Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross talks about the importance of trade “reciprocity”.  As Wilburine outlines phase-2 MAGAnomics is only just beginning the reciprocity discussion.

Additionally, Secretary Ross talks about the issues with Chinese steel trans-shipment and the reason for Steel and Aluminum tariffs to be global in order to address China’s use of proxy nation states to continue dumping.   In this interview Ross begins to outline the fine points behind the pending 2018 trade negotiations. It is going to take a lot of repeated effort to awaken the larger U.S. electorate to the issues.

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500 high-wage manufacturing jobs might not sound like a big deal, but for the community of Granite City Illinois it is a VERY BIG DEAL. Their blast furnace was shut down in 2016, and today they happily hear the news of its reopening… GREAT NEWS !

ILLINOIS – U.S. Steel announced it will restart a blast furnace and steel-making operations at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois near St. Louis as a result of the announced tariffs of 25 percent on all steel imports.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker shuttered parts of the mill in late 2015 and early 2016, largely, it said, as a result of a glut of imports that depressed prices and made steel mills less profitable. U.S. Steel plans to bring 500 steelworkers back to work if President Donald Trump goes forward with plans to act on a Section 232 investigation that concluded a surge in steel imports was eroding the American steel industry and threatening national security.

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Earlier today President Trump delivered a speech to the Latino business coalition legislative summit. President “Patrone’” Trump noted ongoing economic growth, employment success, and the unfortunate intransigence of the Democrat opposition in Washington DC.

[Transcript] 12:03 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you, Hector. I’m thrilled to be here with so many of our incredible leaders in the Latino business community. And you folks are good business people. I know that. I know that for a fact. I’ve had to compete against you for a long time. (Laughter.) In fact, I said, I want to get out of that; I want to be President. It’s easier. (Laughter.)

But I especially want to thank Chairman Hector Barreto for the invitation and for the many years of his leadership on behalf of America’s small businesses. I also want to recognize Secretary Chao who’s joining us today. Elaine? Hi, Elaine. (Applause.) You’re doing a fantastic job, by the way. Thank you very much, Elaine.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Wednesday March 7th, 2018.  Anticipated start time 2:00pm EST:

UPDATE: Video Added

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Maria Bartiromo interviews Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to discuss Gary Cohn’s departure from President Trump’s National Economic Council (NEC).  {Deep Dive Here}  Secretary Mnuchin talks about the larger MAGAnomic objectives, and the transition of the administration into ‘policy phase-2’ with all attention now focused on Main Street.

Great Interview:

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♦Economic Patriotism – ‘America First’:
√ Unleash energy development. Drive down energy costs. Lower cost-of-living.
√ Eliminate regulatory stranglehold. Unleash free market entrepreneurial expansion.
√ Lower corporate tax burden. Position business investment ‘best bet’ domestically.
√ Generate investment expansion. Create: jobs, jobs, jobs.
√ Generate higher labor demand. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs = Higher wages, wages, wages.
√ Lower middle-class tax burden. Combine higher wages with lower taxes. 2x benefits.
==> WE ARE HERE <==
• Structure trade deals to benefit workers/companies inside the U.S.
• Leverage access to U.S. market as incitement for domestic investment.
• Economic Growth + Domestic Manufacturing Expansion =  GDP increases.
• Increased overall tax revenues from expanding economy stabilizes debt and entitlements.

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*ahem* As if on cue…

(tweet link)

DEEP-DIVE FULL BACKSTORY

The Eagle, The Panda and The Red Dragon

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MRC News has just released a study of ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast news coverage for the first two months of 2018.  The results are almost identical to the results from 2017, and highlight the extreme media bias against a republican president.

(Via NewsBusters) So far, 2018 looks an awful lot like 2017 — at least when it comes to the broadcast networks’ hostile approach to Donald Trump. A Media Research Center analysis of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts in January and February found ten times more negative comments about the President than positive statements, and found the ongoing Russia investigation once again swamped all other topics.

For this study, MRC analysts looked at all 505 evening news stories that mentioned President Trump or his administration in January and February. Out of 851 total minutes of airtime devoted to the administration, the networks spent almost one-fourth of it (204 minutes, or 24%) on the Russia investigation, eclipsing other major topics such as the economy, immigration reform, and even the gun debate. (read more)

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Very cautious optimism because Red Dragon has history of using the Panda Mask to cloud intents as a strategy.   North Korea is a proxy state to their enabler, China.  DPRK Kim Jong-un is little stompy-feet panda to the big panda/red dragon, Chairman Xi Jinping.

The one constant in an ever-changing universe is the gravity of China; it only goes one-way.  China allows and directs what is in China’s best interests.  Period.

Chinese Chairman-for-life Xi Jinping (all he represents) view smiling panda economics as modern intercontinental nuclear weapons.

Chairman Xi and President Trump have been deep inside a geopolitical smiling contest for over a year.  Xi and Trump are playing grandmaster level geopolitical economics.  Their most consequential moves are well beyond the horizon; far away from the gaze of the crowd; the media is oblivious to them.

•Japan (Shinzo Abe) has stated they have “great confidence” in President Trump’s Asian national security approach. •South Korea (President Moon Jae-in) stated they are “confident there will not be war again on the Korean peninsula“; •and they are willing to send a special envoy to North Korea to begin talks. •In addition, China quietly removed the 71-year-old veteran diplomat, Wu Dawei, from the position of negotiator toward the DPRK, and replaced him with 58-year-old Kong Xuanyou. Kong is a long time Chinese diplomat in charge of Asian affairs and he speaks Korean.

All of this was generally under-reported and took place months before President Trump arrived in Asia last year.  The U.S. media was busy pushing racism and Charlottesville narratives.  More importantly this quiet activity took place while President Trump directed US Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer to begin a section 301 trade investigation (Intellectual Property theft) into China.

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House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte has direct oversight authority over the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Courts. Within this oversight, the House Judiciary Committee also has oversight over the FISA court. Additionally, in his current oversight role, Chairman Goodlatte has been working closely with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Today Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Representative Trey Gowdy pen a letter (full pdf below) to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting the appointment of a special counsel to investigate “conflicts of interest” and decisions “made and not made” by current and former Justice Department officials in 2016 and 2017, noting that “the public interest requires” the action.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Gowdy and Goodlatte spoke about the discovery of new information as their reasoning behind calling for a second independent counsel:

“What changed for me was the knowledge that there are two dozen witnesses that Michael Horowitz, the [DOJ] Inspector General, would not have access to,” Gowdy said. “When I counted up 24 witnesses that he would not be able to access were he to investigate it, yeah only one conclusion, that’s special counsel.”

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President Trump holds a joint press availability with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden.  Anticipated start time 3:30pm EST.

UPDATE: Video Added

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