Oh, how the European hypocrisy is in overdrive on the tariff issue.  According to BBC U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and President Trump had a phone call where the British leader expressed “deep concern” over the Trump administration’s pending tariff’s on Steel and Aluminum.

Theresa May has told Donald Trump of her “deep concern” at his plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US.

Amid an escalating war of words between Washington and the European Union, the Prime Minister told the US President that “multilateral action was the only way to resolve the problem of global overcapacity in all parties’ interests”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.  (read more)

Mrs. May must think Americans are unambiguously stupid because it was less than two years ago when the U.K. urgently applied tariffs against Chinese steel in an effort to stave off the losses within their own steel industry:

APRIL 2017,  – BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on steel products from China to stop them flooding Europe’s struggling steel market.

Hypocrisy much?

President Trump is entirely correct in his prior tweet:

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to talk trade and tariffs amid the apoplectic drum-beating from the Wall Street crowd and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Secretary Ross explains the use of Trade Section 232 for national security. The U.S. capability to produce steel and aluminum is a vital interest to national security. The World Trade Organization (WTO), a collective enterprise of multinational corporations, is angered by the use of section 232 because it works around their ability to file complaints.

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The essential point to drive home is that for the past 30+ years U.S. trade policy has been driven by Wall Street and financial corporate benefactors to the detriment of the U.S. middle class and a manufacturing economy.  It is not necessary to argue the outcome, we can all clearly see it.  The Trump objective is to restore a balanced U.S. economy, stop the exploitative export of American wealth, and stabilize our own middle-class.

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Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro appears on CNN with Jake Tapper to discuss pending steel and aluminum tariffs.   During the interview Navarro rightly outlined the possibility of some product “exemptions” but there no country “exclusions” for new trade tariffs.

What the media refuse to explain (willful blindness), on the country exclusion aspect, is that Chinese steel dumping doesn’t come from China alone.  China uses proxy countries in Asia as shipment depots to avoid tariffs.  Additionally, China use Mexico and Canada in North America as destinations for their steel product to gain tariff-free NAFTA access to the U.S. market.   The only way to avoid their use of proxy shipment hubs is to tax all steel and aluminum globally.

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I think we’ve figured out why President Trump is doing the Steel and Aluminum tariffs ahead of the NAFTA withdrawal.  Perhaps, the wolverine administration is using Steel and Aluminum to draw attention to the NAFTA fatal flaw.

Earlier today Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stated:

“Should restrictions be imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum products, Canada will take responsive measures to defend its trade interests and workers,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement, calling any trade restrictions“absolutely unacceptable.”  (link)

The key word in that statement from Freeland is “products”. Why? because Canada doesn’t make more than a boutique amount of raw Steel.  (Top 40 List)  The Canadians, like the Mexicans, import the vast majority of their raw steel from China.  Canada then fabricates products from the Chinese steel.  This nuanced point is almost always lost on people who discuss trade.  This point of origination is also the fatal flaw within NAFTA.

In essence Canada is a brokerage for Chinese manufactured material, and NAFTA is the access trade-door exploited by China for entry into the U.S. market.  More on that in a moment.  First watch Justin from Canada explain his country’s position. (prompted, just hit play):

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U.S. Steel and Aluminum tariffs are just one component of a larger economic issue. Bringing back U.S. production on those sectors is vital to the infrastructure of a manufacturing and production economy. Modern Wall Street is centered on multinational interests within economic globalism. Weaken the trade grip of the multinational corporations and their financial manipulation upon the U.S. economy, and Wall Street will drop… this is not difficult to predict.  This is also necessary.

Last week President Trump spoke candidly with the White House assembly of U.S. Governors about the critical need to re-evaluate their position(s) on trade.  President Trump’s remarks were direct, but also nuanced toward the audience.  A few hours later the White House announced President Trump had promoted his economic guru, Peter Navarro to be Assistant to The President.

Mr. Navarro’s job is to counter the false narrative from the GOPe, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street crowd. Cue the audio visual demonstration (two video segments):

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Segment #2 below:

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The professional financial class are going bananas at the steel and aluminum tariffs being implemented by the Trump administration.  As expected, most of the apoplectic drum-beating is coming from the Wall Street crowd.  This same Wall Street crowd conveniently overlooks that last year the EU imposed even HIGHER tariffs on steel and aluminum than the Trump administration is proposing now.

Laughably this group of talking heads is pitching the trade and economic position of Canada and the EU in their talking points. However, the hypocrisy is off the charts.

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If you think the professional financial class are over-the-top now, just wait until the administration pulls out of NAFTA. These are the battles that matter. The administration is directly over the target. The multinational corporate crowd, including their corporately owned media, are pushing a fundamentally false set of talking points; their economic dishonesty reflects their desperation.

When Main Street economic principles are applied Wall Street will initially lose. There’s no way for this not to happen. Most of Wall Street is built on the Multinational platform of economic globalism. Weaken the grip of the multinational corporations and financial interests on the U.S. economy and Wall Street will drop… this is not difficult to predict. This is also necessary.

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Earlier today President Trump spoke candidly with the White House assembly of U.S. Governors about the critical need to re-evaluate their position(s) on trade.  President Trump’s remarks were direct, but also remarkably nuanced toward the audience.  However, if you follow Trump’s process, you’ll note the familiar indications.

Next, far less subtle and yet following along the same predictable process, the Wall Street Journal is reporting President Trump now promoting his economic guru Peter Navarro to be Assistant to The President.   Navarro is a brilliant and strategic trade hawk who has a long track record of supporting the same trade principles as Donald Trump.

A NAFTA decision/announcement looms. ♦ As expected and predicted, a recent phone call by Mexican President Pena Nieto to POTUS Trump didn’t end well. ♦ USTR Lighthizer blasted Canada at the end of round six NAFTA renegotiation. ♦  Placing Pete Navarro inside the circle puts him directly in the right place to speak on behalf of President Trump for an upcoming announcement.   All of these NAFTA exit indicators are great news.

Our wolverine team is growing.  Now we have Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Asst. To POTUS Peter Navarro, all assembled.

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When President Trump left the Davos economic forum, Secretary T-Rex traveled to Poland for a bilateral meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.  Many readers are aware how the U.S. and Poland have formed a very strong bond, a very strategic alliance, since the Trump administration took office.
Last year President Trump visited Warsaw to solidify a geopolitical relationship based on common interests and a desire to help Poland push back against Russian leverage based on energy dependence. Poland is a key strategic ally for the Trump administration, and more importantly a trusted ally; arguably more so than the U.K.
T-Rex held a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz. Video:

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After the visit to Poland, T-Rex flew to London (there now) for the opening of the new U.S. Embassy.  While in the U.K. T-Rex will be meeting with Boris Johnson to discuss mutual interests and continue trying to determine if the U.K. is a willing trade partner.
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Earlier today President Trump had dinner with European business leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Attendees included:
U.S. Team – President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn.
European Delegation: Kasper Rorsted, Adidas (Apparel) Germany; Joe Kaeser, Siemens AG (Tech) Germany; Heinrich Hiesinger, Thyssenkrupp AG (Industrials) Germany; Eldar Saetre, Statoil ASA (Energy) Norway; Mark Schneider, Nestle SA (Food and Beverage) Switzerland; Vas Narasimhan, Novartis AG (Pharmaceutical) Switzerland; Mark Tucker, HSBC (Financial Services) UK; Patrick Pouyanne, Total SA (Energy) France; Carols Brito, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (Food and Beverage) Netherlands; Rajeev Suri, Nokia Corporation (Technology) Finland; Punit Renjen, Deloitte (Consulting) UK; Martian Lundstedt, AB Volvo (Auto) Sweden; Werner Baumann, Bayer AG (Pharmaceutical) Germany; Bill McDermott, SAP SE (Technology) Germany; Ulrich Spiesshofer, ABB Ltd (Manufacturing) Switzerland.

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U.S. President Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Against the backdrop of increasing discoveries surrounding the U.K. involvement in undermining the candidacy of Donald Trump; and against the left-wing U.K. political forces consistently highlighting criticism of President Trump; the reality is the U.K. is now in a position of economic vulnerability and needs favorable financial outcomes from President Trump.
As such, Prime Minister May is in a tenuous position and hoping the U.S. President will be magnanimous in his forgiveness of the past two years of scheming, ankle-biting and very public criticism. The scale of President Trump’s leverage over Prime Minister May is very visible in their dialogue and body language.

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Right now the U.K. needs American economic help and POTUS Trump. Almost nothing has worked in their economic benefit since they made the conscious decision to take a position of adversarialism. If the U.K. doesn’t knock off the nonsense President Trump will stand aside and watch them suffer. Theresa May knows this is her reality.
T-Rex is enjoying the art of the deal, having flashbacks to corporate life, remembering the power of holding all the leverage while witnessing an apex predator circling his prey. Cohn and McMaster well understand the play…
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