The official announcement is coming momentarily.  All other candidates have conceded.  Looks like Andrés Manuel López Obrador, an avowed soft-Marxist, will EASILY end up with 53 to 59% of the vote and is the next President of Mexico:
Primary platform points:  ♦Amnesty to all drug cartels.  ♦No longer will work with U.S. immigration enforcement.  ♦Nationalize oil industry.  ♦Farm subsidies. ♦Elimination of multinational corporate influence on farming.  ♦Support and assistance for economic growth plan: using •mass migration of Mexican nationals into Southern U.S., •create AmeriMex border region, and •remittance of earnings back to Mexico as initiative for rapid domestic economic growth.
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Maria Bartiromo continues to distance herself from all Sunday talk-show competition with some of the best and most insightful interviews and topics available.  Today Mrs. Bartiromo interviews President Donald Trump.  The substantive content is excellent.
From a position of understanding Trump policy, and expanding/predicting how each policy will carry forward, this really is one of the best interviews to date.  Bartiromo hits on most topics of interest and expands on the topics of greatest consequence.  Anyone who seeks to understand where the administration is going with economics and trade only needs to keep revisiting this one interview – it’s all there.
Domestic discussion includes the Supreme Court, trade and tariffs, immigration, border security, ICE, mid-term election, taxes, jobs and the ongoing battle between congress and the DOJ/FBI.  Foreign discussion includes trade and geopolitics with Canada, China, the EU, North Korea, Iran and the upcoming summit with Russia.  The intersection of economics and geopolitics via the Trump Doctrine is clear as day.

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[There was a time, not too long ago, when Bartiromo didn’t *get* the Trump doctrine and how economic leverage is used to achieve strategic geopolitical benefits; ultimately ending with massive wins for America.  You can tell she understands the strategy now.]
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Within the German economy the auto-sector holds the largest political influence.  Because of this dynamic all German politicians kneel at the knee of the big industrial auto manufacturers.  It has been said that losing support from within the auto-sector is much worse on a German politician than losing support from party or parliament.
Because of this dynamic; and specifically because the German auto-sector is dependent on the United States as their biggest customer, President Trump holds leverage over German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  This makes Fraulein Merkel unhappy.

President Trump wants three EU issues resolved: 1) Germany to contribute the minimum 2% of GDP for their own NATO defense.  2) Germany/EU to support enhanced sanctions against Iran; and  3) President Trump wants all German/EU protectionist trade barriers and tariffs lowered or eliminated – and new trade deals negotiated.
To gain momentum on these initiatives, President Trump is using the economics of trade as leverage.  Trump has suggested a 20% tariff on all EU automobiles shipped into the U.S. [The same standard now likely proposed toward Canada]  The German auto-sector, and as a consequence the German economy, simply cannot survive without low cost access to the U.S. market, their biggest customer.
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With new spark plugs, Kuddles was thrilled to discuss the latest economic key performance indicators.  National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow talks about the health and growth of the U.S. economy with Maria Bartiromo.

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Today Canada released an updated list of retaliatory tariffs designed as countermeasures to the U.S. Steel and Aluminum tariffs [SEE HERE] which will begin Sunday, July 1st.
Additionally, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, and Employment and Labour Minister Patty Hajdu, announced they would initiate an emergency program to use Canadian taxes compensate workers, expand unemployment benefits, and subsidize impacted industry.  Yes, in a transparent display of political ideology (throwing capitalism directly out the window), Canada doubles-down on centralized government subsidies to offset market impacts.   Brilliant ‘eh!

Chrystia Freeland made the announcement on the floor of a Hamilton steel factory Friday. In a rare backdrop, Ms. Freeland actually entered a factory with machines and things, to deliver the carefully choreographed political message (video below – watch the last minute to understand).
Team U.S.A. have applied tariffs to Canadian softwood lumber, Steel and Aluminum as Canada refuses to negotiate new terms for NAFTA where North American products are prioritized.  Canada demands the ability to continue importing Asian, mostly Chinese, products for their assembly-based market.
With the latest counter-move by Justin and Chrystia from Canada, it is increasingly likely President Trump will levy a 20% tariff on imported Canadian automobiles.  Last month (May) the Canadian economy dropped over 31,000 Full-Time jobs.
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Earlier today President Trump delivered remarks celebrating the six month anniversary of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.   Today is also the last business day of the second quarter.

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Long time CTH readers might note in 2015 when we first saw candidate Trump’s economic policy initiatives, we began outlining the sequential economic possibilities if President Trump won. So far, all is going according to plan – STUNNINGLY According To Plan.  Seriously, go back and look –FEBRUARY 2016– two-and-a-half years ago.
The possibilities were obvious.  As a result we predicted repeatedly that Q2 of 2018 would be the beginning of the largest period of U.S. GDP and wage growth in the past 30 years.  Q2 2018 ends tomorrow and the results of Q2 will be announced in the next few weeks.  Everything is happening in a logical sequence as a result of Trump’s MAGAnomic plans.
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On the six-month anniversary of the tax cut/tax reform legislation passage, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sits down with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the current status of all MAGAnomic initiatives.
Tomorrow is also the last day of the second quarter (April, May June), and today is the last business day of Fiscal Year 2018 third quarter (fiscal years start Oct. 1st).

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Segment two below. Ivanka Trump joins Secretary Mnuchin to discuss results.
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Following the groundbreaking ceremony, President Trump delivered remarks to a Wisconsin audience to commemorate the opening of the massive high-tech industrial complex.

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From the office of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross: The groundbreaking on Foxconn’s $10-billion factory to produce state-of-the-art flat-panel displays in Mount Pleasant represents a milestone for America.
With a 20-million-square-foot campus situated on 3,000 acres, the new Foxconn plant will be among the largest factories ever built in the United States. It will take two years and 10,000 construction workers to build, and employ 13,000 workers when in full production of a variety of LCD screens. It is one of the largest foreign direct investments ever made in the United States.

It would never have happened without the promise of the Trump tax cuts and the President’s personal intervention.
As important as the new factory is to the workers of Wisconsin, the facility is also a symbol of what is to come: It is the first of a large number of investments in advanced manufacturing facilities being reshored from overseas locations back to the United States.
Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has already said that he is considering another enormous facility in the United States.
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President Trump often holds local media Q&A’s when discussing specific local aspects to larger trade and economic initiatives.  In this quick interview with Charles Benson President Trump discusses the Foxconn deal (more on that will follow), and the larger issue surrounding a global trade reset objective (important video below).
As steps are taken within the America-First economic initiatives, many people are overlooking President Trump’s ultimate goal of a complete global reset in trade.  The Trump administration wants all trade tariffs and trade barriers removed so that all nations can compete on an even field.
In order to achieve that goal, POTUS Trump is applying the process of reciprocity; assigning an identical U.S. trade standard as the country being confronted.
The international community cannot negotiate (in good faith), from an adversarial position, against an identical trade policy they apply toward the U.S.
However, until today no President has ever called out the global trade hypocrisy; let alone challenged it directly.   President Trump will not back down from this approach. The international trade community is just now realizing that fact.
Within the process of negotiation to achieve this reset, President Trump begins to apply the principles of reciprocal trade tariffs.  This is the first phase; this is where we are now.
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