Finally today we see a significant loss for the “Big Club”. Speaker Paul Ryan, the GOPe professional business class, Wall Street and the U.S. CoC accept the Border Adjustment Tax is not going to be a part of any larger tax reform agenda under the Trump administration.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Trump win the policy argument with the removal of the B.A.T.
In a joint statement outlining the forward plans for tax reform the “Big Six” tax negotiators (Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady), announce the consumer punishing BAT will not be included.

[…] “While we have debated the pro-growth benefits of border adjustability, we appreciate that there are many unknowns associated with it and have decided to set this policy aside in order to advance tax reform.” (more)

The B.A.T was to revenue collection on imported products and impact on consumers – what the Obamacare mandate was to revenue collection on healthcare and impact on consumers.
The B.A.T  was simply a scheme to embed the cost of renegotiated trade import tariffs, directly onto the consumer, isolated away from any responsibility on the corporation to reduce their own internal efficiencies as a method to keep the price down. It was a dubious and manipulative effort.
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White House Press Briefing – “We’ve received several inquiries on what the President — on his agenda for the past couple of days, so I’d like to read some of that out before I take your questions.”

“He’s had multiple meetings with key economic advisors, particularly on issues of trade, such as Ambassador Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Ross, NEC Director Gary Cohn, and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro.”

The only question is the timing. Now or after NAFTA?  It is better to have NAFTA finished prior to the confrontation? …if so, considering DPRK aspect, what is the better strategy in the space between now and the final conflict?
Remember, this battle is two decades past due and waged on behalf of the forgotten men and women of the middle-class. The purchased legislative body within Washington DC will attack our economic efforts with an intensity never before seen in this century or any century.  There are trillions of dollars at stake; this is the epic battle for middle America.
The administrative state will work earnestly to destroy these efforts on behalf of our enemy.  Along with Wall Street, every multinational corporation and multinational banking institution will be against us.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered some rather strongly worded remarks in advance of the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg Germany.  Reuters frames the Merkel statements as a warning to U.S. President Donald Trump.

(Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to fight for free trade and press on with multilateral efforts to combat climate change at the G20 summit next week, challenging the “America First” policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a defiant speech to parliament a week before she will host a summit of the world’s top economic powers in Hamburg, the northern port city where she was born, Merkel did not mention Trump by name but said global problems could not be solved with protectionism and isolation. (read more)

However, seeking control is a reaction to fear.  Ms. Merkel, the EU, and the larger multinational global interests therein, fear Trump… and for good reason, he’s winning.

President Trump has put a jaw-dropping U.S. energy platform solidly into place.  You can learn more about them HERE and HERE.  The announcements last week are tectonic in consequence though seemingly lost amid the chafe of media reporting over twitter spats.

Everything President Trump’s team does is connected to a bigger, much bigger, picture than most people are paying attention to.  However, those who control the levers of multinational power are paying very close attention.

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This discussion thread really has no bearing on anything significant except to highlight sly Wilburne moving into top spot amid the best cabinet assembly ever.

Mnuchin, Mattis, T-Rex, Wilburine and more than a few others are such incredibly significant and consequential cabinet leaders it’s been challenging to identify the best leader among them.  However, our sly Wilburine just broke out of the pack (see 01:10) and took up the lead position.  Oh he’s a cheeky one, alright:

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The T45 cabinet looks like they are genuinely having a lot of fun with each other.  Lots of personality in there.

[Transcript remarks] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Mr. Prime Minister, we’ll do the toasts as soon as the media leaves. (Laughter.) We’re going to have a very special toast, a very intimate toast. (Laughter.)

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President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to give a joint press conference at approximately 5:30pm. After a series of meetings at the White House, Trump and Modi will issue statements. However, earlier reports stated they would not take questions from reporters.  Modi met separately with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier in the day.

Following the presser, the president and first lady Melania Trump will host Prime Minister Modi at a “working dinner.” It’s the first such dinner for a world leader at the White House, though President and Mrs. Trump hosted similar affairs for the leaders of Japan and China at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

As the leaders prepared to meeting, officials pointed out that Trump and Modi have at least one thing in common: A very large presence on social media. Both have more than 30 million followers on Twitter.

UPDATE: Video Added

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Moments ago President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House.

Prime Minister Modi is currently in United States in the second leg of his three-nation tour. This is PM Modi’s fourth visit to the US. However, this is his first visit to US with President Donald Trump, and comes at a time with Geo-strategic security and and economic trade interests at the forefront of policy issues for both countries. (Video and Pictures below)

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