U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is attending Round Six of the NAFTA talks in Canada while President Trump, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin attend the Davos World Economic Forum and sit down for an interview with Maria Bartiromo. (Three Video Segments).
President Donald Trump is holding a joint press conference today with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway. Anticipated start time 3:15pm.
UPDATE: Video Added
♦Removing the U.S. from the multinational TPP trade deal initially planted the seeds of doubt amid multinational trade forecasters because the shift positioned the U.S. with unique leverage. They saw Trump using access to the worlds largest market as a negotiating strategy.
♦A few months later, President Trump walked away from the ridiculous regulatory restrictions within the Paris Climate Treaty. Instantaneously this put even more strategic manufacturing and economic advance on the U.S. ledger, and simultaneously made American energy independence a foregone conclusion.
♦And now that congress has codified President Trump’s lower domestic business taxes, in conjunction with opening up ANWR for energy development (a strategic economic goal for 20+ years), the size of the U.S. economic and manufacturing advantage has just increased U.S. trade leverage to almost unimaginable levels.
Economic Nationalism – President Trump’s strategy has created: •Lower and long-term predictable energy costs, not attached to OPEC or multinational influence; •Lower and long-term raw material costs due to slashed regulatory environment; •lower and long-term business manufacturing tax rates; and now Trump begins negotiating trade deals.
Add these advantages together within the largest economic market in the world and the U.S. is now the place where manufacturers will want to do business. Additionally, the process of utilizing Canada and/or Mexico as a workaround into the U.S. market, via NAFTA, is on the cusp of removal.
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If there is anyone who didn’t quite understand the quote: “there are trillions of dollars at stake”, in the context of the 2016 election, well, a letter today from the biggest EU economic nations will provide greater context.
Additionally, as you absorb the position behind their claims, never forget how much foreign governments spend in lobbying the U.S. congress for legislation adverse to the interests of U.S. workers.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are claiming the U.S. congress has no right to reform the U.S. tax code because the reforms undercut their ability to hold an advantage over the U.S. in multinational trade deals.
This quote is particularly enlightening:
[…] The letter argues that proposed changes to the U.S. tax code could give American companies an advantage over foreign rivals.
The Globalist Position: ‘All your tax code are belong to us.’ Yes Alice, the election of President Trump, and the specific economic and trade policies within his platform, are an existential threat to decades long multinational schemes.
CNN MONEY – Germany, France, Britain, Spain and Italy have written to Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, arguing that tax bills passed by the House and Senate run afoul of treaties and could distort international trade.
“It is important that the U.S. government’s rights over domestic tax policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international obligations to which it has signed-up,” the letter states. It was signed by the countries’ finance ministers.
Following a year where Europe has suffered more casualties from terrorist attacks than all other threats, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has spent the past two days meeting with NATO leadership.
Following those talks, today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered remarks and answered questions during a NATO press conference in Brussels, Belgium. One of the topics during the Q&A regarded Israel and the movement of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
In the first answer to a ridiculous question from U.S. AP Reporter Josh Lederman, T-Rex verbally beat the idiot over the head. [Transcript Below Video]
Londonistan: President Trump continues his perfect record of seeing around corners…
(Via Daily Mail) The security services believe they have stopped an Islamist suicide bomb plot to assassinate the Prime Minister.
Two Muslim men are suspected of conspiring to attack Downing Street armed with an improvised bomb, suicide vest and knives.
Investigators suspect the pair wanted to detonate a bomb disguised as a bag. They would then attempt to kill Theresa May armed with a suicide vest, pepper spray and knife in the chaotic aftermath.
Earlier today President Trump re-tweeted some videos showing radical Islamism and behavior of their terroristic followers. The videos originated from a twitter account of a U.K. citizen. Prime Minister Theresa May took exception to the sunlight:
“It is wrong for the President to have done this,” May’s office said in response to the retweeted videos, initially posted by British far-right leader Jayda Fransen of Britain First.
“Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions,” May said in a statement. “They cause anxiety to law-abiding people.” (read more)
Moments ago, President Trump responded (again, via Twitter):
The hidden part of this back-and-forth is the strategic two-layer cover this is providing PM Theresa May. Here’s what media won’t point out:
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This image from Sweden speaks so loudly:
Concrete K-Rail Barriers, positioned to stop terrorist attacks by vehicles, dressed up like Christmas decorations around the local holiday markets. What a ridiculously sad and pathetic visual of everything wrong in Europe.
Amid the anxiety of anticipating the next Jihadist attack, which everyone knows is not if – but rather ‘when’, it would appear joy is somewhat lowered on the scale of relativity.
EUROPE – The Islamic State has issued chilling threat to attack Christmas markets in the Britain, France and Germany in pictures circulated among supporters.
The jihadis have circulated images on messaging apps including one in which a black-clad hooded figure is seen standing over a kneeling Santa Claus with an image of Regent Street in the background.
A message in English, French, and German says ‘Soon on your holidays’ with the clear implication that London can expect a terrorist attack over the holiday season. (read more)
$64 billion of the current annual trade deficit with Mexico stems from the auto sector alone.
For over a decade auto manufacturers have moved to Mexico in order to import parts from Asia, assemble and install them, and then ship the completed cars into the U.S. through NAFTA without duties (tariffs).
The U.S. auto ancillary business groups (parts suppliers) have been pushed out of competition in the auto sector by this corporate profit strategy. Thousands of U.S. jobs have been lost in both the plant assembly and the ‘auto-parts’ manufacturing sector.
CTH has called attention to this bastardized supply chain for years. Foreign auto-parts, made by foreign workers, assembled into U.S. owned manufacturing, and sold as U.S. automobiles. The weird supply chain and assembly process is essentially a multinational corporate scheme (in the auto sector) which exploits one of the loopholes in the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement.
If the assembly plant was on U.S. soil the foreign (mostly Asian) parts would be taxed as imported parts. However, so long as the assembly is in Mexico (or Canada), the origin of the parts is currently irrelevant, and the finished automobile crosses the border into the U.S. avoiding the taxes using NAFTA.
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Stunningly even Chancellor Merkel herself admits her immigration intransigence is the leading reason for her inability to form a coalition government. Yet she is so committed to the ideology of ‘open borders‘ she will tender no compromise.
In an effort to leverage political blackmail against her opposition Merkel prefers the route of another election rather than trying to govern from the minority position.
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would prefer a new election to ruling with a minority after talks on forming a three-way coalition failed overnight, but Germany’s president told parties they owed it to voters to try to form a government.