Earlier today President Trump and first lady Melania welcomed the President of Argentina Mauricio Macri and his wife Juliana Awada to the White House.

One of the key topics on the agenda for President Macri is trade with the U.S., specifically the Argentinian export of lemons into the U.S.  Understandably California, and to a lesser extent Florida, citrus growers are opposed to large scale imports of competing crops.

Additionally, during the customary Oval Office photo-op President Trump remarks about the ongoing NAFTA trade issues, and the phone calls yesterday between Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Mexico’s President Peña Nieto:

“If I’m unable to make a fair deal for the United States–meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA.”

.

The U.S. media are considerably invested in framing NAFTA trade issues around their ever-present need to oppose the White House (Trump Derangement Syndrome); and many of the recent media narratives around NAFTA are entirely false.

(more…)

Art of the deal glaringly visible in less than one-half of a single day’s media cycle.  Simply amazing.  These phone calls are also further evidence of how much leverage the U.S. carries in the entire NAFTA Trade construct.  [White House Press Release]

Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call With President Peña Nieto of Mexico and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada

Late this afternoon, President Donald J. Trump spoke with both President Peña Nieto of Mexico and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada.  Both conversations were pleasant and productive.

President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries.

President Trump said: “it is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation. It is an honor to deal with both President Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better.”   ###

(more…)

During an AP interview last week President Trump first mentioned a possibility of complete withdrawal from the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement.   Today several outlets are reporting on a draft executive action to do just that.

BACKGROUND:  One of the problems with the NAFTA trade agreement (and most other trade deals) has been that no administration ever reevaluates them to measure their long-term impact since implementation.  It has been almost 25 years since Bill Clinton signed NAFTA (’94) and only now in 2017 is the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross evaluating the current value and measuring the economic impact to the U.S. in current terms.

Associated Press: What about NAFTA? What’s the plan on NAFTA?

TRUMP: What would you like to know?

AP: I would like to know what your plan is in terms of renegotiating.

(more…)

This is more than a little funny.  Senator Ted Cruz must not be having much success fundraising for his re-election campaign, as his latest publicity stunt outlines:

In essence, the architect of Obama’s Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority bill is using the border wall, which he is paid to oppose, as a tool to “gruber” his sheeple followers.  Judging by the number of people responding to the tweet, he’s found a goldmine.

As many people are aware, Senator Cruz is part of the ‘controlled opposition’ ploy.  As a dedicated UniParty benefactor of the U.S. CoC lobbying expenditures Ted’s role is to plow through the political field giving a crony-constitutional impression of one thing while loyally working to deliver the end result of the thing he optically rails against, like TPP or TPA.

The El Chapo/wall angle as a narrative and fundraising mechanism, is similar to the dead-end ploy previously exhibited by Senator Rand Paul in last month’s ObamaCare repeal narrative used as his fundraising tool.   Both are fallacies of false choice.  Both have no foundation in actual goal or intention.  Both are ruses.

(more…)

San Francisco based Federal Judge, William Orrick, issued a preliminary injunction today blocking any attempt by the Trump administration to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.

Judge Orrick said president Trump has no authority to attach new conditions to federal spending.

(Via AP) […] U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued the preliminary injunction in two lawsuits — one brought by the city of San Francisco, the other by Santa Clara County — against an executive order targeting communities that protect immigrants from deportation. The injunction will stay in place while the lawsuits work their way through court. (read more)

Judge Orrick is a campaign bundler to former President Obama for over $200,000, and is married to a pro-abortion activist.  You might remember Judge Orrick from 2015 when he blocked the release of videos made by the Center for Medical Progress, the group that unveiled Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly sits down for an interview with John King’s ex-wife Dana Bash.  The primary topic was border security;

(more…)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared on This Week with former Clinton White House staff George Stephanopoulos to discuss current political events. Attorney General Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kelly spent three days this past week touring the Southern U.S. Border and listening to border patrol officers:

(more…)

If you read the USA Today report of Juan Manuel Montes being deported you might believe their headline: “First Protected Dreamer Deported Under Trump“:

(Via USA Today) Federal agents ignored President Trump’s pledge to protect from deportation undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children by sending a young man back to his native Mexico, the first such documented case, a USA TODAY examination of the new administration’s immigration policies shows.

After spending an evening with his girlfriend in Calexico, Calif., on Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who has lived in the U.S. since age 9, grabbed a bite and was waiting for a ride when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer approached and started asking questions. (read more)

However, the U.S. Border Patrol presents an entire divergent set of facts to the Daily Caller:

(more…)

An interesting concept of a border wall developed by an engineer and submitted by construction builder James Flanagan.

.

The Concept sounds really interesting. Although no mention of our killer sharks with lasers proposal, but, oh well, those enhancements can always come later.

(more…)