On the six-month anniversary of the tax cut/tax reform legislation passage, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sits down with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the current status of all MAGAnomic initiatives.
Tomorrow is also the last day of the second quarter (April, May June), and today is the last business day of Fiscal Year 2018 third quarter (fiscal years start Oct. 1st).

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Segment two below. Ivanka Trump joins Secretary Mnuchin to discuss results.
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Following the groundbreaking ceremony, President Trump delivered remarks to a Wisconsin audience to commemorate the opening of the massive high-tech industrial complex.

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From the office of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross: The groundbreaking on Foxconn’s $10-billion factory to produce state-of-the-art flat-panel displays in Mount Pleasant represents a milestone for America.
With a 20-million-square-foot campus situated on 3,000 acres, the new Foxconn plant will be among the largest factories ever built in the United States. It will take two years and 10,000 construction workers to build, and employ 13,000 workers when in full production of a variety of LCD screens. It is one of the largest foreign direct investments ever made in the United States.

It would never have happened without the promise of the Trump tax cuts and the President’s personal intervention.
As important as the new factory is to the workers of Wisconsin, the facility is also a symbol of what is to come: It is the first of a large number of investments in advanced manufacturing facilities being reshored from overseas locations back to the United States.
Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has already said that he is considering another enormous facility in the United States.
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President Trump often holds local media Q&A’s when discussing specific local aspects to larger trade and economic initiatives.  In this quick interview with Charles Benson President Trump discusses the Foxconn deal (more on that will follow), and the larger issue surrounding a global trade reset objective (important video below).
As steps are taken within the America-First economic initiatives, many people are overlooking President Trump’s ultimate goal of a complete global reset in trade.  The Trump administration wants all trade tariffs and trade barriers removed so that all nations can compete on an even field.
In order to achieve that goal, POTUS Trump is applying the process of reciprocity; assigning an identical U.S. trade standard as the country being confronted.
The international community cannot negotiate (in good faith), from an adversarial position, against an identical trade policy they apply toward the U.S.
However, until today no President has ever called out the global trade hypocrisy; let alone challenged it directly.   President Trump will not back down from this approach. The international trade community is just now realizing that fact.
Within the process of negotiation to achieve this reset, President Trump begins to apply the principles of reciprocal trade tariffs.  This is the first phase; this is where we are now.
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National Economic Council Chairman Larry “Kuddles” Kudlow is back after suffering a mild heart attack. [Yikes, “mild“, is there such a thing?]
Appearing on TV with Stuart Varney Chairman Kudlow explains how the administration hopes to use the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) to enhance U.S. trade policy.  Mr. Varney cannot comprehend Trump-speed in achieving a global trade reset:

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While media wasn’t paying attention, President Trump brilliantly played congress to gain strategic trade leverage.  Knowing political opposition would unite, POTUS Trump took a forgiving position toward Chinese company ZTE; Trump-haters and NeverTrumpers quickly aligned to push through hammer legislation designed to hurt China and by extension Trump’s position.  However, Trump actually wanted the tool.  POTUS now weaponizes FIRRMA as trade leverage against all 301 targets.   Brilliant.
USTR Robert Lighthizer Final 301 Report on China Trade Infractions HERE
Part 2 of Kudlow interview below:
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Good news within a strenuously spun Reuters article. Don’t get lost looking at the granules; apparently all of the prior Canadian strategy against President Trump has failed.
For well over a year Justin from Canada and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland were confident they could leverage the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, purchased DC politicians and ideological allies against President Trump in NAFTA negotiations. The result? Fail, fail and more fail.

Running out of options, Canada now attempts to save their NAFTA construct by turning to the executives within the auto industry:

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s trade minister last week met senior officials from General Motors Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in Detroit, as Ottawa takes its lobbying effort directly to the Big Three carmakers to avert potential U.S. auto tariffs.
The Liberal government is relying on industry partners to press Canada’s cause in the White House and elsewhere, using their influence to protect Canadian interests, sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

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Earlier today President Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton met with Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin. At the conclusion of their discussions Mr. Bolton held a brief press conference to answer questions.
We anticipate that tomorrow a joint U.S-Russia announcement for a summit to be held later this year.

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Quick, with MAGA-shocking news reverberating there’s a mid-west rush on winnamins.
Remember that massive MAGA Trump rally last week in Duluth Minnesota? That would be the 9,000 strong rally where twice as many were turned away?
Well, the data team at MAGA HQ have crunched the numbers and Brad Parscale shares the results: “The crowd at the Minnesota rally was 60% Democrat and Independent.”

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There is an article from Bloomberg which finally concedes the obvious economic and trade dynamic within a U.S. -vs- China confrontation.  The media paradigm shift is based on new statements from Chinese Ministers admitting they cannot win a trade confrontation with U.S. President Trump.
The summary reason is simple, we have discussed it frequently:
China is a production-based economic model, they do not have the ability, or wealth, to consume their own durable goods production; they rely on exports.
The U.S. is a more balanced economy; we consume 80% of our own production.  We are self-sustaining, China is not.
Without a market to sell their products, the Chinese economy cannot survive.
Conversely, China has focused so intensely on durable-goods manufacturing, their consumable goods market (food) is dependent; they cannot feed themselves.  The U.S. can survive without exporting food, China cannot survive without importing food.  The U.S. economy can survive without importing durable goods; the Chinese economy cannot survive without exporting durable goods.  This is the unavoidable trade reality.  As a consequence President Trump has all the factual leverage.
In stunning, and carefully worded economic writings, Chinese academics and economic ministers are now talking about the inherent weakness of the Red Dragon policies:
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This has to be one of the single funniest French retorts in the history of commerce.  If President Trump follows through on auto tariffs, France will strike back.  Let that sink in.
Oh noes,… your next Peugeot, Citroen or Renault purchase might cost more.  D’oh.

PARIS (Reuters) – Europe will hit back if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to slap import tariffs on European-made cars, France’s finance minister said on Monday. Trump escalated already burning trade tensions on Friday by threatening to hit all imports of cars assembled in the European Union (EU) with a 20 percent tariff.   (more)

The EU is the most protectionist trade bloc in the world.  The German auto-sector is the most protected trade sector inside the EU.  The hypocrisy is silly.
The EU, Germany specifically, needs access to the U.S. market to survive.  Angela Merkel has already conceded this point in the EU concessionary position to abandon all auto tariffs; in exchange for removal of Steel and Aluminum tariffs.
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