 |
| By The Free Press |
It’s Thursday, May 1. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Trump blames Biden for the economy. Harvard’s “disturbing” antisemitism report. Why Europe’s lights went out. Your letters to the editor. And much more.
But first: The case for escalating the trade war.
Whether you agree with President Donald Trump’s tariffs or not, it’s important to understand why many Americans who do business in China are fed up with how Beijing treats foreign competition. Some of the staunchest critics of tariffs that we publish in these pages, like Niall Ferguson, readily concede that we’ve never really had free trade with China because of how they openly flout the rules the rest of the developed world abides by.
We’ve covered tariffs a lot since Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement, and many of the smartest people we know and publish—like Niall and Tyler Cowen—believe that they’ll cause a great deal of unnecessary hardship. Yesterday’s news that the U.S. economy contracted during the first three months of 2025 is certainly an ominous sign.
But today we’re running a piece that argues that Trump hasn’t gone far enough—at least on the question of China. It’s by famed investor Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank co-host known ironically as “Mr. Wonderful” for his love of tough negotiations. O’Leary walks us through exactly what it’s like to do business in China, and the hurdles Beijing puts up to rig the game in their favor. And he has his own suggestions for how to fight back and finally level the playing field for American businesses. His advice? “Squeeze China even harder.”
Read O’Leary’s piece to understand why he and other American entrepreneurs feel that, when it comes to China, there’s a serious argument to be made for Trump’s trade war.
—Bari Weiss
 |
On Monday, Spain’s power grid went dark. Trains lurched to a halt. Planes were stuck on the runway. Within hours, the Spanish government declared a national emergency. The crisis was entirely avoidable, writes Emmet Penney, and is a warning about the risks of relying on renewable energy.
Harvard’s long-delayed antisemitism report was published this week, and it paints a grim picture of life on campus for Jewish students. Our Maya Sulkin combed through the “disturbing” findings.
“The elites were a disaster,” writes Christopher Rufo in response to Tyler Cowen’s recent column defending intellectual elitism. Plus more letters to the editor from Free Press readers.
|