In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.
This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joins CNBC ‘Squawk Box’ this morning to discuss his 12-hour meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Within the interview Bessent details the ‘U.S.-China AI Dialogue’, the calls for a slowdown in AI development and whether regulation is needed.
Secretary Bessent notes President Trump is not going to deliver liability immunity to AI frontier labs and existing legal frameworks within the U.S. will remain as protective pathways as development moves from AI labs into engineering outcomes.
This is the core of the issue. The investors that poured money into the AI labs, now support immunity from legal liability that doesn’t exist in any other sector other than Big Pharma. AI wants the same protection as Big Pharma, and President Trump is not going to allow the shift in responsibility from AI developers to government. WATCH:
Also below is the full debriefing from Secretary Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer that followed the Sunday meeting between the U.S. and Chinese counterparts.
As CTH has noted, the pace of these critical economic developments is going to speed up over the next several days and weeks. It becomes increasingly important to stay tuned-in to the granular issues as they unfold in order to fully appreciate the landscape that surrounds us. It can be challenging to absorb information as the pace increases, yet it is critical to remain aware so that each building block in the nationalist policy making remains in context.
I suspect we will see similar realignment continues as the globalists like Canada and the EU try to oppose President Trump and U.S. best interests.
Belarus stands in ideological opposition to the globalists in Europe and President Alexander Lukashenko is an ally of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. This announcement is a smack back against the leverage Canada claims to carry. Again, creating more distance between the USA and the Snow Mexicans.
Watch the interview with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to understand exactly where this is going. The United States is systematically decoupling from Canada. When we cut the economic lifeline represented by the USMCA, Canada will be adrift.
Perhaps due to timing, or maybe content combined with the pragmatic answers dropping all pretense; or maybe, it’s just the two interviewers representing the globalist opposition and Greer facing them both down with easy dispatch. I’m not sure why, but this is one of the best discussions/interviews with USTR Jamieson Greer ever.
Soup to nuts Greer explains the policy, issues, friction points and pragmatic approaches that apply to economic adversaries like China. Greer just cuts to the chase, you cannot truly negotiate with China because nothing about them is going to change, ever. So, you manage your relationship with them, limit your exposure and limit as much risk as possible. Greer is exactly correct and makes no excuses. Pure economic pragmatism.
The same outlook applies to Canada. Again, Greer isn’t playing the pretending game, and the panelist inquisitors are left jaw-agape while trying to frame a headline capture. Listen to the conflict issues as outlined by Greer. Canada is “doubling down on globalism”, the USA is not. That means we can never reach agreement, period – full stop, end of it!
Greer comes back to this point several times, including at the end when he outlines all the reasons why President Trump will terminate the USMCA trade pact. This is a must watch interview:
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This interview is like kryptonite to Canadians who are so caught up in their pontificating arrogance (Bloomberg) that they just cannot fathom the weakness of their position. Canadian’s have bought the lies and nonsense from Carney, and it is very challenging to remain respectful of the Canadian position.
There has to be a purpose to this messaging, though I’m not exactly sure what it is.
President Trump again draws attention to the Ukraine-Russia war creating havoc on the global diesel market. Trump notes that Russia has lost control of its diesel industry:
The strange thing about this message is that Russia has taken measures exactly the opposite of this framework.
Back in July, when NATO began increased targeting of Russian refinery infrastructure, Russian President Vladimir Putin proactively signed a government order banning the export of Russian diesel fuel. There have been no exports of Russian diesel since, with exceptions to the shipping industry and some humanitarian farm shipments.
Russia is the world’s second largest producer of diesel fuel and as soon as Putin made this announcement global prices of diesel began to rise. Russia then extended the bans, and the current export ban will run from Aug. 1 until Jan. 31, 2027.
Within the export controls there’s no doubt Russia is sending some diesel fuel to allied nations who are not part of the NATO attack alliance. In essence, Putin is controlling who gets the Russian output and the “ban” on exports simply puts the Russian government in control of it. This is what they call “intergovernmental agreements” which are not part of the ban itself.
In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.
This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Days after President Trump asks Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, Zelenskyy takes the attacks up a notch and brags about all of the different NATO country missile systems being used to attack Russian oil refineries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, “One of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine. The systems used included FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican.”
Everyone can see this game for what it is.
Everyone can see it.
After weeks of various European/NATO countries hyping pending attacks from Russia, Zelenskyy now begins to name the missile systems being provided by those countries to target Russia. Zelenskyy and the EU-NATO group are intentionally trying to draw a Russian military response against the support the European countries are providing to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is naming the missile systems as part of that antagonistic effort, and his NATO allies do it on the last day of the Russian elections. Specifically timed and coordinated for maximum propaganda use.