Amid new reports of U.S. companies initiating a rapid exodus from China, President Trump has announced the delay of the next round of tariff increases on Chinese goods from October 1st to October 15th.

U.S. Company Survey – More than a quarter of the respondents – or 26.5% – said that in the past year, they have redirected investments originally planned for China to other regions. That’s an increase of 6.9 percentage points from last year, the AmCham report said, noting that technology, hardware, software and services industries had the highest level of changes in investment destination (read more)

President Trump apparently senses the diminishing position of Chairman Xi.  The status quo, U.S. disinvestment, has put Beijing into a weakening position.  As the president noted today during remarks from the oval office, Xi’s belt-and-road (aka ‘bribe and loan’) supply chain program is collapsing.
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The Chinese woman who tried to lie her way into Mar-a-Lago was found guilty today.  Previously, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman said: “It does appear to the court that Ms. Zhang was up to something nefarious when she unlawfully attempted to gain access to Mar-a-Lago”…

PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A jury found a Chinese businesswoman guilty of lying to the Secret Service to sneak into President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Yujing Zhang represented herself at trial and claimed during opening statements she did nothing wrong.

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U.S. Senator Rand Paul supports the removal of John Bolton as National Security Advisor due to an abject difference of foreign policy with Bolton.  Also, Senator Lindsey Graham cautiously supports the removal of John Bolton from a concessionary position that Trump is correct, and the endless foreign intervention needs to have some conclusion.
Beyond the orange-man-bad democrats, and their new found political love for Bolton (their former nemesis), interestingly the strongest DC and media voices against Bolton’s removal are foreign policy voices primarily concerned about supporting Israel (Ted Cruz, Mark Levin etc).

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So far today CTH notes no-one is mentioning Bolton’s failed policy on Venezuela. That policy/effort was all John Bolton; ….and that brings another point into the picture.
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The Beijing/Wall Street lobbyist Robert Zoellick has taken an attack posture on behalf of his U.S. corporate clients and their investments in China.
White House director of trade policy Peter Navarro appears on FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs to rebuke Zoellick and Beijing claims about Trump’s trade policy:

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to return privatization to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the state of the U.S. economy, U.S. trade talks with China, USMCA and government spending.
Ms. Bartiromo is very concerned about retaining the wealth position for her friends on Wall Street and the Asian investment needs of U.S. multinational corporations.

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The South China Morning Post has an interesting article highlighting that July’s export results from China were likely skewed as U.S. companies proactively made purchases to take advantage of Beijing’s currency devaluation in combination with filling inventory ahead of the U.S. holiday needs.

Additionally, August export results from China show an actual drop in exports, falling 16 percent year-over-year from decreased U.S. orders:

Shipments fell by 1 per cent in the month after growing 3.3 per cent in July in dollar terms, and below the 2.1 per cent growth expected by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. Imports in the month dropped by 5.6 per cent, leaving a trade surplus of US$34.84 billion, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

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White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro appears on Fox News to discuss the current status of the U.S-China trade discussions and the USMCA.
Ms. Bartiromo points out how U.S. multinationals are holding back further investment in Asia due to ongoing President Trump tariffs.  Mr. Navarro points out there is no uncertainty if U.S. companies would invest in Main Street USA.
However, the Wall Street multinationals do not want to give up on their Asian investments and bring U.S. manufacturing jobs back to North America.  Hence the conflict between Wall Street/The Big Club and Main Street/President Trump.

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As Navarro noted, the narrative about October talks between the U.S. and China are driven by the collaborative financial interests of Beijing and Wall Street multinationals in an effort to create the image of something that doesn’t exist.  Prepare accordingly.
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Wow. This secret meeting is surprising on many levels….

Big Picture:  President Trump wants to get out of Afghanistan.  Pakistan is on the supportive side of the Taliban terrorists. India is on the supportive side of the Afghanistan government. China is the biggest financial supporter of Pakistan government. India is big  financial supporter of the Afghanistan government.
U.S. President Trump has told Pakistan he expects them to bring the Taliban to the table of negotiation with the Afghanistan government.  To stimulate this outcome the U.S. has withdrawn financial support for Pakistan, pending progress. However, Pakistan replaced U.S. support with larger financial investment by China.
So in the background the Taliban terrorists are hiding behind the skirt of China; while the U.S. and India try to drag the Taliban out of that safe place.  It’s a mess; but now we know the motives behind why this was happening…
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The Gordian Knot of Brexit is based on a Parliamentary ruling class within the U.K. government who will not accept Great Britain leaving the European Union.
The elitist Members of Parliament (MP) have passed a law requiring Prime Minister Boris Johnson to forever stay in the EU until an agreement for terms of exit are reached.  However, the EU doesn’t want the U.K. to exit; so the consequence of the MP law is to ‘remain’ in the EU forever.  This elitist scheme has created the knot; and the majority of the British people -those who voted to ‘leave’- are insufferably bound within it.

In one approach to cutting the knot Prime Minister Boris Johnson has requested a national vote for government leadership on October 15th.  With a scheduled round of talks with the EU set for October 17th, a Boris Johnson election victory would create the needed momentum toward a hard-brexit (no deal) on October 31st.  Britain would, finally, be free.
However, the MP ruling class, those who say they know better than the people they are supposed to serve, know such a popular vote would upend their schemes – and likely lead to many of their alliance being removed from office.  So the elites will not support a national election that would lead to their own defeat. [More knot building].
A second knot-cutting tactic implied by the Prime Minister, is to ignore the insufferable law –recently passed and pending signature– and proceed toward a ‘no-deal’ Brexit on October 31st.
This approach could lead to the British Parliament being forced to vote against the Prime Minister (no confidence); and would set up a replacement election, which Boris Johnson wants anyway.  Actually, no-one is quite sure what will happen on this second knot-cutting avenue… no map available.
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As if, on cue:

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