As Wall Street’s Big Club politicians go bananas over the pending tariffs on Mexico, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins appears on Fox morning to discuss his own visit to the border, the growing crisis and the political intransigence in DC.
AMLO knows there is no way for Mexico to begin retaliating against the U.S. after President Trump demanded they step-up migration travel enforcement or face U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports. There’s no way for Mexico to take on Trump economically; and they would be foolish to try… All business interests in Mexico will take a financial hit as soon as the stock market opens tomorrow: [Tweet Link]
No doubt Mexican Foreign Minister Jesus Seade will reach out to Jared Kushner for relief/assistance; but don’t look for President Trump to change on this issue until he sees substantive actions taking place. Trump knows AMLO has a tendency to play political games with immigration; he’s made hollow promises before; and now Jesus Seade is in a very tenuous position.
(Reuters) […] The announcement rattled investors who feared that worsening trade frictions could hurt the global economy. The Mexican peso, U.S. stock index futures and Asian stock markets tumbled on the news, including the shares of Japanese automakers who ship cars from Mexico to the United States.
Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, President Trump has just announced an emergency tariff program on all Mexican goods that begins on June 10th at 5% and continues to increase monthly until Mexico takes action to halt illegal Central American migration.
Tariff Schedule: ♦5% effective June 10th ♦10% effective July 1st ♦15% effective August 1st ♦20% effective September 1st ♦25% effective October 1st, and continuing therein until Mexico takes action to stop the flow of Central American migrants.
Details from the White House: As everyone knows, the United States of America has been invaded by hundreds of thousands of people coming through Mexico and entering our country illegally.
This sustained influx of illegal aliens has profound consequences on every aspect of our national life—overwhelming our schools, overcrowding our hospitals, draining our welfare system, and causing untold amounts of crime. Gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illegal drugs and narcotics of all kinds are pouring across the Southern Border and directly into our communities. Thousands of innocent lives are taken every year as a result of this lawless chaos. It must end NOW!
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Today is a very good day. Despite the professional punditry and their doomsayer predictions of Trump tariffs driving up costs for consumers, exactly the opposite is happening.
Despite large growth in the Main Street USA economy; and despite large wage gains by U.S. blue-collar workers; inflation remains low and mysteriously detached from the Fed monetary policy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. inflation was much weaker than initially thought in the first quarter amid a sharp slowdown in domestic demand, which could cast doubts on the Federal Reserve’s view that the benign price pressures were largely because of temporary factors.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding the volatile food and energy components increased at a 1.0% rate last quarter, the government said. The so-called core PCE price index, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, was previously reported to have risen at a 1.3% pace.
The increase last quarter was the smallest in four years and pushed inflation further below the Fed’s 2% target. (read more)
They just don’t get it. For over three years CTH has been explaining how President Trump’s maganomic policy will reverse three decades of stagnant Main Street economic growth. Today the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) once again confirms our earlier predictions, and releases the data showing inflation is essentially nonexistent.
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Steve Bannon is in Paris, France as the nationalist wins in the EU parliamentary election results fill the headlines. Additionally, Bannon gives his opinion on the strategic importance of President Trump’s recent state visit to Japan.
Despite the professional doomsayer predictions from the professional financial class of Wall Street investment punditry, Main Street is upbeat and consumer confidence is strong.
Tariff-Man Winning
“Consumer Confidence posted another gain in May and is now back to levels seen last Fall when the Index was hovering near 18-year highs,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The increase in the Present Situation Index was driven primarily by employment gains.
Consumers expect the economy to continue growing at a solid pace in the short-term, and despite weak retail sales in April, these high levels of confidence suggest no significant pullback in consumer spending in the months ahead.” (more)
Never is the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street more visible than in the predictions -vs- reality for the growing/strengthening American middle-class.
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Chrystia Freeland has presented the initial procedural process for the Canadian Parliament to take up a bill to pass the USMCA. However, the Canadian window is short, if they don’t ratify the trade pact by the end of June, the Canadian parliament will go into legislative recess until after the general elections October 21st, 2019.
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada took a first step toward ratifying the new North American trade agreement on Monday just three days ahead of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to Ottawa to discuss the passage of the treaty.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland presented what is known as a “ways and means motion” to the House of Commons, which opens the way for the formal presentation of a bill.
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe deliver remarks and hold a bilateral press availability prior to bilateral discussion over issues of trade and regional security with North Korea.
Polls are all closed. Election results are beginning to come in fast. The overall result in the European (EU) Parliamentary Election reflects massive gains for conservative nationalists in Italy, Greece, France, Poland, Hungary, Austria, U.K. and others…
Over 400 million people can vote in 28 countries, seven of which held ballots between Thursday and Saturday, with the remainder voting today, Sunday.
Source Feeds: Here (BBC) and Here (Reuters) and Here and Here and Here (UK centric)
♦In France Marine Le Pen has defeated the party led by Emmanuel Macron. Exit polls in France indicated that Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigrant National Rally party came out on top in an astonishing rebuke of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has made EU integration the heart of his presidency (link).
♦In Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is likely to call a snap general election in June, after the opposition party took the lead.
♦Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party is expected to come first in the election with 42.4% of the vote.
♦Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was expected to win 56% of votes, state television reported.
♦Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz leading with support for Kurz’s conservative People’s Party, at 34.5%.
♦In Italy Matteo Salvini’s far-right League is now emerging as Italy’s largest party, and the 5-Star Movement has lost a third of its voters over the course of a year.
♦Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition, the CDU/CSU, has lost multiple seats now dropping to a projected 28 (out of 96).
♦In the U.K. Nigel Farage Brexit Party is crushing the traditional political classes. With 100 of 373 counts complete, the brand new Brexit Party is in the lead with 31.9%, crushing the two largest parties,Conservatives and Labour, who are down 12-14% each so far.
Based on time zones (Japan is 13 hours ahead), and considering Lighthizer left on Thursday; it would appear Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are meeting right about now.
(Reuters) – Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that he will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Tokyo on Saturday for trade talks ahead of a summit meeting between leaders from the two nations on Monday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to discuss topics including North Korea’s nuclear programs, trade issues and the coming Group of 20 leaders’ summit. (link)
Following the State Dinner to celebrate the beginning of the Reiwa Era, introduced with the coronation of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are scheduled to hold a summit and joint press conference on Monday.
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