At noon today, President Trump is scheduled to make an announcement from the oval office in the White House.  Several people have speculated about the subject matter, but my suspicions are that this relates to the U.S-Canada trade status.

Perhaps the USMCA is officially opened for renegotiation; or perhaps the “elbows up” team has taken a knee.  Regardless, that’s my guess about the subject of the announcement.   Let’s watch together:

.

The leader of the Snow Mexicans looked really small after the White House Ukraine peace summit.  Just a guess, but I’m thinking Carney -with economy slowly contracting around him- is trying to get relevant quickly.

(more…)

HatTip to Ben for calling attention to this remarkable story.

Essentially China’s “Belt and Road” initiative is a system of China putting massive infrastructure investment funds into a targeted country in exchange for their ability to extract resources needed for Chinese expansion. However, several nations are now rising up against the Chinese influence as it surfaces in the lives of the citizens.

Angola is a case study in China investing billions and with the investment a large number of Chinese citizens arrive set up businesses there.  Over time resentment against the Chinese has been building.  Then a flashpoint with a massive jump in gas prices.  Suddenly, anarchy erupts, and all the Chinese businesses are looted, some even killed in the violence.

[READ STORY HERE]

China is now evacuating some of the 300,000+ Chinese citizens from the region, and the Chinese embassy is urgently warning people about the escalating crisis.

Remember when Tunis erupted at the origin of the “Arab Spring”?  That was a combined economic and cultural flashpoint. This escalating problem in Africa has a similar theme to it.

(more…)

Considering that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been called a “puppet” for various western interests, the reports of Zelenskyy bringing EU leaders along for his meeting with President Trump strikes as a little ironic.

Apparently, the EU is worried that Zelenskyy could screw things up for their Ukraine interests, so handlers or minders are being dispatched along with him just in case. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte are among the names being discussed as chaperones for the Ukraine President.

Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are planning a teleconference Sunday as the “coalition of the willing” brainstorms the best way to avoid a Zelenskyy capitulation to the terms and conditions outlined by President Vladimir Putin.

With BlackRock and J.P.Morgan prepositioned to control the Ukraine Recovery and Reinvestment Bank {LINK}, the coalition of the willing want U.S. troops to backstop the terms of a potential peace agreement.  The banks and financial beneficiaries need the insurance provided by the U.S military.

Ultimately, banking interests are the stakeholders in the future, and the U.K, France and German political officials represent the strategists in place to protect the interests of the banks.  Not coincidentally, this is classic -albeit inverted- fascism.

(more…)

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has discovered a massive network of Chinese shell companies, set up in Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia, specifically to avoid U.S. tariffs.

…”Investigations into transshipping are ongoing, the CBP tells FOX Business with monetary recovery likely to grow beyond $400 million”…

Up to 250 shell companies have been identified in the Beijing network with boots on the ground going to look at manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia that have no manufacturing activity, yet they generate products for shipment to the USA.

CBP is now on the trail of what CTH identified in January of this year with a visit to Vietnam {GO DEEP}.

ASEAN NATIONS – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has busted up a duty-evasion ring attempting to evade President Trump’s tariffs, FOX Business exclusively reports. 

The CBP uncovered over $400 million in unpaid trade duties through investigations permitted under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), a tactic used to police and stop illegal transshipments and other methods aimed at defrauding the U.S. government. That figure is expected to rise as the investigation deepens. 

[…] A source tells FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence that one of the operations had boots on the ground in Taiwan and Indonesia to look at mattress factories and found that there was no production going on. 

Additionally, over half, or $250 million, came from a network of 23 Chinese shell companies which funneled repackaged goods as if they were made in Asian nations, including South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam, to avoid tariffs.  (read more)

(more…)

The BRICS economic partnership was formed during the Obama administration.  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) watched U.S. President Obama subcontract U.S. trade policy to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street.

In the aftermath of the 2007 economic crisis, created by Congress and banking interests, the BRICS group identified two central points of ‘western’ financial influence that concerned them.

Following the financial crisis, the relationships around the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU central banks and various multinational institutions and multinational corporations, merged even closer with the government.

The priorities of the Davos and World Economic Forum (WEF) crowd were now virtually indistinguishable from many national governments.  We are almost twenty years downstream from that inflection point, and we are seeing the outcomes.

The WEF essentially flipped the traditional record of ‘fascism’.  Instead of government telling corporations how to operate, the modern version was now corporate assemblies giving direct instructions to installed politicians for government policy.

Put another way, multinational corporations are telling government officials what to do. Think of “The Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” or climate change (Paris Treaty), as recent examples.  Worse yet, western governments are doing exactly what the WEF has told them to do.

This corporate control of government is exactly what the BRICS assembly foresaw when they assembled.  When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem.  In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government.

As a result, if you really boil it down, what you find is the BRICS group oppose the WEF business model.

(more…)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the July inflation data today [RELEASE HERE].  Overall, inflation remains low and stable with a July outcome of 0.2 percent, 2.7 percent year over year.

The prices for highly consumable goods like food at home are declining, meanwhile the prices of long-term durable goods is ticking up.  Put another way, the prices of the stuff we export are lower, the prices of the imported durable goods are a little higher.  Put them together and the aggregate inflation is stable.  WATCH:

.

We should anticipate these similar economic outcomes as the baseline tariffs and reciprocal tariff rates begin solidifying.  The largest portion of the tariff rates will be absorbed by the producers, the pass-through rate will be far less.

Additionally, highly consumable goods like food and energy products should remain stable with downward price pressure as the cost of production drops.

(more…)

“Peace is the prize” ~ Donald Trump

White HouseA- President Donald J. Trump hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, where the two leaders signed a historic joint declaration for peace after decades of bitter conflict and scores of lives lost — a landmark achievement for international diplomacy that only President Trump could deliver.

The two leaders also signed bilateral economic agreements with the U.S., unlocking the great potential of the South Caucasus region in trade, transit, energy, infrastructure, and technology, and creating new opportunities for the American people and American businesses.

“For more than 35 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a bitter conflict that resulted in tremendous suffering for both nations… Many tried to find a resolution… and they were unsuccessful. With this Accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace,” said President Trump.

(more…)

President Trump held a brief presser in the oval office to review some key performance indicators within the economy.  As noted by Steve Moore, the MAGAnomic policies of President Trump deliver remarkable results – particularly for the working class or blue-collar workers.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

The financial pundits are putting their customary spin on it, but overall as the reciprocal tariffs begin, things are going well.

China’s trade surplus with the US declined to USD 23.74 billion in July, down from USD 26.57 billion in June, as both exports and imports with the US declined, falling 21.7% and 18.9%, respectively. {LINK}

For Germany, exports to the U.S. slid 2.1% to 11.8 billion euros, the third consecutive monthly decrease and the lowest value since February 2022, Destatis said. They were 8.4% lower than the same month last year. {LINK} However, since imports from the U.S. increased at the same time, this narrowed Germany’s trade surplus in goods with the U.S.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington empty-handed on Wednesday after a hastily arranged trip to avert a crippling 39% tariff on the country’s exports to the United States, its biggest market, three sources familiar with the matter said. {LINK}

Reciprocal tariffs begin today. “Before Thursday, virtually every country’s goods were subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Now rates vary substantially from country to country.”

The highest rates imposed are on goods from Brazil (50%), Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%), Iraq (35%) and Serbia (35%).

(more…)

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Donald Trump at the White House to announce a commitment by the tech company to increase its investment in U.S. manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years. Apple is now committed to investing $600 billion in expanded U.S. manufacturing.

The media questioning begins at 20:00 of the video below.  WATCH:

“This includes new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components — semiconductor chips included — that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we’re grateful to the President for his support,” Cook said in a statement announcing the investment.

The new manufacturing partners include Corning, Coherent, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments and Broadcom among others.

(more…)