Earlier today President Trump tweeted concern about the politicization of border security and the unwillingness of Mexico to confront their side of the equation. [the three tweets from POTUS Trump follow the video snippet]
Before attending Easter Mass today, President Donald Trump briefly paused and responded to a question about his calling out Mexico for not helping the U.S. secure the border. WATCH:
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox Business News for an extensive interview with Maria Bartiromo. The interview covers a wide spectrum of important topics attached to the U.S. economy and ongoing trade deals. Two great video segments for the interview will get you up to speed on ongoing initiatives:
♦Segment #1 outlines the upcoming announcement of KORUS, the South Korea and U.S. trade deal. Additionally, Secretary Ross discusses the steel and aluminum tariffs and how they enmesh in the larger objective of the ongoing trade negotiations with China:
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♦Segment #2 outlines more on the aluminum and steel tariffs; ongoing trade talks with Europe; efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, and the possibility of a deal being reached; Saudi Arabian investment in the U.S. and the Commerce Department plans to bring back a citizenship question in the 2020 Census.
National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro appeared on CNBC, prior to today’s massive U.S. stock market increase, to discuss ongoing trade initiatives.
U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer is currently conducting simultaneous bilateral trade negotiations with South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, China (way-points), Japan, Mexico/Canada (NAFTA) and the European Union.
Trade talks going on with numerous countries that, for many years, have not treated the United States fairly. In the end, all will be happy!
The passage of the defense spending portion of the Omnibus bill ultimately means there will be increased demand for U.S. steel and aluminum within new defense equipment. The contracts within the procurement process will predictably require the use of U.S. parts.
Add the increase in defense spending with the pending global tariffs on steel imports, and the environment is created for foreign investment in domestic steel and metal manufacturing…. Then add into the mix the geopolitical economic relationship developed between India’s Prime Minister Modi and President Trump… And you discover the backdrop for this announcement from India owned JSW Steel:
(Reuters) – India’s JSW Steel Ltd said on Monday it would spend $500 million to build out its U.S. operations in Texas, amid heightened global trade tensions following U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to pursue steep import tariffs.
The company has signed an agreement with the Texas governor’s office, under which the governor has approved a grant worth $3.4 million to the company’s unit, the steelmaker said in a statement here.
Oh, here we go. Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch has a decades-earned nickname, “Mr. Wall Street”, Chris Wallace is the insufferable media mouthpiece for the financial interests of the guy who signs the front of his paycheck. This is Wall Street -vs- Main Street.
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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.
U.S. stocks, centered around U.S. domestic companies, will go up. U.S. stocks, centered around multinational companies -invested heavily overseas, and dependent on exploitation of the U.S. trade deficit- will go down.
As Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer and U.S. President Trump have previously affirmed, they are going to restore the U.S. manufacturing base or lose office trying.
Additionally, the U.S. GDP is measured by deducting the value of imports from the value of everything produced domestically. Therefore, initially as the economy expands, and as more Americans have more money to buy more stuff, lots of the things they buy will come from overseas. This increase in purchasing of imports drives down the GDP despite the overall economic activity expanding.
I hope everyone has been prepared with prior information on how the economic system works so we can understand this weird and predictable dynamic. Increased consumer spending can actually drive down the GDP if the stuff we are buying is imported.
Author of “The Coming Collapse of China”, Gordon Chang, discusses the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China and the epic battle ahead. Last night China announced their feeble retaliatory actions – SEE HERE. A professionally nervous Maria Bartiromo, frames a series of questions from the perspective of Wall Street.
Fortunately Gordon Chang understands the Red Dragon, and more importantly understands Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping’s geopolitical goals through economic conquest. Mr. Chang is one of the few people who appear regularly in media and know the truth behind the Panda Mask.
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People often talk about the ‘strength’ of China’s economic model; and indeed within a specific part of their economy -manufacturing- they do have economic strength.
However, the underlying critical architecture of the Chinese economic model is structurally flawed and President Trump with his current economic team understand the weakness better than all international adversaries.
China is a central planning economy. Meaning it never was an outcropping of natural economic conditions. China was/is controlled as a communist style central-planning government; As such, it is important to reference the basic structural reality that China’s economy was created from the top down.
This construct of government creation is a key big picture distinction that sets the backdrop to understand how weak the economy really is.
Without apology CTH continues to state all opposition to President Trump finds the epicenter of motive behind the economic policy. There are trillions at stake.
Yes, there are ideological differences, but do not doubt for a moment the existential threat is the core principle behind America-First economics.
Multinational corporations and global financial interests have more than a generation of effort invested within the modern trade and economic constructs that President Trump is challenging head-on.
Politicians do not construct legislation, K-Street lobbyists do. Hundreds of millions have been spent purchasing politicians as a sales force to protect those financial interests. Challenge their financial trade schemes and you are threatening the livelihood and financial systems that generate massive wealth for very powerful people. Additionally, the downstream effect threatens the affluence of the professional political class.
That said, there are American interests who will benefit, it’s just not popular within the cocktail party circuit to admit it:
(Bloomberg) China’s plan to counter U.S. import tariffs may throw global aluminum and steel traders into a tizzy, but the net result could be a boon for American primary-metal producers.
The retaliatory plan to slap tariffs on U.S. aluminum scrap and some steel products may boost American supplies, lowering raw-material prices, says Zaner Group LLC’s Peter Thomas. That could coax some metal producers to restart unused capacity in Rust Belt states if infrastructure spending picks up.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears with Bloomberg Inc. to discuss the ongoing U.S. trade initiatives and the need for immediate and urgent trade reciprocity.
Within the discussion Secretary Ross talks about the current targeted tariff proposal, and why intellectual property theft by Chinese state-run companies poses a clear threat to U.S. economic growth and national security interests.
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From the Office of the U.S.T.R. – Washington, DC – Today President Trump announced his decisions on the actions the Administration will take in response to China’s unfair trade practices covered in the USTR Section 301 investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer initiated the investigation in August 2017 at the direction of President Trump.
The President has instructed that the appropriate response to China’s harmful acts, policies and practices should include three separate actions.
Sneaky. CTH anticipated POTUS Trump would withdraw from NAFTA due to the FATAL FLAW that still remains unaddressed in all discussions. So it came as a surprise to see reports (opaquely cited) that U.S.T.R. Lighthizer was willing to drop the U.S. firm stance on content origination rules within the auto-sector.
Why would the Trump team agree to low thresholds of U.S. auto-parts used in American cars? It just doesn’t make sense. Still doesn’t… but no-one’s talking right now; and clarity is impossible to find. The bigger question remains: Why haven’t we pulled out yet?
Perhaps the answer to that question lies in the heart of a plan concocted by a small group of conniving GOPe multinational business interests. The tricksters are creating an enticement plan to insert domestic rules on U.S. regulations into a renegotiated NAFTA draft. The GOPe loves them some NAFTA. The GOPe will scheme to keep NAFTA.
Their current enticement plan is to work around congress, by structuring a NAFTA chapter on “rules of competitiveness”. If the scheme works as they have outlined, many domestic regulations currently tripping up expanded U.S. business development, specifically shipping/transportation infrastructure (ports/railroads), could be reduced or eliminated by putting rules to override U.S. regulations in a final NAFTA deal.
Against the backdrop of ‘Phase 2’ trade policy initiatives based on reciprocity, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross talks to CNBC about tariffs, carve-outs and protecting national security ahead of his meeting with the European commissioner for trade.
The hypocritical European Union has expansive protectionist tariffs against U.S. products and has threatened retaliation if the U.S. enforces the Trump administration about trade reciprocity.
Additionally, the Trump administration (Ross, Lighthizer, Navarro and Mnuchin) are focusing on China’s trade theft of intellectual property. According to Reuters reporting there is a possibility of $60 billion in trade tariffs being enforced against China for their IP violations and practices.
