United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and China’s Vice-Premier Liu He release a joint statement showing renewed emphasis on phase-1 purchases.

Washington, DC – Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin participated in a regularly scheduled call this evening with China’s Vice Premier Liu He to discuss implementation of the historic Phase One Agreement between the United States and China. The parties addressed steps that China has taken to effectuate structural changes called for by the Agreement that will ensure greater protection for intellectual property rights, remove impediments to American companies in the areas of financial services and agriculture, and eliminate forced technology transfer.

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In the world of trade and tariffs every move, in every sector, is connected to every policy shift within those sectors.  You might remember on June 5th President Trump announced the reversal of seafood harvest limits within the fisheries connected to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. [Executive Order Here]

President Trump made the announcement during a visit to Maine to hear from the local fishing industry.  As a direct result of the executive order, the Northeast U.S. seafood industry, including lobster fisheries, stood to take significant competitive price advantage over their import competition.  That move set the stage for this:

USTR – United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan today announced agreement on a package of tariff reductions that will increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and EU exports. These tariff reductions are the first U.S.-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades.

Under the agreement, the EU will eliminate tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products. U.S. exports of these products to the EU were over $111 million in 2017. The EU will eliminate these tariffs on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, retroactive to begin August 1, 2020. The EU tariffs will be eliminated for a period of five years and the European Commission will promptly initiate procedures aimed at making the tariff changes permanent.

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President Trump will be delivering a speech at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting in Virginia. The event is expected to begin at 11:00am ET and is highly anticipated as a rebuttal to Joe Biden.  [Livestream Links Below]

Update: Video and Transcript Added:

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: You’re really fantastic, and I want to thank you very much. You really are. Thank you very much and thank you, Bill. And thank you to the Council for National Policy.

My brother, Robert, would have wanted me to be here today. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

Together, we’re committed to protecting the American people, preserving American values, defending America’s heritage, and keeping America safe, strong, prosperous, and free.

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Get woke – Go broke, strikes again.  When you consider the scale of the company and the resources available to them on branding and marketing…. one can only come to the reasonable conclusion that Goodyear is run by idiots.

(SOURCE – LINK)

On the positive side, the boycott response -which I fully support, not because of the originating stupid, but rather because I do not want tires from amplified corporate stupid on my vehicles- just shows the scale of economic backlash from average Americans.

There are more of us than them; they just control the mechanisms that allow us to communicate with each other – nothing more.  Remember that !

President Trump will be holding a press conference from Bedminister New Jersey today at 5:00pm – Update, moved to 5:30pm ET [Livestream Links Below]

WH Livestream LInk – NBC Livestream Link – Alternate Livestream

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Devin Nunes appears on Fox Business News for a discussion on current investigations.

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President Trump calls out a GOP member of the never-Trump community for opposing the administration efforts to assist middle-class workers and families.

“The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop,” Nebraska Senator Sasse said Saturday night. “President Obama did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law with DACA, and President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law. Under the Constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress.” [LINK]

Earlier today President Trump held a press conference (with supporters in attendance) from Bedminister New Jersey.  [Video Below – Transcript Will Follow]

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Today President Trump announced four executive orders targeted to help the majority of Americans as democrats in congress refuse to help.

Democrats in DC are holding middle-class economic relief hostage so they can force massive taxpayer bailouts on Blue states.  To avoid the loggerhead battle, President Trump is using his emergency authority via executive orders.

1) The first executive order signed is a payroll tax holiday for Americans making less than $100,000 [Details Here] President Trump stated: “If I’m victorious, November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax and to make them more permanent.”

2) The second executive order is directed to “the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HHS and CDC, to make sure renters and homeowners can stay in their homes.“ [Details Here]

3) “The third executive action I’m taking today will also provide additional support for Americans who are unemployed, due to the China virus. Under the CARES act I proudly signed I expanded unemployment benefits into law.” Benefits will be $400/week. [Details Here]

4) The fourth XO is a “directive providing relief to student loan borrowers.” The policy will be extended through the end of the year. [Details Here]

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Keep an eye open for information related to President Trump shifting the economic dynamic in the late summer and fall as he takes a more intense approach toward those who have acted against U.S. interests.  One such example is a restart of 10% tariffs on Canadian aluminum effective August 16th.

WHITE HOUSE – […] The Secretary has now advised me that imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada, which accounted for 59 percent of total aluminum imports from Canada during June 2019 through May 2020, increased substantially in the twelve months following my decision to exclude, on a long-term basis, Canada from the tariff proclaimed in Proclamation 9704.

Imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada during June 2019 through May 2020 increased 87 percent compared to the prior twelve-month period and exceeded the volume of any full calendar year in the previous decade. Moreover, imports of these articles from Canada continue to increase, reaching in June of this year the highest level of any month since I decided to adjust imports of aluminum articles in Proclamation 9704.

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