Why tariffs beat treaties in a world that cheats



President Trump’s tariffs are set to snap back to the “reciprocal” rates on Wednesday — unless foreign countries can cut deals. So far, the only major players to reach agreements in principle are the United Kingdom and, ironically, China.

Others aren’t so lucky. The European Union, Japan, and India all risk facing a sharp increase in tariffs. Each claims to support free trade. India has even offered a so-called zero-for-zero deal. Vietnam offered similar terms.

Free trade is a myth. Tariffs are reality. The Trump administration should raise them proudly and without apology.

The Trump administration should be skeptical. These deals sound good in theory, but so does communism. In practice, “true” free trade — like true communism — has never existed. It’s impossible. The world’s legal systems, business norms, and levels of development differ too much.

Economists may still chase unicorns. But the Trump administration should focus on tilting the board in our favor — because someone else always will.

Free trade is a mirage

Start with the basics: Different countries are different. Their economies aren’t equal, their wages aren’t comparable, and their regulations certainly aren’t aligned.

Wages may be the most obvious example. In 2024, the median annual income for Americans was around $44,000. In India, the median annual income was just $2,400. That means American labor costs nearly 20 times more. And since labor accounts for roughly a third of all production costs, the math practically begs U.S. companies to offshore work to India.

RELATED: Trump’s tariffs take a flamethrower to the free trade lie

  Photo by JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images

It’s China in 2001 all over again.

Back then, the average U.S. wage was about $30,000. China’s? Just $1,100. When China joined the World Trade Organization, American manufacturers fled en masse. Since 2001, more than 60,000 factories have disappeared — and with them, 5 million jobs.

The result: decimated towns, stagnant wages, and hollowed-out industrial capacity. And don’t blame robots or automation. This was policy-driven — an elite obsession with free trade that delivered real pain to working Americans.

 

We’ve run trade deficits every single year since 1974. The inflation-adjusted total? Roughly $25 trillion. And while U.S. workers produce more value than ever, their wages haven’t kept up. They’ve been undercut by cheap foreign labor for decades.

Equal partners? Think again

What if the other country is rich? Can free trade work between economic peers?

Not necessarily. Even when GDP levels match, hidden differences remain. Take regulation. America enforces labor standards, environmental protections, and workplace safety rules. All of those raise production costs — but for good reason. American-made goods reflect those costs in their price tags.

Meanwhile, competitors like China or Mexico cut corners. They dump waste, abuse workers, and sidestep accountability. The result? Cheaper products — on paper. But those costs don’t vanish. They just get pushed onto others: polluted oceans, exploited laborers, sicker consumers.

This is why the sticker price on a foreign good doesn’t reflect its true cost. The price is a lie. Cheapness is often just corner-cutting with a smile.

National strength means self-reliance

Rather than debating whether free trade is possible, we should ask whether it’s good for America.

Should we outsource core industries to foreign nations with no loyalty to us? Should we depend on countries like China for our pharmaceuticals, our electronics, or even our food?

The founders didn’t think so. The Tariff Act of 1789 wasn’t about boosting exports — it was about building an independent industrial base. A sovereign nation doesn’t beg for favors. It builds.

We aren’t just an economy. We are a people — a nation united by heritage, language, faith, and trust. That matters more than quarterly profits.

Free trade is a myth. Tariffs are reality. The Trump administration should raise them proudly — and make no apologies for putting America first.

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Green policies fuel riches for elites, pain for the rest



Azerbaijan’s government has some troubling practices, and the world should pay attention. Whether you believe in a climate emergency or not — and especially if you do — the shenanigans at the ongoing COP29 climate conference in this authoritarian Caucasus nation should raise alarms.

Recent U.N. climate conferences, including COP28 in the United Arab Emirates and COP29 in Azerbaijan, reveal a troubling trend: Global environmental activists seem unbothered by the severe wealth inequality their policies exacerbate. These activists actively collaborate with state oil tycoons to secure their own gains, often at the expense of ordinary people.

Climate alarmism remains a luxury belief held predominantly by wealthy elites, not ordinary people.

The authoritarian regimes of the UAE and Azerbaijan epitomize this disparity. In Azerbaijan, the average GDP per person is about 18 times higher than the median income. In contrast, this ratio in Western nations typically ranges between four and five. These glaring inequalities underscore the cozy relationship between government elites and global environmental activists.

Climate activists and state oil moguls actively disregard free markets and consumer preferences. Environmentalists routinely condemn consumer choices they deem “wasteful” or “unsustainable” and push policies that force compliance rather than encourage voluntary participation. Likewise, state oil companies reject competition at home and collude internationally to manipulate oil production when it increases their profits.

Both groups enrich themselves at others’ expense. Taxpayers, not attendees, fund COP29. National delegations draw from public budgets, while global NGOs like the United Nations and World Bank use funds from member nations to support the conference.

Oil barons in the UAE and Azerbaijan exploit natural resources for personal gain. Officials use state power to secure private wealth while denying citizens their rights. These oil-rich nations exemplify extractive institutions, where elites monopolize resources and leave the public to bear the cost.

The environmental agenda seeks to do the same — transferring hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers to narrowly owned wind, solar, and other green projects. Rather than serving customers and receiving voluntary payment, both environmentalists and government oil barons would rather extract resources from people by force.

COP29 participants explicitly demand that wealthy nations’ taxpayers “pay up” through climate reparations. These funds will likely enrich corrupt officials instead of benefiting the poor and vulnerable who are supposed to receive them. Decades of foreign aid being diverted into government officials’ pockets provide ample reason to reject this policy.

The irony of hosting the U.N. climate change conference in oil-producing countries runs deep. Participants create massive carbon footprints through air travel, food and goods consumption, and electricity use. Their activities rely on the very oil production they criticize, in countries they now place at the forefront of climate planning.

Climate alarmism remains a luxury belief held predominantly by wealthy elites, not ordinary people. These elites can more easily handle the higher costs created by environmental restrictions, unlike the poor and middle class. Moreover, elites are more likely to profit from net-zero policies, which subsidize solar panels, electric vehicles, and billion-dollar carbon offset and green energy schemes.

It’s time to end the self-serving theatrics of U.N. climate conferences pretending to save the planet. Expanding fossil fuel exploration and development in the United States offers a far better path. Cheap energy means greater freedom and prosperity for all.

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'Social castes'

CNN argues Daylight Savings Time disproportionately affects people of color because of structural racism and inequality of America's 'social systems'



CNN published a recent article arguing that Daylight Savings Time disproportionately affects people of color because of structural racism.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard penned an article titled: "Daylight Saving Time sheds light on lack of sleep’s disproportionate impact in communities of color."

The article begins, "As the United States rolled back the clocks one hour this month to observe the end of Daylight Saving Time, many people got a bit more sleep than usual – but some not as much as others."

"Growing evidence shows that lack of sleep and sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, remain more prevalent in black, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino communities, and these inequities can have long-term detrimental implications for physical health, even raising the risk of certain chronic diseases," Howard contends.

Howard writes that "some sleep researchers worry about the potential effects that continuing to change standard time twice each year may have on sleep health inequities."

Howard included a quote from Chandra Jackson – a researcher and epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“Poor sleep is associated with a host of poor health outcomes, including obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, including of the breast and colon," said Jackson – who has been studying racial and ethnic disparities in sleep. "Many of these health outcomes are more prevalent in the black population."

Howard alleges that "people of color appear to disproportionately experience" inequities in sleep health compared to white people. Without citing a source, Howard declares that people of color suffer sleep inequalities because it's "believed to be largely due to social systems in the United States."

The article claims that "many social and environmental determinants of health," such as living conditions and work schedules that are not conducive to a quality night's sleep, can be caused by "historical and persistent forms of structural racism."

Jackson believes that the inequality of health stems from the “totality of ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, wages, benefits, credit, media, health care, and criminal justice.”

Jackson then references the 2020 shooting deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd's grandniece because they were shot when they were asleep. Jackson alleges that American's "systems of structural racism" can "cultivate conditions that make such incidents more likely to happen in black communities."

Jackson admits, "More research on the causes of disparities in sleep is needed." She adds, "Essentially anything that produces physical and psychological stress is a threat to sleep health, and these stressors tend to be more prevalent in black communities."

Jackson alleges, "It is believed that discriminatory policies and practices across sectors of society create the physical and social conditions that make it more difficult for Black families to get optimal sleep and grow up healthy."

Oh. My. Gosh. His AOC impression is HILARIOUS



Oh. My. Gosh. Pat Gray makes the best impression of Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez.

In this clip, Pat read the transcript from an episode of "Influencers" with Andy Serwer. The Congresswoman from New York had some rather vague things to say about why she believes capitalism no longer suits America.

Ocasio-Cortez attempted to define "capitalism": "Capitalism at its core, what we're talking about when we talk about that is the absolute pursuit of profit at all human, environmental, and social cost. Many of these price increases are potentially due to just straight price gouging by corporations. If we allow a full just continuation of student loan payments, we are talking about a catastrophic development for millions."

"Listen to this sentence," Pat laughs, "What we are talking about when we talk about that." You have to hear Pat read this story in his best "AOC" voice. "And that is people who have so much money that their money makes money and they don't have to work, and they can control industry," Pat mocked.


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Pope Francis slams trickle-down economics, advocates for redistribution of wealth: 'For the good of all'



Pope Francis denounced trickle-down economics, private property, and advocated for the redistribution of wealth in a new letter to Roman Catholic leaders.

What are the details?

Writing in an 86-page papal encyclical — which, according to Reuters, are "the most authoritative form of papal writing" — Francis said the coronavirus pandemic proved the failure of free-market economics, such as the "trickle-down" theory.

Francis wrote, "There were those who would have had us believe that freedom of the market was sufficient to keep everything secure."

From Reuters:

Francis denounced "this dogma of neo-liberal faith" that resorts to "the magic theories of 'spillover' or 'trickle' ... as the only solution to societal problems". A good economic policy, he said, "makes it possible for jobs to be created and not cut".

The 2007-2008 financial crisis was a missed opportunity for change, instead producing "increased freedom for the truly powerful, who always find a way to escape unscathed". Society must confront "the destructive effects of the empire of money".

The pope also advocated the redistribution of wealth and denounced the absolute right of private property.

"The right to private property can only be considered a secondary natural right, derived from the principle of the universal destination of created goods," Francis said.

The wealthy should "administer [their wealth] for the good of all," Francis wrote. The pope also said he believes "that if one person lacks what is necessary to live with dignity, it is because another person is detaining it."

However, Francis claimed he was "certainly not proposing an authoritarian and abstract universalism."

Anything else?

This is not the first time Francis has knocked free-market economics.

Shortly after ascending to the papacy in 2013, Francis knocked trickle-down economics for allegedly sowing inequality.

"Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world," Francis said at the time, the Washington Post reported.

"This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system," Francis added.

Median incomes soared to record high of $68,703 in 2019 while poverty declined

Median U.S. household income was over $68,700 in 2019, an increase of 6.8% from 2018 and the highest on record, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.