President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin are is using the newly constructed sanctions authority to punish eight North Korean banks and 26 bank workers living abroad.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctions (full outline below) rely on an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week to target North Korea’s access to the international banking system. The Trump/Mnuchin action comes as as a separate outcome from the recently passed United Nations sanctions package targeting North Korea.

The eight banks are all in North Korea. The Treasury Department says the 26 individuals are North Korean nationals employed by those banks who work in Russia, China, Libya and the United Arab Emirates.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the U.S. is targeting those “across the globe” who facilitate financial transactions for North Korea. He says it’s part of the effort to isolate North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. (link)

Treasury announcement below.
(more…)

Earlier today President Trump joined with Labor Secretary Acosta, Education Secretary DeVos and Ivanka Trump to sign an executive memorandum highlighting expanded STEM and Computer Science education access to students.

[Transcript] – 3:04 P.M. EDT –  THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all. It’s a great pleasure to be here with Secretary DeVos, Secretary Acosta, and Ivanka. I also want to express my appreciation to Representatives Bradley Byrne, Susan Brooks, Lamar Smith, and Virginia Foxx. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Thank you very much for being with us. And Mimi Walters, thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Susan.
I want to just talk about leadership. It’s the most important issue. We need leadership in this country — women and girls and for every child in America, represented by all of the incredible students here today. These are great students. Are you all good students?
PARTICIPANTS: Yes!
(more…)

For those who have followed the months-long strategy of President Trump toward North Korea and China, the latest words from China fall squarely into place. Unfortunately for those who have not followed the approach, the consequential nuance will be lost.
What is happening publicly is entirely predictable when we accept what is happening privately, against the backdrop of activity that has taken place since February of this year.
Remember the Trumpian objective of creating the “Magnanimous Panda” as you read these latest words from Beijing:

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Reacting to remarks by North Korea’s foreign minister on Monday, China’s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi told Reuters the escalating rhetoric between North Korea and the United States was getting too dangerous and the only solution was negotiations.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters that President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. bombers even if not in its air space.

(more…)

Round three of NAFTA begins this weekend in Canada.  According to a leaked possible itinerary obtained by Reuters the auto-sector “rules of origin” will be discussed on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The auto sector rules of origin have been exploited by China to send auto manufacturing parts into Mexico, including massive electronic components, where they are assembled and shipped into the U.S. under NAFTA.  This trade maneuver is an exploitation, a back-door per se’, of the NAFTA agreement by China which Secretary Ross and USTR Robert Lighthizer are committed to stopping.
Secretary Wilbur Ross explains in this recent CNBC interview. WATCH:

(more…)

Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria.  CTH can confirm there is almost no communication with the majority of those impacted by the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria.   Local officials are using satellite phones to gain residents the ability to contact their friends and family in the U.S. mainland. Critical infrastructure has been severely compromised.  Cell phone service is sporadic to non-existent.
Adding to and amplifying the problem was a general dependency on government assistance, by a large portion of the population, for basic needs prior to the storm.  The comfort of dependency has now worsened the desperation of the people on the island.

(Via Fox News) A humanitarian crisis grew Saturday in Puerto Rico as towns were left without fresh water, fuel, power or phone service following Hurricane Maria’s devastating passage across the island.

A group of anxious mayors arrived in the capital to meet with Gov. Ricardo Rossello to present a long list of items they urgently need. The north coastal town of Manati had run out of fuel and fresh water, Mayor Jose Sanchez Gonzalez said.

“Hysteria is starting to spread. The hospital is about to collapse. It’s at capacity,” he said, crying. “We need someone to help us immediately.”
(more…)

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley holds a press availability in New York City on September 21, 2017 to discuss ongoing diplomatic engagements.

.
No-one in the media has yet to fully grasp the Trump Doctrine’ as it pertains to leveraging the scale and influence of the U.S. economy, all aspects, to gain national security outcomes.  This is what happens when a non-politician, a problem solver, becomes U.S. President.
(more…)

Jumping ju-ju bones, now that we’ve read the stunning content of this executive order it is completely obvious why Beijing took action today with their central bank instructions.
President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin have structured this executive order in such a way that the downstream consequences from any economic engagement with the DPRK effectively cuts off that entity from engaging in commerce or economic activity with the United States.

It’s a jaw-dropping, and effective, way to blockade any economic engagement with North Korea. That reality, and accepting that POTUS Trump gave a heads’ up to Xi Jinping, is obviously what precipitated Beijing to get out ahead of the executive order lest any Chinese entity be directly impacted and blocked from trade with the U.S.
[I bullet pointed the sections below]:
(more…)

During a luncheon with South Korea (Moon Jae-in) and Japan (Shinzo Abe), U.S. President Donald Trump announces new sanctions against North Korea (Kim Jong-un).
Moments prior to President Trump’s statement, Beijing (China’s Red Dragon ‘old guard’ communists), announced their central bank has instructed all of China’s banks to stop financial transactions with DPRK entities (proxy provincial financial systems).  Beijing (Red Dragon) is attempting to retain their panda mask as an economic necessity to the international community.  President Trump’s economic pressure is unrelenting:

-Panda Sees Lion Tracks In Shrinking Bamboo Forest-

China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity.  Beijing sees peace and war as coexisting with each other. China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.  Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
The Chinese objective is to win, to dominate, using economic power.
(more…)

In about a week Round #3 of NAFTA renegotiations begin in Canada.  Dispute settlement and country of origin rules are widely anticipated to be key points of disagreement.
For those who follow trade and economics closely, the latest Trump trade policy outline from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is buckets of good news. President Trump, Commerce Secretary Ross and USTR Lighthizer willing to confront the World Trade Organization (WTO), the epicenter of multinational economics and globalism.

.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The WTO dispute settlement system is “deficient” and has often ruled in favor of free trade that overlooks details of a trade agreement, U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer said on Monday.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lighthizer, a trade lawyer, made clear that the administration was poised to push for major changes to the global trade system during upcoming meetings of the Geneva-based trade body. WTO member countries will meet in Buenos Aires on Dec 10.
(more…)

Everything is about the economics.  DACA, NAFTA, N-Korea, UniParty, all of it.  It’s the underlying financial and multinational economic constructs, being deconstructed by a U.S. ‘America-First’ President, that are driving the anti-Trump policy narrative.

When reading this article from Reuters interviewing Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, remember to review through the prism of prior known activity.  On the NAFTA front, a continual 5 year review is against Mexico’s interests because it has the potential to address back-doors and work-arounds that multinationals will find in concert with a willingness on Mexico to exploit.  Wilburine ain’t no dummy.
Secondly, on the John Kelly comments, remember General Kelly participated in South American and U.S. Mexico summits as head of DHS.  Kelly knows the tenuous nature of Mexico’s economy; while it’s doubtful that Kelly used the exact terminology used by the New York Times to create an anti-administration narrative, there’s no doubt of the reality that Mexico’s economy is tenuous at best.

The head of Mexico’s central banking system, Agustin Carstens resigned last December, and continues his role within the World Bank.  President Trump’s policies are against the financial interests of Mexico.  The outflow of U.S. dollars by Mexican nationals props up the Mexican economy.  Clamp down on illegal immigration, and, well, you can see the possibility.  Remember, there are trillions of dollars at stake – and those interests extend well beyond the U.S. borders.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s foreign minister on Friday said a U.S. plan to add a five-year sunset provision to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was redundant, since the pact’s members can already trigger a renegotiation or leave it at any time.

(more…)