Trump’s Trade Negotiations Should Include A Push For Free Speech
There should be more to economic and trade policy than merely the price of goods.There should be more to economic and trade policy than merely the price of goods.European Populism Is Rising Against An Oppressive Political Elite
Europe’s political class has turned its back on the people it was supposed to protect. The people have taken notice.Rubio wages war on foreign free-speech tyrants with visa ban
President Donald Trump's State Department is leveraging the nation's visa program to protect Americans from foreign speech censors, marking a monumental shift for free expression.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the department would no longer grant visas for foreign nationals pushing to censor American speech.
'America has the world's strongest free-speech protections, but for years other countries have undermined those protections by globalizing their censorship regimes.'
He wrote in a post on X, "For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights."
"Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life — a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority," Rubio stated.
RELATED: Trump halts student visas to bolster national security vetting: Report
He added in a separate post, "Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country. Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over."
Rubio's announcement followed Vice President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, during which he expressed concern that American and European values are dangerously diverging. Vance specifically pointed to the erosion of freedom of speech protections in Europe.
"In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," he stated. "So I come here today, not just with an observation, but with an offer. And just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite."
Vance expressed interest in working with Europe to fortify free-speech protections and end censorship.
Nico Perrino, the executive vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told Blaze News, "America has the world's strongest free-speech protections, but for years other countries have undermined those protections by globalizing their censorship regimes."
Perrino explained that in the past, the federal government has attempted to protect Americans from foreign censorship. He highlighted the 2010 SPEECH Act, which blocks foreign defamation rulings flouting First Amendment standards from being enforced in the U.S.
"The Trump administration appears to recognize the problem, and it's generally a good thing that the administration is seeking solutions to protect Americans from foreign efforts to erode their First Amendment rights," Perrino added. "How this new policy will be implemented, and whether it will have its desired effect, remains to be seen."
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During February's Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Vance criticized the EU's Digital Services Act for restricting speech on America-based technology platforms.
"Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU's Digital Services Act and the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation," Vance said. "For some, the easiest way to avoid the dilemma has been to simply block EU users in the first place."
Rubio's visa ban addresses Vance's warnings about global censorship, concerns that U.S.-based technology leaders have also echoed, with the EU's restrictions directly impacting American platforms, including Elon Musk's X and Chris Pavlovski's Rumble.
On Wednesday, Pavlovski praised Rubio for implementing the new visa restrictions against foreign censors, calling the move "an incredible win for free speech."
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, also expressed her support.
"We stand right alongside you, @SecRubio," she wrote in a post on the social media platform.
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SCARY: President of European Central Bank admits 'digital Euro' is ready for launch
Remember when we were told the “digital Euro” was just a conspiracy theory?
Well, it turns out that not only is it real, but it’s been in the works for five years. And Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, just admitted it.
Now it’s ready for launch.
Glenn Beck explains why we must break our alliance with the EU if it adopts a central bank digital currency and why President Trump must ban our Federal Reserve from creating one of its own (which it’s certainly interested in doing).
“For years, Christine Lagarde and everybody else, both foreign and domestic, have said that any worry about a CBDC is just a conspiracy theory. They have silenced, they have discredited anyone who warned of the dangers of this, but now, all of a sudden, I guess we all forgot that, because now they're ready, and the stakes cannot be higher,” says Glenn.
In a recent speech, Legarde casually admitted that the ECB “started working on the digital Euro way back actually when [she] started [her] term five and a half years ago,” even though last year “she told the European Parliament that CBDC skepticism stems from conspiracy theories.”
If they launch this, says Glenn, in “18 to 48 months our whole world is going to be different.” “The stakes for privacy, free markets, and individual liberty” couldn’t be higher.
The adoption of digital currency is so egregious that it should “fracture our alliance” with the EU, he says.
The problem with digital currency is that “it can be turned off” by the government, which means it’s a weapon in their back pocket to wield against dissenters.
Glenn gives the example of going to the bank to pull out cash.
With CBDC, “there’s nothing to take out,” he says. “You don’t own it. … The central bank and the government — they own that, so you have no place to go but through them.”
“Make no mistake, that's not a tin-foil-hat conspiracy. That's what's happening in China,” he warns.
But what’s even scarier than that is the fact that strange changes in currency are in the Bible — “specifically the last part of the Bible,” where Revelation describes the end times.
Artificial superintelligence and CBDCs are the kinds of “tools that appear very much like the tools foretold that will be employed by the Antichrist,” says Glenn.
The United States is in the early stages of developing a digital currency.
“We have got to pass legislation right now — no central bank digital currency ever in America,” says Glenn.
To hear more of his commentary, watch the clip above.
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Iran Tried To Put A Bullet In My Head Because I Support The West’s Pressure Against The Regime
Trump has correctly adopted a maximum pressure policy. The United Kingdom, the European Union, and its member states should follow suit.If Anything, J.D. Vance Was Polite To Europe
It's hypocritical to rally the free world around defending democracy if Western democracies themselves abandon democratic values.EU signals desperation to avoid trade war with Trump, desire to buy American gas
President-elect Donald Trump is still months away from taking office, yet the European Union already appears desperate to cut a deal with him.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, addressed members of the European Council in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, signaling a desire to avoid a trade war with the United States and to switch from Russian to American gas.
When asked how she intends to negotiate with Trump on trade, Leyen answered, "I think first of all: Engage. Very important what we have started yesterday."
Leyen was referencing her phone call with Trump Thursday, where she apparently congratulated him on his landslide electoral victory. The German politician noted on X that they discussed defense, Ukraine, trade, and energy.
"Secondly, discuss about common interests. And there are common interests that we have," continued Leyen. "Then go into negotiations."
'They are going to have to pay a big price.'
Leyen said that liquid natural gas was among the common interests she briefly discussed with Trump this week, noting that Europe still gets "a lot of LNG via Russia, from Russia."
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in the first half of 2024, Europe sourced 48% of its LNG imports from U.S., 16% from Russia, 11% from Algeria, 10% from Qatar, and 4% from Nigeria and Norway.
"Why not replace it by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices?" said Leyen. "It's something where we can get into a discussion, also [where] our trade deficit is concerned."
The U.S. Census Bureau indicated Tuesday that the trade deficit with the EU in September was $23.8 billion, contributing to the year-to-date trade deficit of $173 billion.
Trump indicated in October that the EU would have to "pay a big price" for not buying enough American exports, reported Reuters.
"I'll tell you what, the European Union sounds so nice, so lovely, right? All the nice European little countries that get together," said Trump. "They don't take our cars. They don't take our farm products. They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States. No, no, no, they are going to have to pay a big price."
Politico noted that Leyen's maneuver to dodge the steep tariffs of 10% or more that Trump has threatened by promising to buy LNG is largely political theater granted the European Commission is virtually powerless when it comes to dictating European companies' purchases of gas.
"The EU doesn't buy LNG — there's a global LNG market and LNG buyers have their own contract," Laurent Ruseckas, executive director for gas markets at commodities giant S&P Global, told Politico. "It's certainly possible to do a memorandum of understanding to talk about increasing purchases but ultimately in the past that's been a way to put a political wrapper around something that was delivered by the market. And the EU is buying as much LNG currently as the market needs."
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Danger ahead: Europe's new law is 'going to impact every single American'
While Americans have been focused on the election, the European Union has been in the process of passing a new law. It’s called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and its reach will go far beyond European borders.
In fact, “It’s going to impact every single American,” Justin Haskins, author and editorial director of the Heartland Institute, tells Allie Beth Stuckey.
“Essentially, what it does is create ESG social credit scores for companies. ... These ESG scores are designed to transform the way companies operate, the kinds of products and services that they can sell, and then, by extension, transform societies around it,” Haskins explains.
So what does a company’s social credit score depend on?
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Apparently, a variety of measures are used to determine a company’s credit score — things like “climate change,” “biodiversity,” “land and water use,” “social justice,” “LGBTQ” causes, and diversity in general.
“How diverse is your board of directors? How diverse is your management team? Like these are the kinds of things that are in these ESG scores,” says Haskins.
Even though the United States doesn’t have a social credit scoring law (most ESG initiatives exist in the private sector), Europe’s CSDDD will nonetheless hugely impact American businesses.
The law “applies to large companies that are based in the European Union” as well as “non-EU companies that do above a certain amount of revenue in the European Union, so for example Apple or McDonald's,” Haskins explains.
Further, these high-earning non-EU companies that fall under the jurisdiction of the CSDDD will be forced to adhere to its policies outside of the EU as well.
“It's not enough for them to change their policies in the EU; they have to change it in America. They have to change it everywhere they do business; that's what the law says, and if they don't, then they can be fined 5% of their total worldwide revenue, so for a company like Apple, if you do the math, that's $19 billion for one violation,” says Haskins, who predicts that “no one's going to violate this law because they can't afford to.”
If that wasn’t extreme enough, the law also applies to “almost all of the businesses that [companies under the CSDDD] work with in their supply chains, upstream and downstream, no matter where they're located or how much business those companies do in the EU.”
Haskins points to Ford as an example. Ford is an American company that does business in the EU and produces enough revenue to fall under the jurisdiction of the CSDDD.
Therefore, “All the businesses that [Ford does] business with in America are also doing these ESG scores,” he says, “so you could be a rubber manufacturer in Ohio that does no business in Europe, but you make rubber for Ford, so you also have to adhere to the EU rule, and Ford is going to be the one that imposes it on you through contractional insurances.”
Naturally, Ford will comply because if the company refuses, “then Ford gets fined 5% of their total worldwide revenue.”
“When you start playing out the ramifications of this, they’re enormous,” Haskins laments, adding that “through this [law], you can transform the entire country because you can transform hiring practices, business practices, the kinds of products that people sell and buy, the commitment to social justice goals,” etc.
“What’s the end goal?” asks Allie.
To hear Haskins' answer, watch the episode above.
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