South Korea and the U.S. have a substantial trade relationship.  Today, President Trump welcomed the new President of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung.  WATCH:

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National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, appears on CNBC to discuss the 10% govt stake in Intel, the status on U.S. trade agreements and other economic matters of interest. WATCH:

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CTH noted several months ago, end the Marshall Plan for Europe and things will change quickly.

Germany is in a tight economic place as a result of: (1) former leftist Chancellor Olaf Scholz alignment with climate change policy, radically changing the German energy base and driving up costs; (2) the financial support for Ukraine; (3) the financial burden of mass African/ME migration, and (4) the new Trump-era EU tariffs that effectively end the Marshall Plan.

Put all four elements together and the German economic contraction is only forecast to worsen. This is the reality that current German Chanceller Fredrich Merz is facing. Thus, as a non-pretending former businessman, Merz recently told his party and the German electorate that current financial conditions no longer support the expansive entitlement state.

Pensions, benefits and even healthcare are potentially going to be impacted. Germans are not happy.

GERMANY – The German welfare state is no longer financially sustainable, Friedrich Merz said on Saturday. The chancellor argued for a fundamental reassessment of the benefits system as spending continues to soar past last year’s record of €47bn (£40bn).

In a state-level party conference meeting on Saturday, Mr Merz said: “The welfare state as we have it today can no longer be financed with what we can economically afford.”

Once the export champion of Europe, Germany’s economy has slowed dramatically since 2017, with GDP growing by only 1.6 per cent since then versus 9.5 per cent for the rest of the eurozone.

Germany’s economy shrank by 0.2 per cent last year following a 0.3 per cent dip in 2023 – the first time since the early 2000s the economy has retreated two years in a row.

Industrial production fell under the Left-leaning “traffic light” coalition of Olaf Scholz and continues to slide under the new government, with GDP declining by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2025.

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The Canadian govt led by Prime Minister Mark Carney has completely capitulated to the power and influence of President Trump.

While explaining how the United States has fundamentally changed the entire landscape of global trade, the leader of the Snow Mexicans announces he is dropping all countervailing and retaliatory tariffs against the USA and getting nothing in return.  Total and complete surrender by Canada; there is ZERO upside for Canada – NADA, Zippo, Zilch.

Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement, then faced the ire of the assembled media who were furious about the details within the statement.  The Canadian people had been promised an “elbows up” fight to the end. Instead, today they got down on their knees and begged Trump to retain the USMCA.

Complete and utter capitulation by Canada. No digital services taxes. No countervailing duty tariffs. No reciprocity tariffs on Steel and Aluminum. No retaliatory tariffs (reciprocal/baseline). Meanwhile, the USA keeps 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum against Canada, and Canada only gets 25% tariffs against U.S. steel/aluminum.

In addition, Canada has pledged to continue gaslighting their citizens, while wasting time, effort and resources on a hope to retain the USMCA, while refusing to admit to themselves that President Trump intends to dissolve it. WATCH:

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If that recap sounds bad for Canada, trust me – it’s way worse.  Really bad, horrible – terrible even.  So far beyond bad, the light from where horrible starts could not reach the Canadian terrible place for a year.  Not good.  😊

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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has discovered a massive network of Chinese shell companies, set up in Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia, specifically to avoid U.S. tariffs.

…”Investigations into transshipping are ongoing, the CBP tells FOX Business with monetary recovery likely to grow beyond $400 million”…

Up to 250 shell companies have been identified in the Beijing network with boots on the ground going to look at manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia that have no manufacturing activity, yet they generate products for shipment to the USA.

CBP is now on the trail of what CTH identified in January of this year with a visit to Vietnam {GO DEEP}.

ASEAN NATIONS – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has busted up a duty-evasion ring attempting to evade President Trump’s tariffs, FOX Business exclusively reports. 

The CBP uncovered over $400 million in unpaid trade duties through investigations permitted under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), a tactic used to police and stop illegal transshipments and other methods aimed at defrauding the U.S. government. That figure is expected to rise as the investigation deepens. 

[…] A source tells FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence that one of the operations had boots on the ground in Taiwan and Indonesia to look at mattress factories and found that there was no production going on. 

Additionally, over half, or $250 million, came from a network of 23 Chinese shell companies which funneled repackaged goods as if they were made in Asian nations, including South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam, to avoid tariffs.  (read more)

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The BRICS economic partnership was formed during the Obama administration.  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) watched U.S. President Obama subcontract U.S. trade policy to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street.

In the aftermath of the 2007 economic crisis, created by Congress and banking interests, the BRICS group identified two central points of ‘western’ financial influence that concerned them.

Following the financial crisis, the relationships around the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU central banks and various multinational institutions and multinational corporations, merged even closer with the government.

The priorities of the Davos and World Economic Forum (WEF) crowd were now virtually indistinguishable from many national governments.  We are almost twenty years downstream from that inflection point, and we are seeing the outcomes.

The WEF essentially flipped the traditional record of ‘fascism’.  Instead of government telling corporations how to operate, the modern version was now corporate assemblies giving direct instructions to installed politicians for government policy.

Put another way, multinational corporations are telling government officials what to do. Think of “The Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” or climate change (Paris Treaty), as recent examples.  Worse yet, western governments are doing exactly what the WEF has told them to do.

This corporate control of government is exactly what the BRICS assembly foresaw when they assembled.  When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem.  In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government.

As a result, if you really boil it down, what you find is the BRICS group oppose the WEF business model.

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Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss current geopolitical events around the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the Israel-Gaza conflict.

In the second segment of the interview (11:00 point), Vice President Vance gives his opinion on the Russiagate documents. Vance notes that he supports indictments as the IC and Clinton campaign violated multiple laws. Vance then discusses the latest information about using tariffs as leverage for America-First policy.

Vance dodges the question about running for President with Marco Rubio in 2028 and notes the leaks about the administration officials meeting for a discussion on Epstein was ‘fake news’.  Then, in a remarkable moment, Vance begins to talk about Artificial Intelligence from the perspective of his worrying about “the surveillance state” and the “invasions of privacy” that come with AI. WATCH:

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“Peace is the prize” ~ Donald Trump

White HouseA- President Donald J. Trump hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, where the two leaders signed a historic joint declaration for peace after decades of bitter conflict and scores of lives lost — a landmark achievement for international diplomacy that only President Trump could deliver.

The two leaders also signed bilateral economic agreements with the U.S., unlocking the great potential of the South Caucasus region in trade, transit, energy, infrastructure, and technology, and creating new opportunities for the American people and American businesses.

“For more than 35 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a bitter conflict that resulted in tremendous suffering for both nations… Many tried to find a resolution… and they were unsuccessful. With this Accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace,” said President Trump.

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The financial pundits are putting their customary spin on it, but overall as the reciprocal tariffs begin, things are going well.

China’s trade surplus with the US declined to USD 23.74 billion in July, down from USD 26.57 billion in June, as both exports and imports with the US declined, falling 21.7% and 18.9%, respectively. {LINK}

For Germany, exports to the U.S. slid 2.1% to 11.8 billion euros, the third consecutive monthly decrease and the lowest value since February 2022, Destatis said. They were 8.4% lower than the same month last year. {LINK} However, since imports from the U.S. increased at the same time, this narrowed Germany’s trade surplus in goods with the U.S.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington empty-handed on Wednesday after a hastily arranged trip to avert a crippling 39% tariff on the country’s exports to the United States, its biggest market, three sources familiar with the matter said. {LINK}

Reciprocal tariffs begin today. “Before Thursday, virtually every country’s goods were subject to a minimum 10% tariff. Now rates vary substantially from country to country.”

The highest rates imposed are on goods from Brazil (50%), Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%), Iraq (35%) and Serbia (35%).

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On Sunday President Trump remarked that emissary Steve Witkoff was likely to travel to Russia this week, presumably at the request of Kremlin officials.  Earlier President Trump shortened the deadline for Russia to come to the negotiating table from 50 days to 10-12 days. The preferred timeline by President Trump ends this Friday.

(AP) – Vladimir Putin is open to meeting Volodymyr Zelensky for talks following “preparatory work at the expert level,” the Kremlin has announced, according to the state-owned RT television station.

“I would like to remind you that the president himself does not rule out the possibility of holding such a meeting,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman said. “But only after the necessary work is done at the expert level and the appropriate distance is overcome.”

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