There has been a slight bit of ambiguity in President Trump’s schedule as he heads to Asia for the first time in his second term.  The President will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia first.  The focus of President Trump and the ASEAN nations will be economics and regional stability.  Then President Trump will then head to Japan.

Washington and Tokyo reached a trade agreement earlier this year, which included the promise of $550 billion of investments in U.S. projects. Interestingly, Japan is in a moment of political transition, as Sanae Takaichi was elected to be the country’s first female prime minister. Takaichi is a protégé of Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister and dear friend of President Trump.  The meeting between Takaichi and Trump will likely hold a lot of very positive energy for both leaders; there is great respect.

President Trump will then head to South Korea, which is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. President Trump has said he’ll sit down with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping while he’s there for a much-anticipated meeting.  Additionally, President Trump will be discussing tariffs on South Korean autos and directly addressing stalled trade negotiations.  There is also a possibility for President Trump to visit North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and reconnect after several years of separation.  There is a lot of potential for this overall visit to Asia.

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Stephen Miller’s body language is funny as he addresses the media and answers their questions.

Speaking in front of the White House, Miller answered questions about Canada’s trade provocations, Trump meeting with Chairman Xi, the Gerald Ford strike group heading south to bolster drug enforcement efforts and much more.  Miller ends the conversation with customary deplume, “these are terrorists, and they’re going to be killed. Thank you very much.”  WATCH:

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White House Chair of the National Economic Council (NEC), Kevin Hassett, walked out to the press pool to discuss the latest excellent inflation figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today {BLS REPORT HERE}.  However, the insufferable press pool wanted to talk about other things.

I’ll get to the BLS data below – with a gold nugget just for you, don’t share it.  But first, NEC Director Hassett also let something slip in his responsive comments that most will miss.

When asked about Trump’s decision to terminate all trade negotiations with Canada, Hasset noted the discussions were frustrating, and “The Canadians were very difficult to negotiate with.” Then comes the key point (03:28), “The fact that we are now negotiating with Mexico, separately, reveals that it’s not just one add, there’s frustration that has built up.”

What Hassett just confirmed again, as if we needed more evidence, is that the trilateral trade agreement -the USMCA- is not going to exist once Trump opens it up for renegotiation.  The USA team is already working on a separate bilateral trade agreement between the USA and Mexico, proactively.  The USMCA is dead – we just have not made it official yet.  WATCH (prompted):

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On the inflation data, the September inflation rate was 0.3 percent, much lower than all economists and pundits predicted.  The tariffs are having no impact on the rise of consumer prices.  In fact, the sectors with the most imported goods are the sectors with the lowest inflation.

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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.

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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 †

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President Trump makes a statement from his Truth Social account that all trade negotiations with Canada are immediately terminated following the Canadian government purchasing ads to lie to the American people about tariffs.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs. The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” President DJT

At first review this might seem like an angered response to a fabrication by the Canadian government of Prime Minister Mark Carney. However, there is much more to this background story as CTH readers are well aware.

First, rather than make any substantive policy changes, Canada is organizing a new trade relationship with China as an offset to the trade conflict with President Trump. {GO DEEP} This will make Canada a dumping ground for cheap Chinese goods, which then becomes a problem for the U.S.

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Talk about prescient Trump.  Wow, this Truth Social post was stunningly accurate:

Senator Chuck Grassley has released a memo [SOURCE HERE – outlined below] showing FBI Director Chris Wray asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to authorize the FBI’s “Arctic Frost“ investigation that targeted all of President Trump’s supporters inside and outside government.

Knowing how these things work, it appears Deputy AG Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Chris Wray formulated the Arctic Frost strategy as the request memo sent by Wray was authorized through the office of DAG Monaco.

In the memo as released, DAG Monaco writes, “Merrick, I recommend you approve.”

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Having provided deliberate advice and counsel quietly on these matters, it is important to continue watching the developments as they unfold.  There are trillions at stake.

President Trump’s global trade and economic reset is well underway. It is not an overstatement to say the western world economic structures within trade, banking and finance are in opposition to his efforts.  Alas, as we have outlined extensively, part of the larger phase of this reset will come in the likely dissolution of the U.S. Mexico, Canada trade agreement (USMCA).

Canada is taking actions to replace their U.S. trade relationship by aligning more with the EU and China.  This is a very dangerous approach for the Canadian people, because in the short-term there may be benefits; however, in the longer term the downsides are quite severe. Remember, Xi Jinping wanted Mark Carney to win the parliamentary election.

[SOURCE] – Canadian Foreign Minister’s visit to China promotes the warming of relations and new opportunities for educational cooperation! This is the most high-level contact between the two countries since 2018.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand paid an official visit to Beijing and held important talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The visit not only commemorates the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and China, but also marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the meeting, the two sides discussed issues such as trade, energy, environment and public health, laying the foundation for the “normalization” of Canada-China relations.

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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.

(more…)

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 †

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