United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is the guy who has to navigate all the legal and detailed structures around all of the trade agreements. As USTR there is a lot of responsibility upon Mr Greer to navigate the way through the impediments thrown at him and President Trump by the multinational corporations and banks who are impacted by the America-First trade policy.
USTR Greer appears on CNBC to discuss some of the current issues and challenges, as well as the solutions and motivations behind them. If you are interested in the legal dynamics behind the larger trade policy issues, these appearances by USTR Greer are important. WATCH:
Not surprisingly, it appears the Chinese trade delegation that previously made commitments in Geneva, Switzerland, were wearing a panda mask at the time of the negotiations with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
According to a Truth Social post shared by President Trump, the panda mask was recently removed and the true Beijing dragon behind it appeared. This is not a shock to anyone who has followed the dynamic of Chinese trade promises and practices for a while.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized, and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
China was moving slowly on promises to issue export licenses for rare earths minerals. The Geneva deal called for China to lift trade countermeasures that restrict its exports of the critical metals needed for U.S. semiconductor, electronics and defense production.
“The Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance, which is completely unacceptable, and it has to be addressed,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC, without specifying how that would happen.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced (via X) the U.S. State Department will begin revoking the student visas of Chinese nationals, “including those” connected to the Chinese Communist Party:
King Charles is arriving in Canada today in advance of an opening speech he will deliver to the Canadian Parliament. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited King Charles to attend, and while the media portray the visit as mostly symbolic there is no doubt the substantive issue for Canada is the economic dependency on the USA and how the U.K can bolster the position of Canada against that threat.
Everything is always about the money of the thing, this dynamic between the U.K and Canada is no different. What we would call the ‘western’ global financial system is contingent upon all U.S. allies retaining the United States as their consumer base and stable currency center. President Trump has exposed the vulnerability of Canada as he confronts the parasitic relationship {GO DEEP}.
In advance of the U.K positioning itself as the skirt behind which Canada can hide from the horrible Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer extended an invitation for President Trump to attend a state visit in his honor later this year. The effusive praise from Starmer during the White House meeting was keenly strategic, so too was their urgency in creating the first new-era free trade agreement with the USA.
Perhaps President Trump’s embrace of Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia should be viewed through this financial prism where the EU, U.K and Canada will ultimately go to war (together) against the efforts of President Trump. Within the partnership of the UK, EU and Canada, the Snow Mexicans are the weakest link, the most vulnerable to collapse from Trump’s economic policy.
A meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin brings with it the focus of the entire world. For a myriad of geopolitical reasons both domestically and abroad, there are ‘trillion-dollar’ interests who want to keep them apart.
Earlier today, fearing that President Trump might actually travel to Turkey, NATO Secretary Mark Rutte and Senator Lindsey Graham quickly arranged dispatch to intercept and participate. The global intelligence apparatus wants to keep Trump and Putin apart, so too does the NATO alliance, the CIA, the U.K and every other influence agent in partial control of the USA proxy war against Russia using Ukraine.
A decade of carefully scripted narratives against President Trump and any forward leaning Russian foreign policy sits in the background, with an almost incalculable number of opposition elements aligned against President Trump forming any positive USA-Russia relationship. There’s quite literally almost no place on the planet where President Trump and Vladimir Putin could meet without hearing the drumbeat of opposition against their assembly. Almost….
For President Trump and Vladimir Putin to join in strategic interest is to disrupt the global order of things, and I do mean everything. The military industrial complex, the global banking system, the World Economic Forum assembly, the multinational stock markets, the world trade system, the entire European continent, Asian continent, Australian continent, African continent and North American continent, as well as every conflict therein, could be impacted by joint decisions between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. To say the stakes are high, would be to understate the scale of the dynamic.
In this interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio seems to nurture the seeds placed by President Trump in his earlier remarks about sitting down with Vladimir Putin to hammer out the details of a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia. The entire world pretends not to know that all of the military engagement within Ukraine and around Ukraine, is essentially a proxy war between the USA and Russia. A potential meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin destroys that framework. This is heavy stuff. WATCH:
Keep in mind that President Trump has been speaking to Vladimir Putin directly via phone, and consequentially through his emissary Steven Witkoff. Vladimir Putin has been speaking to President Trump through the same channel.
A face-to-face meeting was always going to happen, the only part of the dynamic we were awaiting was how the two presidents were going to coordinate the meeting of consequence, and how would President Trump ditch the U.S. control elements.
Appearing on CNBC this morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives an outline of the discussions between the USA and China. Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held meetings with the Chinese delegation in Geneva, Switzerland this past weekend.
Pay attention to Secretary Bessent describing [05:40] how Chinese ‘overproduction’ is now reaching the shores of partnered nations, that is the element CTH previously outlined {SEE HERE}, which is a rather significant issue right now. The goods themselves are not ‘generic’ in nature, they are branded high-end products awaiting labeling and distribution once their component part of the global tariff is determined. This is part of the ‘urgency’ motive for Beijing to seek some understanding of the timeline.
As expected by anyone with common sense, the statement by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng is considerably different from the U.S. media interpretation of the White House statement.
According to He Lifeng: […] “The atmosphere of the meeting was candid, in-depth and constructive. The meeting reached substantial progress and achieved important consensus. The two sides agreed on establishing a consultation mechanism for trade and economic issues, identified the lead persons on each side, and will carry on further consultations relating to trade and economic issues of their respective concerns. The two sides will finalize relevant details as soon as possible and will issue a joint statement reached on May 12.”
[…] “China’s position towards this trade war has been clear and consistent; that is, China doesn’t want to fight a trade war, because trade wars produce no winners. But if the U.S. insists on forcing this war upon us, China will not be afraid of it and will fight to the end.”
.
This ‘clarification‘ of sorts by Big Panda should not come as a surprise, despite the White House press release and the wording of the title.
Neither Secretary Bessent nor USTR Greer would make an announcement of a “trade deal” in advance of President Trump’s personal announcement. PERIOD!
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett always does a good job of framing the current status without impeding the negotiating strategy of the White House trade delegation.
In this morning’s interview, happy Hassett outlines the motivation for China to quickly get to an agreement on principle about their U.S. trade position, and the structure of the personnel who are present on Beijing’s behalf to organize the discussion. As noted earlier, Bessent and Greer were very careful in their language to promote positive advancement of agreement to the framework but avoid calling the outcome of the discussions a completed deal.
Hassett encapsulates the current trade status with China and other nations. WATCH:
.
No doubt President Trump is leaning back a little following the White House statement. The Chinese announcements are not as forcefully positive as the White House ‘headline’ press release. There’s a disconnect afoot that needs to be reconciled quickly or it makes the White House look weak while cunning panda smiles.
It would be surprising to see an actual “trade agreement” with China, before the commitments from ASEAN countries to stop transnational shipping exploitation are in place.
Indeed, if you listen to the wording from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Rep Jamieson Greer, there is no talk of an actual deal in their language. Methinks whoever wrote the White House headline, that is (not accidentally) currently manipulating the markets, will be soon given the exit. Here’s the remarks from Bessent and Greer:
