Call it protectionism if you like. But the proper name is older and more precise. It’s called the optimum tariff. And at long last, it’s being put to work for America.
Some of the most brilliant economists in history developed a theory proving that under the right conditions, tariffs can make a country richer.
U.S. consumer prices fell in March, pushed down by a decline in the price of goods and defying predictions that President Trump’s tariff plans would push up prices. This was the first drop in consumer prices in nearly three years and only the second decline since inflation accelerated under Joe Biden to the worst rates in decades.
Although President Trump’s announcement that some of the tariffs would be paused for 90 days got all the attention, the real fireworks began several minutes earlier, when the U.S. Treasury held its much-anticipated 10-year bond auction.
What looked like the start of a global financial panic turned into a show of strength from the White House and a stunning rally on Wall Street.
The Dow jumped 5.9 percent, the S&P 500 rose 7.3 percent, and the Nasdaq soared 8.9 percent, capping a dramatic rebound from a week of steep losses triggered by spiking bond yields and escalating global tariffs.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday the U.S. is moving toward trade agreements with key allies that will form the basis for a united economic front against China.
The reciprocal tariffs are doing what they were meant to do: putting leverage on the table, shaking foreign complacency, and opening the door to new trade arrangements that better serve American workers and producers.
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran delivered a landmark address at the Hudson Institute this week that helpfully explains the economic doctrine of President Trump’s second term.
The market, like a poker player who stayed in the hand far too long, seemed to be operating under the assumption that Trump would eventually fold.
Employers in the United States added 228,000 workers to their payrolls in March, the Department of Labor said Friday, and the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2 percent. Economists had been expecting just 140,000 jobs would be added in March.
If bull markets are breeding grounds for irrational exuberance, bear markets tend to produce prophets of doom.
The tariffs are calculated using a straightforward formula based on each country’s goods trade surplus with the United States
Uncertainty isn’t always economically harmful. President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs may be exactly what the U.S. economy needs to break out of the low-investment, high-dependence trap that the free trade consensus left behind.
Private-sector job growth accelerated in March, countering gloomy predictions that tariffs would slam the brakes on the labor market.
Tomorrow’s tariff announcement will not be the beginning of the trade war. It’s the beginning of the end of the trade war — the day America started fighting back.
From obscure licensing delays in Vietnam to sky-high dairy tariffs in Canada, the list highlights what officials describe as a global trading system in need of rebalancing.
Construction spending rebounded in February, led by a pickup in homebuilding, after a decline in the previous month. The data suggests the residential sector continues to drive construction activity despite elevated borrowing costs and lingering affordability challenges. The Commerce Department
Job openings slipped to 7.6 million from 7.8 million in January, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
So, when critics say tariffs are just crony capitalism for incumbent firms, point them to the stock market. It’s not cheering. It’s panicking. Because this time, the rules really are changing.
“We need to build more,” he writes. “More housing. More energy. More infrastructure.”
We’re seeing is a bizarre and persistent gap between what Americans are doing — spending more, earning more, feeling good about the country’s direction — and what consumer sentiment surveys claim they are feeling.
The persistence of inflation above the Fed’s 2 percent target underscores that price pressures are building before the newly announced tariffs on imports have taken effect.
U.S. personal income and consumer spending both rose in February, suggesting that the economy remains resilient despite surveys showing gloomy consumer confidence.
As long as our trading partners continue to use Value-Added Taxes (VATs) to their advantage, the United States must be willing to respond in kind with tariffs.
A former technology employee of Freddie Mac was arrested this week after allegedly making bomb threats targeting the mortgage finance giant’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The notion that tariffs cause inflation has become a super-virus infecting the minds of President Trump’s critics, seemingly immune to the usual antibiotics of economic evidence and logic.
“What we’re going to be doing is a 25 percent tariff on all cars not made in the U.S.,” Trump said during remarks from the Oval Office.
Orders for durable goods rose far above expectations in February, climbing 0.9 percent to $289.3 billion, according to the Commerce Department’s report released Wednesday. Economists had forecast a 1.0 percent decline, but instead, businesses continued to invest heavily in big-ticket
Consumer confidence is down, business leaders are worried, and headlines are awash in recession fears. Yet actual economic data stubbornly refuse to cooperate with this gloomy narrative.
When President Trump took office two months ago, his administration announced it would deliver “emergency price relief” to a nation strained by Bidenflation. That included a promise to “drastically lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.”
The Expectations Index — a gauge of how consumers view future income, business, and labor market conditions — plummeted to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years.
Trump’s plan to scale back government is about more than just balancing the books. It’s about forcing the economy to confront the reality that government-driven growth is a lie.
U.S. economic growth accelerated in March, driven by a strong rebound in the services sector that more than offset a renewed decline in manufacturing.
The “Recession That Never Happened” is already over, and the numbers prove it.
The Treasury Secretary set a new direction for the Financial Stability Oversight Council, emphasizing growth rather than social and climate change.
The Federal Reserve’s latest projections show that tariffs are not the primary driver of higher inflation forecasts.
President Donald Trump is demanding the Federal Reserve cut interest rates, escalating a high-stakes clash between the White House and the central bank as his administration prepares to unleash a new wave of tariffs.
In an exclusive interview with “The Alex Marlow Show” podcast, Peter Navarro explained how the Trump administration plans to decisively defeat inflation and why the media is getting it all wrong.
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, holding steady at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent for a second consecutive meeting.
