President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart tonight for an overnight flight to Biarritz, France to attend the G7 summit.  The first couple will arrive at 1:00pm Saturday / 7:00am Eastern.  Biarritz is 6 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Timezone.
The original function of the G7 was to focus on economics and world trade.  President Trump and the U.S. delegation are returning the emphasis toward that original intent during this G7 summit.  At the request of President Trump, there is a G7 Sunday morning session dedicated to global economics, international trade, and economic security.

(Background Details from White House)  SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure. Thank you so much, [senior administration official]. And I guess it’s morning or good afternoon there, everyone. I am now in Biarritz, France. I’m the [redacted].
So what I wanted to do is start by outlining the schedule of events and various sessions that are taking place over the next few days. And then I will go through and highlight some of the key themes that the President is going to be talking about and pushing out while he is here over the weekend.
(more…)

As President Trump departs the White House en route to the G7 meeting in France, White House Manufacturing and Trade Policy Advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business for an interview to discuss the latest round of enhanced tariffs on China.

(White House) For many years China (and many other countries) has been taking advantage of the United States on Trade, Intellectual Property Theft, and much more. Our Country has been losing HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year to China, with no end in sight.

(more…)

President Trump has announced the raising of tariffs on China effective Sept 1st and October 1st, 2019.  This is one arrow in a quiver filled with economic consequences:

• The preexisting 25 percent tariff on $250 billion in Chinese goods will increase to 30 percent effective October 1st, 2019.
• The pre-planned 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods will increase to 15 percent, effective September 1st, 2019.

This targeted tariff approach is only a small sample of the economic action that is available to President Trump.  There are a host of tools and targeted economic weapons available to President Trump that are far more damaging to Beijing.
This announcement also sends a clear message to the members of the G7 as they prepare for their meetings in France.
(more…)

Within the dynamic of the U.S -vs- China trade confrontation, CTH has long noted the Wall Street (globalist) multinationals would always go bananas.  There are trillions at stake and President Trump is confronting three decades of financial influence from Wall Street’s multinational corporate lobbyists.
To the angst of Wall Street, POTUS Trump tweets the dynamic.
President Trump will not back down from his position; the U.S. holds all of the leverage and the issue must be addressed.  President Trump has waited three decades for this moment.  Main Street U.S.A has waited for this moment.  This President and his team are entirely prepared for this battle…. Now we fight!

We are finally confronting the geopolitical Red Dragon, China!
President Trump has been brutally consistent for more than three decades on his intent and purpose with the Chinese.  President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides nefarious motives behind the panda mask.
Additionally, while carrying out the objectives of the confrontation, Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross, Ambassador Lighthizer and adviser Peter Navarro are well aware of Beijing’s duplicitous panda mask; POTUS Trump will never let them forget about it.
(more…)

God bless Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for having the diplomatic restraint to stand next to the absolute worst diplomat on the planet and retaining his cool.  Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stands atop her proverbial high-horse and pontificates a diatribe that only a smug leftist can deliver.
If you are familiar with world events,… and you don’t want a blood pressure cuff to explode,… then don’t watch this joint press conference. [Transcript likely later today]  If you’ve ever watched two diplomats pretend to have any commonality, while simultaneously jabbing each-other in the eye, this is an audio-visual exhibition:

.
To say the Trump administration and Trudeau administration are ideologically oil and water would be the understatement of the year. The U.S. and Canadian, political, cultural, geopolitical and economic outlooks are entirely divergent.
That reality is one of the reasons why an open U.S. Ambassador to Canada position is unlikely to be filled.  Seriously, who wants to talk to these smug and condescending jerks?
(more…)

President Trump is famously uninterested in diplomatic jibber-jabber that does not generate value or purpose.
Greenland not for sale?
Right. Sorry Copenhagen; no need for Frederiksen then…  Moving on.

After the G7, President Trump and First Lady Melania are scheduled to travel to Poland as the special guests of Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda.

According to the White House:

President Donald J. Trump spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom earlier today to discuss a wide range of trade and economic issues. Prime Minister Johnson also provided the President with an update on Brexit. The President expressed great enthusiasm for his upcoming meeting with the Prime Minister at the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. (link)

The G7 is being held August 24th – 26th.  The word of a tentative post-Brexit U.S-U.K trade agreement was first released last week. The potential construct has the assembly of mutual benefit and follows a plan previously recommended by President Trump to Prime Minister Theresa May.
(more…)

Early on Tuesday United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the modification of “next step” tariffs on Chinese products.  [See Here] “Products in this group include, for example, cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.”

President Trump responded to the delay/modification when questioned in New Jersey.  President Trump noted a “very productive” phone call between Lighthizer and Vice-Premier Liu He of China:

[Transcript Segment] – […] Q Why did you make the decision on the tariffs, to delay the implementation of the tariffs?
THE PRESIDENT: Only to help, I think, a lot of different groups of people. And we had a very good talk yesterday with China — a very, very productive call. I think they want to do something. I think they’d like to do something dramatic. I was not sure whether or not they wanted to wait until a Democrat has a chance to get in. Hopefully that’s not going to happen because the economy would go to hell in a handbasket very fast.

(more…)

Those who could not see this coming are those who just don’t pay attention to how President Trump operates the geopolitical influence of economics.  This is Trumpian.
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are walking their respective trade teams through a process to deliver a U.S-U.K trade deal on the day after a no-deal Brexit is scheduled to happen October 31st.  An interim trade agreement that goes into effect November 1st 2019 is pure Donald Trump win/win deal-making.

President Trump supports the nationalistic position, purposes and intents of Brexit. PM Johnson has promised to deliver Brexit by the mandatory date of October 31st.  One of the benefits, and also concerns amid the political left in the U.K, surrounds the economic impacts.  President Trump and PM Johnson would counter all those concerns with the announcement of an agreement for an interim bilateral trade deal ahead of Brexit.
This strategic approach, a deal that delivers both the Brexit result and the economic stability to offset any Brexit downside concerns, was the original idea that President Trump proposed to Theresa May two years ago.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain and the United States are discussing a partial trade accord that could take effect on Nov. 1, the day after Britain is due to leave the European Union, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday.

(more…)

During a surprise event on Friday President Trump invited the press into the oval office where Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart and acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan were signing a joint asylum agreement.  The President then held a press conference filled with lots of news.

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it.  I’m thrilled to be with a very important man in Guatemala, the Minister Enrique Degenhart. And we are doing a very important signing. It’s a historic asylum, or safe third, agreement between our two countries. A very important event.
We’ve long been working with Guatemala, and now we can do it the right way. It’s going to be terrific for them and terrific for the United States.
This landmark agreement will put the coyotes and the smugglers out of business. These are bad people. These are very, very bad, sick, deranged people who make a lot of money off other people’s miseries. It’s going to provide safety for legitimate asylum-seekers, and stop asylum fraud and abuses system.
(more…)