The American Conservative

On Tuesday, President Trump announced that the United States would bar the importation of some alcohol, dairy products, and motorcycles from Canada. The ban, which will take effect on September 29, includes certain beers, wines, ciders, and spirits, as well as whey products, molasses, and motorcycles.   According to a senior White House official, the new restrictions are intended to “keep a level playing field, deter retaliation, and of course protect American production.” They come after Can

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday the United States is willing to use its financial power as a foreign policy tool to build alliances.  “I believe I can use the balance sheet of the U.S. for foreign policy,” Bessent said while speaking at SMU’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas. Much of the discussion centered on Japan. Bessent, who explicitly ruled out U.S. intervention to prop up the sliding yen currency in early 2026, is now daring traders to bet against his

Andrew Day and Luke Nicastro talk to Filip Gaspar, a political advisor and member of the Alternative for Germany, about the party’s recent election victory and the implications for European politics. Recorded September 8, 2026. The post TAC Right Now: Germany’s Real Right Rocks Europe, w/ Filip Gaspar appeared first on The American Conservative.

The price of Brent crude hit $100 per barrel Wednesday morning after heavy fighting between the U.S. and Iran. That’s the highest level since late July for the key international benchmark. U.S. Central Command said Tuesday evening it had struck Iranian assets: “CENTCOM forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days.” The IRGC, a force in the Irani

Foreign Affairs Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Deal Is a Big Gamble The president is anxious for a win, but taking over Venezuela’s oil reserves might prove a poison pill. (Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images) At the end of August, President Donald Trump announced a major deal with the government of Venezuela. The agreement would give the U.S. functional c

UK Special Coverage UK Special Coverage More Questions Than Answers at Scandal-Rocked Reform UK’s Party Conference It is no longer clear that Nigel Farage is the man to take the party into government. UK Special Coverage Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images If the Reform leader Nige

Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Tehran’s Pragmatists Are Still Open to Diplomacy Iran is pursuing its national interests rationally—and that is the United States’ best hope. Vice President J.D. Vance recently offered the Islamic Republic of Iran some unsolicited advice: “Stop acting like crazy people.”

Senior Editor Andrew Day appeared on OANN to discuss the political fallout of the Iran War with Rep. Andy Ogles Senior Editor Luke Nicastro appeared on Al Jazeera to discuss the Iran War Day and Nicastro hosted Responsible Statecraft’s Connor Echols to discuss the domestic politics of the Iran War The post TAC Media Appearances 8/31–9/7 appeared first on The American Conservative.

Britain, France, and Canada rolled out new sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank Tuesday. In a joint statement that was also signed by nine other European countries, the governments announced the imposition of “restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law,” and called on Israel to “immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence, and investigate allegations agains

In a 2011 Labor Day column, our co-founder Pat Buchanan described the transformation of the American social contract in the postwar period.  “What happened to this idea that made America a self-sufficient republic, producing almost all it consumed, a nation that could stay out of the world wars as long as she wished and crush the greatest powers in Europe and Asia in less than four years after she went in?” he asked. As was so often the case, Pat had the answer: “A new class came to power

Books Why Is This Highly Respected Commentator Smiling? A new book surveys the right’s dramatic transformation since 2015. Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s Americaby Scott Greer, Passage Publishing, 2026264 pgs. $34.95 Last month I received an email even more bothersome than the average inbox

In an exchange with reporters Friday, President Trump downplayed the costs of the Iran War. “A lot of people don’t call it a war,” he said, “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.” Trump also asserted the U.S. “may hit Pickaxe soon… if there’s anything going on with Pickaxe.” (The president was referring to Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily-fortified underground site believed to play a major role in Iran’s nuclear program.) U.S. Central Command (CENT

Foreign Affairs Bourbon Street Attack Was Foreign Policy Blowback The U.S.-backed Israeli slaughter in Gaza motivated a New Year’s mass killing in New Orleans. Photo by EMILY KASK/AFP via Getty Images In the early hours of January 1, 2025, as revelers celebrated the arrival of the new year in New Orleans’ French Quarter, an American-born citizen from

Culture Tom Stoppard: Conservative, Liberal, Englishman Britain’s late leading playwright existed in the realm of literature, beyond pat political agendas. In the kind of official occasion now vanishingly rare, on July 9 King Charles and Queen Camilla, leading a large slice of the great and the good in British arts and culture, paid tribute to the playwright Sir Tom

UK Special Coverage The Tom Stoppard I Knew Tom knew the best people, threw the best parties, and was the best of friends. UK Special Coverage Photo by Neil Libbert/Getty Images I grew up in a Buckinghamshire village called Iver, living for 18 years in a Queen Anne house called Copthall. In the early 1970s, when I was about 10, a glamorous cou

In a Thursday press conference, Vice President J.D. Vance sought to play down the seriousness of the ongoing war with Iran. “I wouldn’t call it a war,” he said in response to a question, adding that—despite multiple exchanges with Iran this week—the U.S. was no longer conducting “major combat operations.” The vice president also said he was unsure when the conflict would end, and expressed skepticism concerning reports the U.S. military had killed civilians in a Tuesday strike on a residential a

Politics Politics Trump Does Nation-Building in ‘Bush Country’ The current Republican president got elected repudiating the last one. Now, he’s melding Bush-Cheney with his own legacy. There are a number of things one could observe about the Trump-endorsed Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) winning her primary

Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Trump Plunders Venezuela The administration has, in effect, stolen the South American country’s oil. Photo by Diko Betancourt/Anadolu via Getty Images In 2023, Donald Trump lamented that, under the Biden administration, the U.S. was again buying oil from

Foreign Affairs The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Future of War Arthur Conan Doyle’s farsighted analyses of the First World War hold lessons for the dawning drone era. The Trump administration’s struggle against Iran entered a new phase on August 23, when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that an “economic D-Day” is coming for Iran. That is, embargoes

On Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance led the first White House press briefing since Karoline Leavitt’s departure as press secretary. He fielded questions on an array of subjects, including the economy, foreign policy, and the state of the GOP ahead of November’s midterm elections.  Asked whether the Iran War would end before the midterms, Vance conceded he “d[idn’t] know the answer to that question,” adding that “you would have to ask the Iranians.” He also contested the characterizat