Hammer it home Pete, keep hammering it home.  “U.S. Economic Security is U.S. National Security”; and by extension global security. Those words were first spoken by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to an international audience at Davos in 2017.
In the almost two years since first proclaimed, President Trump and the economic team have been executing economic policy to hit on this key message.  Trade deals, internal regulatory policy, tax policy, monetary policy, education policy and modern workforce initiatives are all inherently tied together to ensure U.S. National Security.
In the big picture President Trump is earnestly focused on rebuilding the American middle-class because the blue-collar and white-collar middle-class jobs are the heart of the American economic security.  All of these policies are connected to the middle class because it is the middle class that strengthens America.
This is an important conversation.  Learn it, teach it. Spread the importance of it:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release the first estimated September jobs report earlier today [Details Here] reflecting 134,000 new jobs added last month.  However, that’s not the story – The BLS revised August upward +69,000, and July +18,000.
The cumulative jobs gained 134k + 87k equals 221,000 new jobs. Lowering the unemployment rate to 3.7% the lowest unemployment statistic since 1969.

First, a note on the *revisions*.  How did the BLS underestimate (twice) the August jobs report by 70k ?  This is stunning: 201k -vs- 270k. That’s a 30% error rate?  Someone’s head needs to roll, because it looks like politically motivated statistical sandbagging.

BLS – […] The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised up from +147,000 to +165,000, and the change for August was revised up from +201,000 to +270,000. With these revisions, employment gains in July and August combined were 87,000 more than previously reported.  After revisions, job gains have averaged 190,000 per month over the last 3 months.

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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue discusses the U.S. Mexico-Canada trade agreement and the positive impacts for U.S. farmers with increased open markets.
About two-thirds of the way through the interview the national FEMA alert message was tested.  Secretary Perdue cracks me up: “I get those presidential alerts in a different way”…

Hold on to your MAGA caps there’s a winner wonderland ahead.  According to the latest ADP private payroll release today, private sector payrolls grew by a stunning 230,000 jobs in September. [They were anticipating 185k]  Massive jobs gains amid small, medium and large sized companies (report here).
This comes on the heels of the latest stats on paychecks which show *average* wage gains around 2.6% over last year.  Key word “average“.  There are multiple job sectors with wage increases of four to seven percent; well above the rate of consumer price inflation.

(Via CNBC) Job growth surged in September to its highest level in seven months as the economy put up another show of strength, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.
Private companies added 230,000 more positions for the month, the best level since the 241,000 jobs added in February and well ahead of the 168,000 jobs added in August.

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Biggest U.S. Trade Win in the History of all U.S. Trade Constructs !

I’m still going through the USMCA text (even speed reading, it will likely take a while); here’s the link to the AGREEMENT DETAILS.  However, many people have asked about how the NAFTA loophole was being closed.
Well, the answer is exactly what it had to be – there was really no option.  The U.S. now has veto authority over any trade deal made by Canada and/or Mexico with third parties.  This is what Ambassador Lighthizer described as the “Third pillar”.
Last year, despite the inevitability of it, we didn’t think Canada and Mexico would agree to it.  The NAFTA loophole was/is a zero-sum issue: Either Can/Mex agree to give veto authority to the U.S. –OR– President Trump had no option to exit NAFTA completely.
Well, Canada and Mexico have agreed to the former, so there’s no need for the latter.

(LINK to Article 32 pdf)

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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House announcing the USMCA (U.S-Mexico-Canada-Agreement) trade construct. The agreement covers $1.2 trillion in annual trade.
Joining President Trump is: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, Ambassador Kelly Craft, White House Advisor Jared Kushner, Trade Council Peter Navarro and Chris Liddell, with Deputy U.S. Trade Representative CJ Mahoney.
Make sure to hear the remarks from Ambassador Lighthizer @25:41

• Overview Fact Sheet – SEE HERE
• Agriculture Fact Sheet (Dairy Sector) SEE HERE
• Agriculture Fact Sheet (Overall) SEE HERE
• Manufacturing Fact Sheet SEE HERE

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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses administration’s new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. Chairman Kudlow also discussed the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross gives an interview to Fox Business Maria Bartiromo and discusses the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).  Secretary Ross notes the gains in e-commerce and the dairy industry.   Also worth noting, the Steel and Aluminum tariffs remain in place.

CTH will have much more when USTR releases the details.  An initial review of framework suggests the important economic aspects will be in SIDE LETTERS.

“Today, Canada and the United States reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21^st Century: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). USMCA will give our workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region.  It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home.
“We look forward to further deepening our close economic ties when this new agreement enters into force.  (LINK)

10:30pm EST – The U.S. and Canada have agreed on a trade deal that would save the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral bloc, according to three people familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump has approved the developments and the expectation is that an agreement will be announced on Sunday night, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian officials are working on the final touches.  (more)

All day various media have been reporting on desperate, intense, and generally fast-moving last minute negotiations as a midnight deadline looms for Canada to join the U.S-Mexico trade agreement.   Expect the critical details to be framed around “Side Letters”.  Carve-outs within an agreement which remove the contentious aspects.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland abandoned a U.N. speech to rush back to Canada on Friday night.  Tonight Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went to Ottawa to join the Canadian negotiating team in a series of back-and-forth conference calls between the U.S. and Canadian government.  USTR Robert Lighthizer and trade envoy Jared Kushner have been briefing President Trump throughout the day.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a late-night Cabinet meeting for Sunday amid signs that Canada and the United States were on the verge of sealing a deal to update NAFTA after frantic talks.
Negotiators from both sides spent two days talking by phone as they tried to settle a range of difficult issues such as access to Canada’s dairy market and U.S. tariffs.

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