was defeating the Nazis a good thing? Of course it was. But the aftermath has been horrible. Why did we rebuild Europe? Why do we continue to subsidize their defense and their entire economies? Why is it our job to keep the Middle East shipping lanes open when it is Europe who gets the goods that pass through them.   

And why do we continue to suffer their condescending attacks. Whether it is the threats on U.S. tech companies using the phony scam of “disinformation” as the ruse or the demand that all companies throughout world adhere to the destructive Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards that the EU is proposing as a pre-condition to doing business in the EU, the attacks are relentless.  This is the globalist — World Economic Forum — Atlantic Council agenda.  And it and they need to be removed as a clear threat to the United States by any means necessary. They are the enemies of American freedom, not allies. 

A big part of the answer to these questions are also found from our hazy friends. Country Joe’s lyrics are as relevant today as they were in 1969. A couple of lines prove the point: “Come on, Wall Street, don’t be slow, why, man, this war’s a go-go. There’s plenty of good money to be made by supplying the army with the tools of trade.” Or: “Come on, Generals, let’s move fast.  Your big chance is here at last!” 

Money. Advancement. Power. And all at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dead Ukrainians and Russians. The simple truth is that key elements of the establishment in the U.S. thrive as a result of us being chained to the EU. The benefit to the American people does not factor in. And while some make mountains of money from it, the real beneficiaries are the globalist ideologues who work day and night to destroy the United States as a free, sovereign and independent nation and impose their world government schemes. The entire exercise is aimed at nothing less than the elimination of any say by the people who pay the bills and bleed and die. 

It is time. Remove all U.S. troops from Europe. Reduce or eliminate our support for and role in NATO. Any nation that refuses to remove trade barriers to American products and services should be hit with a fee or tariff double what is being imposed on Americans. When the crippled, bleeding sore that is the European Union moves to reform and open their systems to the will of the people of their nations including free speech, we should be glad to deal with them. But to continue to play the sucker to the EU has got to end. Freedom from this abusive and destructive relationship is, after all, worth fighting for. 

Bill Wilson is the former president of Americans for Limited Government.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/04/what-are-we-fighting-for-in-europe/  

Inflation Is Falling, Not Rising, Embarrassing Anti-Tariff Politicians 

April 10, 2025, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today released the following statement in response to the latest inflation numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing prices fell 0.1 percent in March: 

"Inflation is falling in spite of repeated, embarrassing predictions by opponents of President Donald Trump's tariffs of both parties that prices would rise in response to his tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and the rest of the world. It simply has not happened, with inflation the past 12 months now at 2.4 percent.  

“Of course, they need only have read Milton Friedman who taught us that 'inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon' with the critical factors being the money supply, which has not increased since 2022, and production which has been rising after the Covid-led production lockdowns. Tax rates and tariffs do not determine inflation per se. The global supply crisis has been easing, but so too has demand as American households maxed out their credit. Total credit owned and securitized has actually declined by 1 percent the past 12 months, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve. Additionally, unemployment had already risen by more than 1 million before President Trump was even sworn into office, which is what always happens as inflation slows down along with demand, usually leading to a slowdown or a recession historically.  

“It could be we already had the recession but it just hasn't been booked yet, with unemployment not moving too much because of the ongoing labor shortages thanks to the Baby Boomer retirement wave with more than 900,000 Americans over the age of 65 leaving the labor force every year and accelerating or that there is still something on the horizon. Either way, this has all been years in the making. Inflation has been slowing, it just didn’t slow down fast enough to help Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2024, who had to run on a record of inflation outpacing incomes.  

"As it is, the effective federal funds rate set by the Federal Reserve, currently at 4.3 percent, has been above the consumer inflation rate now at 2.4 percent for about two years now, which also should have told everyone what they need to know about the direction inflation continues to move in. Aren’t higher interest rates generally used to push inflation down? Isn’t that the whole point?  

"Finally, very little analysis has been done about how trade partners have continually been devaluing their currencies to gain trade advantage to cheapen exports to the United States, which has the impact of strengthening the dollar. For example, the Mexican peso has devalued more than 18 percent against the dollar the past year, making imports from Mexico relatively cheaper. The dollar has nominally strengthened 3.9 percent in the past 12 months. And so, the strong dollar usually accompanies commodities prices in producer prices taking a hit, which they have.  

“But this is not the first time tariff-centric views have dominated economic and political discourse to the absence of all other factors, with most pundits still ignoring competitive devaluations during the Great Depression as trade partners came off the interwar gold standard as a very good example. When we consider inflation or deflation, we should always be considering the supply of money, the level of production and the relative value of the currencies of trade partners.  

“And everyone now must be surprised prices are falling because tariffs and Donald Trump are the center of the universe in their eyes. Now if prices continue falling and unemployment ticks up more that will be because of tariffs when they were making the opposite argument for three months. This is not how we do analysis or set policies. If we have erroneous discussions about inflation, as Congress continues to have, we could wind up with erroneous, knee-jerk policies we have seen this month, that could wind up tying President Trump's hands to carry on economic relations with nations abroad and as he campaigned on to get better deals for the American people, Main Street and working families. Let’s let President Trump do the job he was elected to do."  

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2025/04/inflation-is-falling-not-rising-embarrassing-anti-tariff-politicians/