May 2, 2025

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

Trump Is Right To Bring Light To The Giant China Trade Deficit As Vast Majority Of Americans Say China Is A Threat  

By Manzanita Miller  

President Donald Trump’s America First economic agenda includes lowering taxes, encouraging a revitalized U.S. manufacturing sector, and importantly, using tariffs to correct exploitative trade practices that enrich other nations at the expense of Americans.    

The American people are well aware that the United States has been taken advantage of by China for decades, and are concerned about China’s rapid economic expansion and strong-arm trade practices toward the U.S.   

The latest YouGov survey shows Americans say by 22 points — 42 percent to 20 percent — that China has an unfair trade policy with the United States.  

Americans also view China as unfriendly or an enemy according to the survey. Americans say by 57 points — 71 percent to 14 percent — that China is either an enemy or unfriendly to the U.S.    

Americans also say by 63 points — 68 percent to 5 percent — that China is an immediate or somewhat serious economic threat.    

While response to President Trump’s use of tariffs to even the playing field has become a partisan issue inside the beltway, belief that China is an economic threat to the United States is a bipartisan concern outside it.  

Democrat voters say by 60 points — 66 percent to 6 percent — that China is an economic threat to Americans and independents agree by 62 points — 67 percent to 5 percent. Republican voters assert by a 66-point margin — 70 percent to 4 percent — that China is an economic threat to the U.S.    

Now there is evidence that President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on China — the nation with which we hold the largest trade deficit in the world — are beginning to force our largest competitor to drop tariffs it has in place on a number of U.S.-made products it considers essential.  

On April 30, Reuters reported China is already beginning to buckle somewhat under pressure from President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, and the Chinese government has quietly created a “whitelist” of U.S.-made goods the country will exempt from its standard 125 percent tariffs.  

According to Reuters the list of exempt products includes certain pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft parts, and the list is growing as China scurries to compile a list of levy-free U.S.-imports that it wants to bring into the country without tariffs.  

Creating an exemption list allows the Chinese government to save face publicly — by maintaining its existing tariffs on other U.S.-goods — while quietly exempting a growing list of necessary manufacturing products.  

President Trump’s tariffs are also weakening China’s own manufacturing sector — a boon for U.S. production considering China is one of our largest manufacturing competitors. CNN reported Wednesday that China’s manufacturing sector contracted at the fastest rate in the last 16 months in April, as Trump’s steep tariffs began to take effect.     

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States’ largest trade deficit is with China by a landslide, with our 2024 trade deficit with China clocking in at $295 billion dollars. The U.S. trade deficit exploded in the early 2000’s when China entered a period of rapid economic growth, while U.S.-manufacturing contracted, following the U.S. granting most favored nation trade status on China in 2000 and allowing it to enter the World Trade Organization in 2001, leaving Americans dependent on a trading partner that took advantage of the United States for over two decades.    

Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the American people are well aware that China’s unchecked trade abuses have hollowed out our manufacturing base and stunted our ability to participate on a level playing field. Americans are no longer willing to tolerate a global trade system that benefits foreign powers at the expense of American jobs and self-sufficiency, and President Trump’s bold actions on trade are working to correct these economic injustices.   

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/05/trump-is-right-to-bring-light-to-the-giant-china-trade-deficit-as-vast-majority-of-americans-say-china-is-a-threat/  

Actions To Free Maude Family Farm Not Nearly Enough 

By Bill Wilson 

On April 28, the Department of Agriculture formally announced the end of political persecution of a South Dakota farm and ranch family by federal agents. The long and short of it is that a fifth generation family of farmers who have always played by the rules were attacked by thugs in the Biden regime at the U.S. Forest Service over a minor issue. The family was literally charged under criminal statutes and were potentially facing up to ten years in federal prison. 

The Trump Administration moved quickly to stop the lawfare against the family. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins held a press conference to announce that all charges had been dropped and that the Maudes family was cleared of the threat from the federal government.   

Attorney General Pam Bondi spoke out about the case in a press release on April 28.  Bondi said, “The prior administration’s misguided agenda must be reversed in order to make America safe again. The Department of Justice will spend our resources and efforts on prosecuting criminals…” 

All good. Thanks to both Secretary Rollins and the Attorney General. But their actions to free the Maude family are not nearly enough. Not even close. 

There are people inside the government — inside the Forestry Service and Department of Agriculture who advanced this thuggery, lawyers at the Department of Justice who signed off on the assault and pushed it in the courts as far as they could — who knew what they were doing was wrong and pushed anyway to do nothing more than increase the power of the federal government and to intimidate farmers. Each and every one of these tin-horn tyrants need to be exposed, prosecuted and permanently removed from any position in the government.  

They need to be made shining examples of what thugs and bullies look like. They need to pay the price for what they have done. And, if they fall back on the “Nazi excuse” of “I was just following orders,” they must be required, forced, to name those higher up who instructed them to act as they did. 

Federal bureaucrats have for too long hidden from accountability. The record of their disregard for the rights of citizens — the rule of law shall we say — is long and sorted. A bright light needs to be shown on them. An in-depth search should begin immediately to identify litigation and bureaucratic regulatory attacks on citizens throughout the government, every agency and department, every little niche and nook and cranny. And when yet another example of this dictatorial ethic is found, it must be treated the same way as the Maude case. This is a service to the American people but it is also a service to those many public servants who follow the law and common sense and do not engage in leftist, ideological vendettas. They should not be tarred with the actions of the few. 

Nothing the Trump Administration is working to accomplish in crushing the Deep State will be lasting unless the thousands of leftist ideologues embedded in the bureaucracy are located and pried out. They all must go and real compensation for the damage they have done paid. 

When someone is wounded, stopping the bleeding is the first step. That is what Secretary Rollins did on Wednesday. But it is not the end of the situation. All of the underlying causes must be addressed or else the infection will return. It is not enough to just stop. The rot must be removed and the body cleansed. What was done for the Maudes is not enough. The American people need and demand more! 

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

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/05/actions-to-free-maude-family-farm-not-nearly-enough/  

Unemployment Up To 7.16 Million Reminder For Congress To Extend And Expand Tax Cuts 

May 2, 2025, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement on the latest jobs numbers, urging Congress to extend and expand the 2017 Trump tax cuts: 

“The unemployment level inched up to 7.16 million in April, the highest it has been since October 2021, now up 1.4 million since its January 2023 low of 5.75 million. If you look closer at the non-rounded unemployment rate, it edged up ever so slightly from 4.15 percent to 4.18 percent, still near historic lows. And, the unemployed-to-job-openings ratio reached .984 in March — job openings data lags a month — its highest level since April 2021, a figure that usually rises after peak employment at the end of the economic cycle, and has been rising since 2022 along with unemployment. In the meantime, those saying they have jobs increased to 163.94 million, an all-time high. With inflation data continuing to cool and payroll employment slowing down too on its trend (which is usually does at the end of the cycle), the only question is whether the economy is in for a so-called ‘soft’ landing or a ‘hard’ one.  

“Congress should not take any chances. It has before it a tax cuts bill that if everything the President has proposed is included, including no tax on tips, overtime and Social Security, along with factory expensing to incentivize businesses to make their products in America, will set up the economy for long-term growth if the worst should happen. If there is any good news about the labor shortages brought on by the Baby Boomer retirement wave, wherein almost 1 million of those 65 years old and older are leaving the labor force every year, it is that when we do get to the next recession, there will be fewer people to lay off and so hopefully unemployment does not go so high. It could just be that because of the retirements, we either skip the next recession or if we get one its shallow. Hope springs eternal. Either way, whatever is on the horizon has been years in the making following peak inflation in 2022, and so all Congress can do is set the U.S. up for future success as best as it can. It’s time to extend the tax cuts.” 

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2025/05/unemployment-up-to-7-16-million-reminder-for-congress-to-extend-and-expand-tax-cuts/