In a letter to the president EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned from his position. President Trump has accepted his resignation and notes that Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will assume the acting administrator position Monday. (letter below)
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Pontificating economic globalists are stuck between empirical good news and their preferred anti-Trump tariff narrative. Economic media like the Wall Street Journal are filled with angst, as Trump’s manufacturing MAGAnomics continues to destroy their decades-long talking points and globalist preferences.
The analysis of June factory and manufacturing indicators from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) highlight an expanding reality: increased production, increased new orders, increased employment, and demand outpacing supplies and transportation capacity. Yes, all of this means the Main Street U.S. economic engine is firing on all cylinders. We can only imagine what the Q2 numbers will reflect when it’s all rolled up.
ISM DATA – “Comments from the panel reflect continued expanding business strength. Demand remains strong, with the New Orders Index at 60 percent or above for the 14th straight month, and the Customers’ Inventories Index remaining low. The Backlog of Orders Index continued to expand, reading at 60 percent of higher for the third consecutive month. Consumption, described as production and employment, continues to expand in spite of labor, skill and material shortages.
What does this mean in blue collar language? Short term: OVERTIME pay folks…. maximum earnings possibilities as demand for factory and manufacturing has all employment working maximum production shifts. Long term: upward wage pressure, jobs, jobs, jobs.
For the Truck Drivers? Work, work, work. You got a rig, they need it hauled. Everywhere.
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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks celebrating the six month anniversary of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Today is also the last business day of the second quarter.
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:
Office of Management and Budget Direct Mick Mulvaney had a break-out session during the White House cabinet meeting today where he discussed part of the government restructuring and reform proposals.
We have waited a long time for this type of common sense initiative. This is MAGA. Some will say it can’t be done; however, if it is not attempted it most certainly will never be done. As President Trump has shared for years: “the impossible is only the starting point”; and I would not bet against this administration actually getting this accomplished. WATCH:
There are Trillions At Stake. There is no upper limit to what congress is willing to do to stop President Trump from turning off the lobbyist funding. Without influence in DC there can be no affluence in DC. That’s why McConnell cancelled the recess.
If the president continues to remain focused exclusively on what is in the U.S. best interests, he must be stopped. Politicians in DC cannot just sit-by and allow the U.S. economy to be based on the interests of Americans; it would mean the destruction of years of central planning by DC Lobbyists, multinational banks, Wall Street and multinational corporations.
WASHINGTON DC – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he will not bring up a freestanding bill to push back on President Trump’s trade agenda, but that GOP senators might be able to add it as an amendment to other legislation.
Support among Republicans has grown for legislation backed by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that would give Congress power to authorize or reject any new tariffs imposed because of national security concerns.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland begin a U.S. media grievance tour to frame a narrative around the recent Steel and Aluminum tariffs.
The Canadian duo intentionally conflate a U.S. objective to secure the Steel and Aluminum industrial base into a narrative that the U.S. is targeting Canada as a security threat. Despite this shamefully obtuse argument the majority of Canadians and the vast majority of Americans can see right through this nonsense. Trudeau and Freeland should be ashamed (but they won’t be), watch:
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Canada and Mexico have both structured their international trade deals around their ability to provide access to the coveted $20 trillion U.S. market. Rather than fix the fatal flaw in NAFTA, which would cost them billions, both nations have doubled down with demands that their dependency model be allowed to continue. They are both about to discover the catastrophic consequences to that decision. Their economic losses will now be exponentially larger as an outcome of their entrenched ideology.
Generally speaking the corporate media have yet to have an honest outline about the fatal flaw within NAFTA that allows China, ASEAN nations and the EU to exploit previous investments in Canada and Mexico as a back-door to the U.S. market.
In a generalized aspect, the recent visit of top U.S. trade and economic policymakers to China was part of Trump’s exploration into the larger dynamic of bi-lateral trade between the U.S. and China knowing full well the NAFTA flaw remains unaddressed. Without addressing the loop-hole (aka ‘fatal flaw’) any modernized NAFTA deal is moot; and by extension the foundation for any future trade deal between the U.S. and China is too byzantine to manage.
It is in China and the EU’s interests to continue exploiting the NAFTA access. It is in Canada and Mexico’s interests to retain the subsequent investment influx.
It is in multinational corporate and Wall Street interests to continue the scheme. However, it is also entirely against U.S. Main Street interests. Hence, NAFTA loggerheads reigns supreme; and in my opinion, we are soon to see President Trump cut the Gordian knot.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior Canadian, U.S. and Mexican officials trying to rescue slow-moving talks to update the NAFTA trade pact met on Monday in a new bid to resolve key issues before regional elections complicate the process.
With time fast running out to strike some kind of deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the three member nations are still far apart on major points.
On June 29th, 2017, CTH drew attention to the advanced U.S. energy policy as it was being announced, and the media avoided coverage. At the time our headline was: “Stratospheric in Consequence – Trump Policy: Unleashing American Energy Independence”.
The bottom-line was simple. It was clearly visible that POTUS Trump had a plan to unleash the U.S. energy sector as part a much larger larger economic and national security strategy. The concept was so radical, and the potential ramifications so consequential, it was stunning how no financial media were putting the dots together.
Trump’s geopolitical energy strategy actually underpinned the national security interests with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Additionally, the same energy policy was one of the four corners of the MAGAnomic trade policy; currently becoming more visible.
Check out today’s headline from Reuters, and think about how outside-the-box thinking has brought about these results:
From the article: MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) – As OPEC’s efforts to balance the oil market bear fruit, U.S. producers are reaping the benefits – and flooding Europe with a record amount of crude.
Russia paired with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last year in cutting oil output jointly by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd), a deal they say has largely rebalanced the market and one that has helped elevate benchmark Brent prices close to four-year highs.
