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.

Britain Shows How The Bar For Assisted Suicide Keeps Getting Lower

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-5.18.32 PM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-5.18.32%5Cu202fPM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]The passage of the Leadbeater bill sends a devastating signal: Some lives are no longer worth the cost of care.

This 7% of Earth’s surface burns more fuel than anywhere



The ruling class trades in carbon outrage like it’s gold. Sanctimony fuels its crusade against oil, gas, and coal — never mind that those very fuels built the modern world. The comforts we take for granted — from longer lives and stocked shelves to clean water and lifesaving medicine — all trace back to the energy abundance that hydrocarbons made possible.

Still, the decarbonization faithful press forward. They dream of a carbon-free Eden, even as the global power grid, still humming on fossil fuels, refuses to cooperate.

Critics keep forecasting a shift away from fossil fuels. Reality keeps proving them wrong.

You won’t find a clearer contradiction than in the Yuxi Circle.

Draw a circle with a 2,485-mile radius around the southern Chinese city of Yuxi. British geographer Alasdair Rae did just that — and inside it resides 55% of the world’s population: some 4.3 billion people crammed into just 7% of Earth’s surface. The region includes China, India, much of Southeast Asia, and parts of Pakistan. Some of it — like the Tibetan Plateau and the Taklamakan Desert — is barren. But the rest is packed with cities, factories, and the aspirations of hundreds of millions clawing their way toward modern life.

Why does this matter? Because this region now anchors the world’s biggest fight over energy, growth, and climate policy.

While bureaucrats in Brussels sip espresso and activists glue themselves to the pavement in London, the real action plays out in Asia’s economic engine. In cities like Shanghai, Delhi, and Tokyo, energy demand soars — and fossil fuels do the heavy lifting. Coal and gas plants keep the lights on, while wind and solar trail far behind.

China burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. India burns more than the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom combined. The 10 ASEAN countries rank third. Oil use tells the same story: China and India sit alongside the U.S. atop the global leaderboard of consumption. Economic growth, it turns out, runs not on hashtags but on hydrocarbons.

Critics keep forecasting a shift away from fossil fuels. Reality keeps proving them wrong.

Hundreds of millions in the Yuxi Circle are still striving for what Westerners call a “decent life.” That means refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioning — and with them, a dramatic spike in electricity demand.

RELATED: Climate orthodoxy punishes the West

  Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

For context: The average American consumes 77,000 kilowatt-hours of energy each year. The average Indian uses a 10th of that. A Bangladeshi? Just 3% of what the average Norwegian consumes.

Now multiply that gap by a population of billions, and you begin to understand what’s coming.

The living room revolution is only the start. An industrial boom is building behind it — factories, office towers, and shopping malls all hungry for electricity. The coming surge in energy use across the Yuxi Circle will make the West’s climate targets look like a quaint relic of the past.

In this part of the world, the green fantasy runs headfirst into human need. Wind and solar can’t meet the moment. Coal, oil, and gas can — and do.

Just as they did for the West, these fuels now power the rise of the rest. And no amount of Western guilt or climate alarm will change that.

England Codifies A Culture Of Death

Women will now have more time to abort their children, and everyone will finally have a say in how and when they die.

BBC anchor finally says the simple truth about 'pregnant people'



BBC News host Martine Croxall went rogue when quoting a professor live on air, with insiders saying times have changed at the British network.

Croxall was introducing a segment on the number of possible deaths during the current heat wave in the region and, after a live report from a colleague, began quoting an alleged expert about at-risk individuals.

'You'd better not be in any trouble ...'

Quoting assistant professor Dr. Malcolm Mistry from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Croxall relayed the information before stopping mid-sentence to correct some ideological terminology.

"Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, says that the aged, pregnant people — women — and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions."

Croxall's wide-eyed delivery of the word "women" defied the woke culture that has choked Britain for years, with even insider reports claiming the tables have turned within the BBC, as well.

RELATED: I was separated from my mom because Ireland enforced its laws

 

  

 

Outlet Deadline spoke to sources from inside BBC's walls who said that while the company does not insist on a particular term to refer to "pregnant women," the employees do not predict Croxall will be punished for the correction.

"Other insiders said it was highly unlikely that Croxall would be reprimanded over the matter," Deadline's Jake Kanter wrote. "These employees pointed to the U.K. Supreme Court ruling in April, which said that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex."

Deadline also said insiders reported that since a BBC radio host was punished in 2024 for saying "transwomen" are "males," other employees had become sour toward the company.

"I think the fallout made them think: This is mad," a Deadline source revealed.

RELATED: Michelle Obama makes bizarre pro-abortion argument: The 'least' of what the female body does 'is produce life'

You’d better not be in any trouble…
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 23, 2025
 

Croxall posted a screenshot of her broadcast on X and remarked that she had seen an influx of followers since her comment aired.

"A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to follow me today for whatever reason. It’s been quite a ride," Croxall told her now 135,000 followers.

Praise immediately came from prominent personalities, such as "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who called Croxall her new favorite anchor.

"I have a new favourite BBC presenter," Rowling wrote on X, as she shared the snippet.

The next day, Rowling replied to Croxall directly and warned the powers that be about possibly punishing her.

"You'd better not be in any trouble …," Rowling wrote.

The storyteller has been a prominent voice for women in the U.K. in the fight against men in women's clothing invading female spaces. Rowling dared police to arrest her in April over complaints that she noted that a transgender woman is a man; the police soon backed down.

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