As expected by anyone with common sense, the statement by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng is considerably different from the U.S. media interpretation of the White House statement.

According to He Lifeng: […] “The atmosphere of the meeting was candid, in-depth and constructive. The meeting reached substantial progress and achieved important consensus. The two sides agreed on establishing a consultation mechanism for trade and economic issues, identified the lead persons on each side, and will carry on further consultations relating to trade and economic issues of their respective concerns. The two sides will finalize relevant details as soon as possible and will issue a joint statement reached on May 12.”

[…] “China’s position towards this trade war has been clear and consistent; that is, China doesn’t want to fight a trade war, because trade wars produce no winners.  But if the U.S. insists on forcing this war upon us, China will not be afraid of it and will fight to the end.” 

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This ‘clarification‘ of sorts by Big Panda should not come as a surprise, despite the White House press release and the wording of the title.

Neither Secretary Bessent nor USTR Greer would make an announcement of a “trade deal” in advance of President Trump’s personal announcement. PERIOD!

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The White House has released a statement headlining: “U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva.” However, the use of the wording “trade deal” is being disputed by China who prefer to say, a “consensus was reached.”

Indeed, if you listen to the wording from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Rep Jamieson Greer, there is no talk of an actual deal in their language. Methinks whoever wrote the White House headline, that is (not accidentally) currently manipulating the markets, will be soon given the exit. Here’s the remarks from Bessent and Greer:

The White House statement is below:

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In several ways it was likely strategically smart for President Trump to distance himself from the Intelligence Operation in Ukraine known as World War Reddit.  The odd and opaque narratives from NATO, EU and CIA elements bear all the hallmark tells of an intelligence operation running amok.

With President Trump slowly exiting the nonsense, the group colloquially known as the “Coalition of the Willing” organizes their latest public relations stunt with a visit to Kyiv. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the goofy Polish Prime Minister who doesn’t do much, Donald Tusk, took the pantomime train into Ukraine for a spring walk with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The U.K, German and French political leaders are all using their Ukraine involvement to deflect from the political chaos that exists back home. Starmer, Zelenskyy, Macron, Merz and Tusk brought their best videographers and photographers to provide the optics and visuals.

The quintet’s performance included a phone call to President Trump in order to collectively wag their finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin, while saying they all agreed to a 30-day ceasefire starting tomorrow (Mon).   You can tell this is all theatrically produced as part of World War Reddit because earnest diplomatic negotiations do not take place through media.

If they want a Monday ceasefire, the ‘dramatic acting’ crew needs to have Putin on the call – not Trump. Duh!

In response to the latest chapter in the public relations campaign, Russian President Putin has requested to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey next week on Thursday.   Zelenskyy, speaking on behalf of the international intelligence apparatus that is conducting the proxy war, says he will not meet to discuss the terms for a ceasefire with Putin unless a ceasefire already exists.  Again, the confliction is simply more surface evidence of the IC involvement.

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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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Deputy U.S Attorney General Todd Blanche, United States Solicitor General D. John Sauer, and Dept of Justice Investigative Lead, Attorney Ed Martin, are very serious people in Main Justice.

The deliberate nature of the trio recently resulted in the Senate division of the weaponized DC system, rejecting the nomination of Ed Martin to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington DC.  The need for control is a reaction to fear. Apparently, the DeceptiCons were fraught.

DAG Blanche coordinates and prioritizes the day-to-day USAO office activity around the country.  Blanche is the general in charge of eliminating Lawfare efforts.  Solicitor General Sauer faces the Supreme Court.  Sauer is the general in charge of framing the arguments from Blanche that reach the court.  Meanwhile, DC USAO Martin, now with position changed to Presidential Appointment Martin in charge of investigating weaponized justice efforts, is the lead investigator on all enmeshed corruption within Washington DC.

Blanche, Sauer and Martin are serious and purposefully driven men.

In our discussions and outlines CTH does not trade in hopium, nor do we promote the popular albeit nonsensical and futile anticorruption efforts favored by most high-profile media types.  The reality of the DC silo system is not easily understood, and that is entirely by design.  High profiles may generate headlines, but do not generate adequate results as increasingly evidenced by AG Bondi, Director Patel and Deputy Bongino, all performers.

As the Washington DC USAO, Ed Martin was in position to address the known and documented activity of a variety of former DOJ officials.  There’s a strong argument to be made that’s the reason why the DOJ’s corrupt allies in congress moved to eliminate the threat Martin represented.  However, their collective result didn’t remove him, nor did it change the objective, it just changed Mr Martin’s title.

Whereas Washington DC USAO Ed Martin previously carried the authority of the Attorney General, in the changed dynamic special appointee ADAG Ed Martin now carries the authority of the President of the United States.  A serendipitous outcome.

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President Donald Trump is confronting the dragon behind the panda mask with precision. It’s very obvious the prior reconnaissance, trade probes and tariff tests of ’17, ’18, ’19, are paying dividends.

President Trump has cut off the transnational shipping lanes by globalizing the tariffs against China. Beijing is in a forced holding pattern waiting to see the outcome of Southeast Asia and European trade agreements.

Having spent some serious time in the field in advance of ‘Liberty Day’ all of my contacts have the same message; China is trying to find position.

In a little reported reality, in order to offset the problem, many Chinese manufacturers have actually continued the production of several branded product lines (very well-known and established brands) despite the absence of orders for the finished goods from the companies.

Several shipments of those finished goods have started to arrive at China-partnered ports. This is very interesting, because it may lead to market dumping of a higher quality product than most anticipate.

Within the apparel sector, ASEAN consumers cannot afford the fashion branded product at the prices determined by the actual brand owners. However, there is now a strong likelihood -based on what is being reported by the receivers- that the product itself will be marketed -likely dumped- without the brand label. This is actually high-quality apparel distributed for a fraction of the price of the brand.

I’ll be getting more details on this soon, however, it looks like the broad outlines are verified by multiple sources. I’ll use some fake names to explain.

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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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White House NEC Director Kevin Hassett gives an update on the current status of trade negotiations around the world.  After finishing a CNBC interview (also linked below) Director Hassett noted that Asia was likely to be the next place for an announcement following the completion of the United Kingdom deal.

Hassett outlines that approximately “two dozen” bilateral free trade agreements are completed within the reciprocity framework, and the sequencing of announcements is up to President Trump.  Japan, South Korea and ASEAN nations would be candidates for the next deal as announced. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer are currently in Switzerland and will be meeting with their Chinese counterparts to begin the first point of discussion. WATCH:

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The press availability above comes immediately following a more extensive CNBC interview which is outlined below.

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