We switch from domestic to foreign affairs starting with an interview with National Security Adviser John Bolton who discusses the upcoming speech by President Donald Trump to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).
Are you concerned about President Trump’s suspension of the declassification directive? No-one, well, almost no-one… has any idea how Donald J Trump creates leverage from places few can fathom.
Example:
Think about how President Trump took Kim Jong-un out of the hands of Chairman Xi Jinping (one of the most looming influence agents on the planet), and handed young Chairman Kim to Moon Jae-in on a joy-filled optimistic platter.
“The impossible is only our starting point”..
~Donald J Trump
There’s a reason why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laughs when people question the more distracting aspects to President Trump (ex. tweets); there’s a very good reason.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sits down with Laura Ingraham for an interview on a wide variety of topics including former Secretary of State John Kerry’s interference with current U.S. policy on Iran; ongoing issues with China; refugee resettlement and more.
A few days ago, September 13th, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was given the Keeper of the Flame Award in Washington DC. Within his acceptance speech Chairman Nunes discusses the significance of this time in U.S. history.
In the days and months following Watergate, the HPSCI was given specific rules within their legislative branch oversight, which actually became the most significant tools -utilized for the first time- to uncover intelligence abuses by the former administration. Additionally, Chairman Nunes expands on the “next steps.”
White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro appears on Lou Dobbs show to discuss the Trump administration’s round-two 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The percentage jumps to 25% on January 1st, 2019.
…When you plant your trees in another man’s orchard, don’t be surprised when you pay for your own apples…
President Trump has instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to execute Round Two of tariffs on Chinese imports. The first round applied to $50 billion in products. The current round applies a 10% tariff to $200 billion (effective Sept. 24, 2018), until January 1st, 2019, when the tariff increases to 25%.
The list of products is particularly focused, and happily we note it includes almost all Chinese processed food imports.
Chinese food processing is sketchy, and China has refused to comply with most international food safety programs. However, President Trump spared smart watches from Apple and Fitbit and other consumer products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.
In a statement announcing the Round-Two tariffs, President Trump warned China if they take retaliatory action against U.S. farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.” That would hit Apple and all consumer good imports. Here’s the announcement and the list of products:
Washington, DC – As part of the United States’ continuing response to China’s theft of American intellectual property and forced transfer of American technology, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released a list of approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that will be subject to additional tariffs.
In accordance with the direction of President Trump, the additional tariffs will be effective starting September 24, 2018, and initially will be in the amount of 10 percent. Starting January 1, 2019, the level of the additional tariffs will increase to 25 percent.
A year ago it seemed almost impossible to see a trade agreement with Mexico that would facilitate the interests of both countries. However, with the successful election of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), a remarkable populist shift dramatically changed the landscape within the Mexican economic outlook and policy.
President Trump’s tweet today hints toward a much bigger picture we have recently been discussing. Against the likelihood Canada will not join the U.S-Mexico trade agreement. The Mexican government is affirming their intent to go forward with a bilateral trade deal if needed because the U.S-Mexico joint agreement is in their best interests. According to Mexico’s Chief Negotiator, Kenneth Smith-Ramos:
“We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S … the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement …”
Outgoing Mexican President Peña Nieto, structured his economic policy around accepting multinational corporate investment, facilitating the requests of Wall Street investment banks, and the predictable parasitic outcomes that follow. Exfiltration of wealth and exploitation of resources/labor are an outcropping of predatory multinational trade exploitation, ie. “globalism”.
Retention of the multinational schemes generally leads to massive corruption. In the U.S. this corruption is known as “lobbying”, in Mexico the process is called ‘bribery’; however, the activity is the same.
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According to a CBC article citing a “Senior Canadian Official”, the Trudeau government is completely “comfortable” missing an October 1st deadline to join the U.S-Mexico trade alliance:
…”The source who spoke to CBC News on background, due to the sensitivity of the talks, said the external political pressure “is not a good enough reason,” for Canada to be forced into a fast finish.”… (more)
This statement follows a series of actions by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau which highlights their intent to resist any trade agreement while counting on domestic politics to deliver electoral forgiveness. Indeed for all intents and purposes it would appear Justin and Chrystia are willing to damage their economy for political benefit.
Meanwhile the Mexican government is affirming their intent to go forward with a bilateral trade deal if needed because the U.S-Mexico joint agreement is in their best interests. According to Mexico’s Chief Negotiator, Kenneth Smith-Ramos:
“We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S … the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement …”
A year ago it seemed almost impossible to see an agreement with Mexico that would facilitate the interests of both countries. However, with the successful election of Mexican President Lopez-Obrador, a remarkable populist shift dramatically changed the landscape within the Mexican economic outlook and policy.
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Bloomberg reported earlier today that President Trump was likely to pull the trigger on round #2 of tariffs against $200 billion in Chinese imported goods. Duh. Surprise fail. President Trump has not bluffed on a single tariff initiative since he started executing new U.S. trade policies to reset all trade relationships.
According to Jennifer Jacobs reporting (one of the few reliable) Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin and Ambassador Lighthizer met Thursday to review the current status of ongoing trade deals. This is a good nugget, because it’s likely that same meeting contained the forward instructions toward Lighthizer for the Canada discussions.
According to the report, President Trump, Ross and Lighthizer are adjusting the specifics of the $200 billion Chinese products targeted based on the two-weeks of domestic feedback they received. I would actually anticipate a combination of increased tariffs on the Round #1 sector (25% on $50 billion), and the application of new sectors within the $200 billion Round #2 target.
In case anyone was wondering, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is in Europe talking trade with the European Union. Within the delegation of trade negotiation, the EU trade agreement is designated to Ross, while USTR Lighthizer covers Canada and Mexico and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is holding point on China. Secretary Ross is getting the royalty treatment in Greece today.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer is still engaged with Chrystia from Canada as negotiations continue to see if a U.S-Canada trade deal is possible. He must have the patience of Job. The 52,000 lost Canadian jobs announced today has shifted the landscape a little. Canada appears slightly more likely to back-away from prior demands to carve out the Canadian Dairy industry and continue the process of protectionist tariffs.
Ms. Freeland is heading back to Canada tonight, leaving her negotiation team in DC to continue working. However, Canada still demands to exempt their “cultural industries”, telecommunications and media sectors, from any trade agreement. The issues for Canada to join the U.S-Mexico agreement are/were:
The Telecommunications/media sector is non-negotiable according to Justin from Canada. There may be flexibility within banking (not much information). The lumber and aeronautics subsidies could be dropped. Rules of origin are non-negotiable for President Trump. Protectionist tariffs on dairy and farm products are the current issue being discussed. Dispute resolution is an outstanding issue.
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