Shortly before the president signed an executive order on affirming first amendment rights on college campuses yesterday, President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with Maria Bartiromo.
The interview covers a wide range of topics with a primary focus on the U.S. economy, ongoing trade discussions and issues that impact the U.S. workforce. One of the granular issues that surfaces is a subject we discuss frequently, the value of the ‘chicken tax‘; the 25% tariff on imported trucks and SUV’s.   WATCH:

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President Jair Bolsonaro and First-Lady Michelle Bolsonaro are staying at the Blair House as guests of President Donald Trump and First-Lady Melania Trump.  They will be meeting together tomorrow.
Tonight at 11:00pm Fox News host Shannon Bream has an exclusive interview with President Bolsonaro from the Blair House.   Additionally, the White House has provided some background details that highlights the importance of the summit.

[White House Briefing] SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, good afternoon. So obviously, tomorrow, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be meeting with President Trump. Clearly, we have seen, since day one, President Bolsonaro’s election as a real opportunity to fundamentally remake our relationship with Brazil.
This is something that we have been doing since day one, in which, within an hour of President Bolsonaro being — at that time, President-elect Bolsonaro being confirmed as the President-elect, President Trump called him, was on the phone with him. A couple of weeks later, National Security Advisor John Bolton went down to Rio to visit with him. Secretary of State Pompeo led the delegation to his inauguration.
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LOL, an interesting albeit typically lighthearted discussion with CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett on the budget proposal and status of U.S.T.R trade talks with China.

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China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity.  They see peace and war as coexisting with each other.
China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.  Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
Peace or war. Yin and Yang. Panda or Dragon. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with communist China; they are not capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome.  If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war.  In politics or economics the same perspective is true.  It is a zero-sum outlook.
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford confirm to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Google’s work in China is directly benefiting the government and Chinese military.

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When Senator Chuck Schumer said the “intelligence community has six ways to Sunday to get back at you“, few realized he meant the IC were treasonous spies and the “you” was our country.  An official within the DIA from 2014 to 2018 was selling U.S. intelligence secrets to China and he plead guilty today (full pdf below).
(Justice Department) Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, a resident of Syracuse, Utah, and a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer, pleaded guilty today in the District of Utah in connection with his attempted transmission of national defense information to the People’s Republic of China. Sentencing is set for Sept. 24, 2019.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney John Huber for the District of Utah and Special Agent in Charge Paul Haertel of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office announced the charges.
Hansen retired from the U.S. Army as a Warrant Officer with a background in signals intelligence and human intelligence. He speaks fluent Mandarin-Chinese and Russian. DIA hired Hansen as a civilian intelligence case officer in 2006. Hansen held a Top Secret clearance for many years, and signed several non-disclosure agreements during his tenure at DIA and as a government contractor.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released some important data today surrounding the state of the U.S. economy. The first release shows the current CPI (consumer price index) or rate of inflation:

(BLS Release) […] The all items index increased 1.5 percent for the 12 months ending February, a smaller increase than the 1.6-percent rise for the 12-months ending January. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.1 percent over the last 12 months, a slightly smaller figure than the 2.2-percent increase for the period ending January. The food index rose 2.0 percent over the past year, its largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 2015. In contrast, the energy index declined 5.0 percent over the last 12 months. (read more)

As noted above, energy prices are 5.0% lower year-over-year; this is a significant reason for the current low inflationary rate.  Also energy prices (fuel, gas, oil) disproportionately impact the middle-class as an unavoidable cost.  Lower gas prices (currently down 9.1%) help middle-America, and also have a downstream impact of lowering product transportation costs.
An overall annual rate of inflation at 1.5 percent is exactly on target.  CTH has been predicting this energy-based outcome for more than three years:
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National Security Adviser John Bolton appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss recent reports that Kim Jong-un is moving toward more nuclear testing.
Obviously that discussion moves quickly into the influence of China and Chairman Xi Jinping.
The frustrating question no-one ever seems to ask is not “if” China controls the DPRK government, but rather “to what extent”?
It has become more obvious in the past few years that North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un has much less control over officials and military leadership within his own government than previously thought.
Does Chairman Xi and Beijing structurally control everything around Kim? Is Kim a hostage; forced to ride a dragon he doesn’t control?  I think the answer is yes.

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Once people start to realize that China controls North Korea as a proxy province, then the discussion can evolve toward the true nature of the challenge, and the way President Trump is precariously negotiating a hostage release while refusing to pay the ransom.
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National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss economic policy, budgets and taxes. Since the discussion is the economy, Wallace quickly puts on his doomsday hat.

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The White House has announced that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro will visit with President Trump on March 19th for bilateral discussions.  The media are framing the visit around the ongoing crisis within Venezuela; however, there’s also an important element as it relates to the panda dance.
President Donald Trump and President Jair Bolsonaro both have a strong nationalist perspective and share a common geopolitical outlook.
In fact, during the 2018 election many dubbed Bolsonaro the ‘Brazilian Trump‘.  President Bolsonaro also made headlines last year when he said he was open to a U.S. military base and alliance.
Yes, it’s true the turmoil in Venezuela is a likely top issue for discussion, but the U.S. and Brazil are now aligned with a commonality toward China…. and it just so happens the U.S. and Brazil are #1 and #2 in production of China’s number one import, soy beans.
China has an almost unquenchable thirst for soybeans, which are crushed to make cooking oil and used in the protein-rich animal feed ingredient soymeal.  The U.S. is the worlds largest producer of soybeans at 108 million metric tonnes. Brazil is the second largest producer with around 87 million metric tonnes.
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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses the February jobs report, wage gains, stimulus from the European Central Bank, and President Trump’s ongoing trade confrontation with China.  [Solid Interview]
Chairman Kudlow notes some interesting dynamics at play including the recent National Household employment survey which showed 225k additional workers resulting in a drop in the overall unemployment statistics to 3.8%

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Additionally, the globalist-minded Wall Street crowd are disappointed that a March summit between Chairman Xi and President Trump has been scuttled. In aggregate terms, this cancellation backdrops USTR Robert Lighthizer’s strong granular demands of the Chinese delegation toward contractual enforcement terms. It is most likely Chairman Xi is not happy with the feedback he is receiving from his team. Too bad.
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