President Trump’s MAGAnomic team have announced a 30-day extension for the Steel (25%) and Aluminum (10%) tariffs for the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

Also, after a prior agreement with South-Korea, the “KORUS” deal, team U.S.A. has also reached an agreement in principle with Australia, Argentina and Brazil which will be finalized in next 30 days.

Via Wall Street Journal – President Donald Trump has decided to postpone decisions about imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union and other U.S. allies until June 1, a senior administration official said.

In addition to announcing the delay, the White House is expected to say Monday evening that it has finalized a deal to exempt South Korea from the tariffs, mirroring details that have been previously released by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

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There is a geopolitical strategy happening this week that is essentially under the radar.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, USTR Robert Lighthizer, Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, and the U.S. trade team are heading to China.

The outcome of their discussions connects the initiatives behind North Korea, China and NAFTA.  The steel and aluminum tariffs are part of the toolbox.  Only one media personality, our favorite suspicious cat, appears to understand the larger economic play and how it is being deployed.

From the U.S. perspective, NAFTA has a fatal flaw. Mexico and Canada admitted the flaw for the first time a few weeks ago. The flaw is Mexico and Canada’s exploitation of NAFTA as a backdoor into the U.S. market for Asian, mostly Chinese, manufactured products. Multinational corporations who have invested in Canada and Mexico are determined to retain the flaw.

President Trump understands that as long as Canada and Mexico can unilaterally make trade agreements with the EU and ASEAN nations, any NAFTA agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico is moot. The NAFTA talks are paused.

The U.S. Team now heads to China. There’s no doubt part of the objective is to begin a structural discussion that must happen for the U.S. trade team to approach closing the fatal NAFTA flaw from the source of origin. [*note* on the EU side of this issue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is leading a similar discussion. Mnuchin and Lighthizer are focused on Asia, Ross has responsibility for Europe]

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Absolutely stunning remarks today from North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un.  Not only do both Kim Jong-un (North) and Moon Jae-in (South) discuss peace, but the DPRK actually goes the full-way-forward toward a unified Korean peninsula.  Jumping ju-ju bones, these remarks are absolutely gobsmacking.

Kim Jong-un remarks begin at 09:00 of video below.  MUST WATCH:

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This is incredible. Not only does Kim Jong-un commit to a fully denuclearized Korean peninsula, but also the ending of all hostilities; the end of the Korean war; and stunningly the process to begin entering a phase for a completely unified North and South Korea.

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Wow. You have to watch this video to see how history was just encapsulated.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet at the village of Panmunjom, the historic site where the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953 for the start of talks between the two countries.

Their unified meeting is the third inter-Korean summit, but this meeting is the first time a leader from the communist North has entered the democratic South. South Korea then holds a welcoming ceremony for the North Korean leader that includes full military honors and a military guard review.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un writes: “new history starts now; age of peace, from the starting point of history” on guest visitor book at Peace House.

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In the past 48 hours South Korea (Moon Jae-in) and North Korea (Kim Jong-un) have been working out the details of their upcoming summit.  Within the discussions between North and South Korea some stunning news has surfaced.

♦ Yesterday Moon Jae-in announced that North Korea had agreed to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula without any preconditions or expectations of changes in the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has expressed its commitment to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula and is not seeking conditions, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday, as the United States vowed to maintain “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.

[…] “I don’t think denuclearization has different meanings for South and North Korea,” Moon said during a lunch with chief executives of Korean media companies. “The North is expressing a will for a complete denuclearization.”

“They have not attached any conditions that the U.S. cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea,” he continued. “All they are talking about is the end of hostile policies against North Korea, followed by a guarantee of security.”  (read more)

As the summit discussions continued today; and to assure the previous U.S. envoy CIA Director Mike Pompeto; and in affirmation of direct talks with President Trump; North Korea made an even more stunning statement from the Korean Central News Agency:

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As expected, China is starting to realize they underestimated the severity of President Trump’s three-decade-long perspective on trade.

Against the backdrop of $150 billion in looming U.S. trade tariffs, Beijing sends an economic emissary to Europe attempting to restructure international trade agreements.

(Reuters) China’s international trade representative held a series of meetings with the ambassadors from major European nations last week to ask them to stand together with Beijing against U.S. protectionism, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

Some of the western diplomats involved in the meetings with Fu Ziying, who is also a vice-commerce minister, have viewed the approaches as a sign of how anxious Beijing is getting about the expanding conflict with Washington, the sources said.

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White House Press Briefing by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Matthew Pottinger. Today’s briefing is happening during a Presidential summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Kudlow is discussing the trade and economic issues; Pottinger is discussing national security issues surrounding negotiations with North Korea.  As Secretary Ross has stated frequently: “Economic Security is National Security.”

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[Transcript] West Palm Beach, Florida – 12:20 P.M. EDT – MR. KUDLOW: I’ll just say to start, before we take some questions, this is a very important meeting. A lot of really key issues are on the line. You obviously know about the foreign policy side regarding North Korea, which is a major, major issue for Japan and for the United States.

On the economic and trade side, there will also be very important issues. Japan is a great friend and ally. We have certain disagreements with respect to some of the trading issues. We’ll iron those out, hopefully.

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“We’ve also started talking with North Korea directly. We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea. I really believe there’s a lot of good will. Well see what happens, as I always say. Because ultimately its the end result that counts.”  ~ President Donald Trump

The formal bilateral meeting began shortly before 4 p.m.  POTUS Trump and PM Abe together with translators and delegations.  The U.S. side: Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton, US Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty and National Security Council  Asia director Matthew Pottinger.

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said their one-on-one meeting was productive. On North Korea, “for the first time in the history of the world there will be a summit meeting between the United States and North Korea”, Abe said. Prime Minister Abe said “Trump has applied maximum pressure on the North and credited it for leading to the direct talks.”

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President Donald Trump welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a summit at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.  The President and PM Abe have a long-standing friendship.

Among the topics for the summit will be ongoing U.S./Japan trade initiatives, and important discussions about security for Japan as talks continue between South Korea (Moon Jae-in) and North Korea (Kim Jong-un).

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