The White House has released a “Joint Statement of the United States and China Regarding Trade Consultations“:

“At the direction of President Donald J. Trump and President Xi Jinping, on May 17 and 18, 2018, the United States and China engaged in constructive consultations regarding trade in Washington, D.C. The United States delegation included Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, and United States Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer. The Chinese delegation was led by State Council Vice Premier Liu He, Special Envoy of President Xi.”

“There was a consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China. To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services. This will help support growth and employment in the United States.”

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DAY#3 – Everyone has a role to play. While President Trump’s ‘killers’ sharpen dragon-slaying strategy, NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow rubs Big Panda’s belly and discusses the optimistic outlook toward the ongoing trade negotiations with China.

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In Part II of the interview chairman cuddle-bunny discusses the issues of intellectual property rights, patents and copyright protections.

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National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appeared on Fox Business earlier Thursday to talk about the ongoing U.S. China trade negotiations. Those who follow the Dragon -vs- Panda strategies of China saw earlier yesterday how Chairman Xi Jinping was positioning N-Korea as leverage for the current trade negotiations.

The DPRK dragon-play didn’t work because President Trump knows the dragon’s moves, and predicted their approach from the outset. Remember, POTUS Trump began executing a geopolitical economic strategy toward both North Korea and China well over a year ago. [During the first meeting with Chairman Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago (Feb, 2017)]

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After over a year of discussions and structured way-points, China came into the current round of U.S. trade talks with outstretched steel fists. The line-up they sent to the negotiating table are some of the most loyal and die-hard communist leadership within their economic team.

It is obvious China is in dragon-mode knowing they are dealing with an entirely different administration than they faced before.

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President Trump met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House today for a bilateral meeting on EU security and trade issues.  During the Oval Office press availability both made remarks but president Trump took the opportunity to have an impromptu presser on other current issues.   WATCH:

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Hopefully everyone paid attention to the North Korea topic. It was not coincidental the stompy-feet assertions of Kim Jong-un and the DPRK were timed at the exact moment Chinese Vice-Premier Liu arrived in the U.S. for important trade talks. Once again Chairman Xi Jinping is using his proxy province of N-Korea to leverage economic benefits:

WASHINGTON – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy and Vice-Premier Liu He arrived in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, is leading a Chinese delegation for the talks.

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Today, after a briefing session between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterpart from South-Korea, Secretary Pompeo and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held a joint press conference.  Serious discussions with resolute heart.  WATCH:

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[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Good afternoon. It is my honor to welcome Foreign Minister Kang to Washington. It is important to meet with such a critical ally so early in my time as Secretary at this incredibly critical time as well. Our alliance with the Republic of Korea was forged in the crucible of war 65 years ago. Tens of thousands of Koreans and Americans sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of freedom for South Korea.

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Critical Update – Critical Update – Critical Update

Those who are watching the NAFTA negotiations must pay close attention to the activity in the past 36 hours.  There is a key video at the bottom.  First the backdrop:

As most are aware the NAFTA fatal flaw, the “loophole”, surrounds Mexico and Canada structuring their economic manufacturing policy -and trade deals- through the exploitation of a back-door into the U.S. Market. Understanding this key issue is paramount to understanding President Trump’s approach therein.

Remove the NAFTA “loophole” and there is no longer an incentive for U.S. manufacturers to locate their operations in Mexico or Canada. However, the removal of this loophole also means China, ASEAN nations and the EU lose the same incentive.

There have been hundreds of billions of previous investment by multinational corporations in Mexico and Canada.  Every dollar spent was intended to continue this exploitation.

Then came Trump.

In terms of investment size and scale of manufacturing, the auto-sector is perhaps the primary industry attempting to position themselves to avoid any reversal of the NAFTA scheme; and it is a self-interested economic scheme. In the short term there are billions at stake; in the longer term there are trillions within the equation.

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A recent CNN poll (full pdf below) of how President Trump is handling North-Korea has the moonbats going bananas. A sea change in the behavior of North Korea led to a historic meeting between South Korea and the DPRK. Quite simply, President Trump’s strategic policy worked.

With advancing optimism for peaceful relationships, and against the backdrop of an upcoming summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un, CNN took a poll to evaluate opinion. WATCH:

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Earlier today President Trump announced via Twitter the date and location for the upcoming denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea.

As announced, the summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un will take place in Singapore on June 12th, 2018.

In the days leading up to the Singapore summit, there is a G7 meeting in Quebec, Canada, on June 8th and 9th.  The timing affords France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan and Canada an opportunity to share their perspectives, and simultaneously provides an opportunity for President Trump to solidify international support in advance of the summit.  Importantly the G7 allows time with Shinzo Abe of Japan.

South Korean Prime Minister Moon Jae-in is scheduled to visit the White House May 22nd, to brief President Trump on his prior meeting with Chairman Kim and discuss regional strategy and key issues for the Korean peninsula.

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President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence and Karen Pence are all going to be at Joint Base Andrews overnight to welcome home three people released after detainment in North Korea.

UPDATE: Video Added

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Last year during punditry discussions of  North Korea, the traditional crowd were waxing philosophically about military expansionism, and the threat of nuclear war as a likely outcome.

However, all of those Gordian-knot sellers held references from a fundamentally flawed foundation; they viewed the DPRK as a separate nation from China.  There were a few voices who challenged geopolitical orthodoxy and presented a different view; the DPRK as a proxy province of China.

When you think of North Korea as a proxy province of China, everything changes.  Every possible action and consequence changes.  If the DPRK is inherently a proxy province of Beijing, then North Korea already had nuclear weapons; or at least access to nuclear weapons as needed; the argument to stop them was moot.

Additionally, if Beijing was structurally and factually controlling Pyongyang, attaining a peaceful Korean peninsula between Kim Jong-un and his South Korean neighbor Moon Jae-in, was entirely different.

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