TikTok CEO Shou Chew has been in several meetings with President-Elect Donald Trump to discuss the fate of the platform. 170 million American users are engaged on the TikTok social media platform. There is some rather significant gamesmanship afoot as things come to a head.

The U.S. legislative branch created a law banning TikTok if Chinese interests retained ownership. Joe Biden signed the law, and the Supreme Court delivered a final “per curium” opinion [SEE HERE] saying the law did not violate any constitutional limitations about government control on speech.

TikTok has not negotiated a deal to sell the platform to a non-Chinese entity. In an effort to soften the political backlash from angered domestic users of the platform, Joe Biden has attempted to hand the TikTok controversy to President Trump by saying the U.S. government (DOJ, SEC, Etc.) would not enforce the fines and accountability measures within the law.

On Friday TikTok CEO Sou Chew thanked President Trump for his support. Hours later TikTok announced it would go dark on Sunday. “Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.”

Is TikTok actually going to shut down or is Sou Chew playing the role of ‘Sad Panda’ creating a highly public optic that presents President Trump as saving the platform.  Because we are essentially dealing with the Beijing mindset here, the latter is a strong possibility.

President-elect Trump said he will work something out.  TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be attending the inauguration on Monday.

There’s something very Art of The Deal-ish afoot!

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Aligning with the concept of using tariffs to fund government operations, President Trump has announced his intention to create the External Revenue Service.  It appears to be a collection and enforcement mechanism to gather income from tariffs, duties and other sources that will pay for access to the U.S. consumer market.

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One of the issues the External Revenue Service will likely address is the de minimis loophole.

The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.

Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800.  However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty.

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The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) have until January 15 to agree on a new contract. This is the result of a temporary deal reached in October.

President Trump announced his support for the workers’ position following a meeting with Harold Daggett, the president of ILA, and Dennis Daggett, the union’s executive vice president.

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“I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Notice how the media always present the verbiage of the dockworker’s employers as “employers’ group USMX,” without actually noting the employers’ group are the port owners, multinational shipping conglomerates and as a consequence, foreign countries.

In material fact, most critical ports in the USA are owned by foreign entities.  As a result, the ILA are pushing back against the ideological, political and financial interests of mostly foreign entities (USMX).

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (People’s Party) declared martial law accusing the opposition party of engaging in “anti-state” activities in alignment with North Korea.

Hours later, the Democrat controlled parliament voted to lift the declaration, with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declaring that the martial law was “invalid” and that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people.”

President Yoon, 63, has held South Korea’s top office since 2022, when he succeeded Moon Jae-in, from the left-wing Democratic Party. During President Trump’s first term, Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un formed a close political bond. Moon favors dialogue with North Korea, Yoon is a more hawkish outlook against the DPRK.

In a close election President Yoon won with the People’s Party after serving as prosecutor general of South Korea for two years before resigning amid disputes with the Moon Jae-in government.

Despite the South Korean parliament voting to invalidate the martial law declaration so far, the South Korean military appears to be supporting the position of the president.

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This is the way.  This is exactly what we voted for.  In addition to the 25% border security tariff against Mexico and Canada, President Trump is announcing an additional 10% tariff against China as an impact fee for their failure to stop the illegal manufacture and shipment of Fentanyl.

The 10% Fentanyl impact fee will be in addition to any/all targeted tariffs against Chinese goods that are planned.

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REMINDER – Agenda 47 Tariffs previously outlined.

The “Universal Baseline Tariffs” are the economic policy blade to drive a stake through the vampire heart of corporatism, globalism and the exploitation of the U.S. economy by multinational corporate interests. This “universal baseline tariff” approach, is the policy that slays the dragons of the World Economic Forum, destroys the Beijing dragon and simultaneously ends the EU Marshal Plan advantage. This is a big deal.

President Trump made the economic policy announcement in February 2023, and it is an incredible structure of trade and economic proposals that would be resoundingly effective at restoring every financial mechanism within the United States as a sovereign country.  The proposal is economic nationalism in policy form.

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Suspicious Cat smells some possible streamlining and downsizing afoot.

Not only has President Trump announced the nomination of Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, but he has also announced that Lutnick will carry the role and “responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative” (USTR).

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Perhaps in the second term President Trump and Howard Lutnick are going to fold the USTR into the Dept of Commerce?  Interesting.

Hopefully, Howard Lutnick, like Wilbur Ross, will keep the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocked from influence over the upcoming trade discussions and potential trade agreements.  We note that former USTR Lighthizer was part of the transition discussion, and it seems odd his name has not surfaced…. yet.

Regardless, Howard Lutnick is an excellent choice for all the reasons previously outlined.

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In September we noted Howard Lutnick was the *ONLY* person, other than former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who accurately outlined: (1) Energy as the core source of sticky inflation; and (2) ending the Marshal Plan for EU tariffs as a key objective in term-2.

In combination with his eloquence in outlining MAGAnomics, which is remarkably impressive, this combination of skillsets would make Howard Lutnick the ideal candidate for Term-2 Commerce Secretary.  The guy simply ‘gets it.’ {SEE HERE}

Howard Lutnick was also in the running for Treasury Secretary; however, today several media outlets are reporting that Lutnick is likely to be nominated as Commerce Secretary, making him the first and leading WOLVERINE announced in the MAGAnomic team.

WASHINGTON DC – Donald Trump is expected to nominate veteran Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, according to people familiar with the matter, elevating one of the financial world’s most vocal supporters of the president-elect to a crucial position overseeing the incoming administration’s economic agenda.

Lutnick, chief executive of the financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, in recent months has become a close Trump ally and had been a top contender to lead the Treasury Department. As the co-chair of the president-elect’s transition team, Lutnick has spent much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private Florida club, poring over shortlists of candidates for positions in the administration.

A spokeswoman for Lutnick declined to comment. A Trump transition team spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Punchbowl News earlier reported that Trump was expected to chose Lutnick for the role. (read more)

Howard Lutnick gets it. The essential core of MAGAnomics.  Drive down the cost of goods through expanded energy development, then leverage reciprocity in tariffs to end the exfiltration of wealth.  Then cut out regulation and unleash American enterprise. This is the way to reverse this insufferable economic trajectory that creates a “service driven economy.”   The entire interview is well worth watching:

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It’s not complicated, but several have asked, so here’s the elevator speech.  This is what WILL happen with a Trump victory.  It’s not a “might” issue, it’s a will happen.

MAGAnomics Simplified: Everyone who is a pragmatic critical thinker knows that China will (a) subsidize their targeted industries; then (b) devalue their currency to lower the impact of exports to the USA. Beijing controls the banks, and they did this before. As a result, the dollar value increases and imports cost less.

The Chinese imports then enter the USA at a lower price consistent with their cost estimate as a tariff offset. China takes in a lower price but retains access. That’s just how it works. The importers pay the tariff with a lowered price and a higher valued dollar. Essentially statis for the time being. Then…..

EU industrial products to Chinese manufacturing plants start to contract, due to China’s aggressive cost cutting initiatives.

The EU gets angry about the impact to their economy. The EU then follows the same path and devalues their central bank currency; further pressuring the dollar to an upward price. Exports to the EU are now more expensive; however, imports from the EU to the USA are now cheaper. Again, the EU goal is statis.

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This USA collaborative pearl-clutching between the Defense Department and their media stenographers is laughable, at best.

Before getting to the crux of their story also remember the U.S conducts joint military training operations with dozens of nations, including NATO.  Additionally, Ukraine military have been training in the United States for almost two years {Citation Link}.  Also, the U.S and U.K have official and unofficial “advisors” and intelligence operatives on the ground in Ukraine; they have been there for three years.

Secondly, Russia and North Korea share a border (Rajin). Third, this is NOT about Ukraine, although Secretary Lloyd Austin has to pretend not to know this (emphasis mine).

Associated Press – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday the U.S. has evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia. “What exactly they’re doing” remains to be seen, Austin told journalists while in Rome, Italy. “These are things that we need to sort out.”

Ukraine and South Korea have warned that North Korean soldiers have traveled to Russia for training ahead of planned deployment to fight on battlefields in eastern Ukraine and western Russia.

Austin said Wednesday that the U.S. would “continue to pull this thread” to establish whether Pyongyang can be considered a co-belligerent in the conflict. “That is a very, very serious issue and it will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well,” Austin warned. (read more)

Chairman Xi Jing Ping does not want President Donald Trump to win the election because Chairman Xi knows President Trump is the only person who can stop China from taking Taiwan without a single U.S. troop being involved.

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Go ahead and make some money.  Elevator Speech: “MAGAnomics is essentially ‘inverse BRICS.'”

Everyone who is a pragmatic critical thinker knows that China will: subsidize their targeted sectors and devalue their currency to lower the tariff impact of exports to the USA. Beijing controls the banks, and they did this before.

As a result, the dollar value increases and imports cost less.

The Chinese imports then enter the USA at a lower price consistent with Beijing’s cost estimate as a tariff offset.  Chinese actuaries are really good at this. China takes in a lower price but retains access to the USA market. That’s just how it works.  The importers pay the tariff with a lowered price with a higher valued dollar. Essentially stasis is achieved in a stand-off.

Then…..

EU industrial products to Chinese manufacturing plants start to contract due to China’s aggressive cost cutting initiatives. The EU gets angry about the impact to their economy and looks for alternatives.  The EU then follows the same path as China and devalues their central bank currency; further pressuring the dollar to an upward price.

Exports to the EU are now more expensive, but imports from the EU to the USA are now cheaper. Again, the EU goal is stasis.

Both scenarios create cheaper USA imports despite the Trump tariffs. However, on the EU side President Trump then ends the Marshal plan and executes a program of “tariff reciprocity” against the EU.  More frustration and gritted teeth by Brussels.

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