So much good news: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trade deal between the United States and Mexico will stand even if Canada does not come to an agreement with the Trump administration in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“If for any reason the government of Canada and the United States do not reach an agreement, we already know that there will still be a deal between Mexico and the United States.”
~ Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray (link)

Remember those “private meetings” between Jesus Seade and Robert Lighthizer?
It is said: a picture is worth a thousand words.  Cue the audio visual:

The incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador,(AMLO)’s representative is Jesus Seade. The outgoing Mexican President Pena Nieto’s representative is Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo.
Why the joy in Seade and the defeated Guajardo?  The answer is in the details:
One of President Trump’s principal objectives in the renegotiation is to ensure the agreement benefits American workers.  The United States and Mexico have agreed to a Labor chapter that brings labor obligations into the core of the agreement, makes them fully enforceable, and represents the strongest provisions of any trade agreement.

Key Achievement: Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining

The Labor chapter includes an Annex on Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico, under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions to provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

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In direct relationship to the checkbook policy that impacts middle-class Americans the U.S./Mexico trade deal is the biggest win so far in Trump’s presidency.   There are such massive ramifications it could take days for anyone to comprehend how the granular details have such massive downstream consequences. The deal is incredibly complex.

At the 30,000 ft level, the deal positions Mexico to retain their current multinational investments, and through a series of sector-by-sector standards on origination the deal simultaneously closes the fatal NAFTA loophole.  The agreement makes an economic manufacturing partnership between the U.S. and Mexico; and for assembly products third parties will have to produce parts and origination material within the U.S. and Mexico.
U.S.T.R. Lighthizer has put some details forward:
♦The NAFTA Loophole closure is explained in Summary Form HERE; with emphasis on the Auto-Sector.  The key is a 75% part origination level for auto-assembly; and a 40-45% level for parts with a minimum $16/hr wage rate.  The source-origination rate (75%) is even higher than all previously forecast negotiation results.
Example of downstream consequences/benefits:  German auto-maker BMW recently built a $2 billion assembly plant in Mexico (almost complete).  Most of their core parts were coming from the EU (steel/aluminum casting components) and/or Asia (electronics).  Now the assembly plant will have to source 75% of the auto-parts from the U.S. and Mexico, with 45% of those parts from facilities paying $16/hr.  Result: BMW will need to modify their supply chain and build auto parts in the U.S. and Mexico.
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Promises made, promises kept.  The CTH community is in a unique position to understand exactly what has taken place today as President Donald Trump announces the termination of NAFTA and simultaneously announces a bilateral trade agreement has been made between the U.S. and Mexico.  This is exactly what CTH predicted. Most, not all, but most of the media are absolutely clueless.
In an Oval Office announcement today President Trump put outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on his speaker phone as the press watched in the Oval Office. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo, and the key figure for incoming Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), Jesus Seade was present for the announcement.
CTH will have much more on the details of the trade agreement.  This is the most comprehensive and complex trade agreement in U.S. history.  However, in the interim here’s the full video of the announcement (including nuance).  ENJOY:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 11:09 A.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hello everybody. It’s a big day for trade, a big day for our country. A lot of people thought we’d never get here because we all negotiate tough. We do, and so does Mexico. And this is a tremendous thing.
This has to do — they used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we’ll get rid of the name NAFTA. It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years. And now it’s a really good deal for both countries, and we look very much forward to it.
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Remember the ju-ju bones?… Well….  The U.S. Main Street economic engine is almost firing on all cylinders as brick-and-mortar retailers drop their historic complaints of e-commerce impacting their sales and foot-traffic, and instead begin seeing the real life consequences from a resurgent American middle-class.

Target CEO Brian Cornell: “There’s no doubt that, like others, we’re currently benefiting from a very strong consumer environment — perhaps the strongest I’ve seen in my career.”  “We’re seeing a great consumer response … unprecedented traffic. As we go back and look, we’ve never seen traffic growth like this.” (link)

The growth in retail foot-traffic is a critical KPI for the economy.  Despite economic and business school theory (pushed over the past 20 years), everything of consequence is dependent on a thriving American middle-class; blue and white collar.
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Earlier today U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted an optimistic outlook toward the framework for a U.S./Mexico trade deal.  Not unanticipated:

We continue to remind everyone to focus on U.S.T.R. Robert Lighthizer and AMLO’s guy, Jesus Seade; everyone else is multinational corporate media chaff and countermeasures.

“We are already looking at all the issues. We might close this, not in a matter of hours, but these days. We still have next week,” Jesus Seade, designated chief negotiator of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters.

It is important to note that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has twice asked Jesus Seade to remain AFTER hours when all other trade officials have concluded discussions. Closed-door conversations between Lighthizer and Seade; and no-one else. [Refer back to the two Trump baselines again]
Now, clear the MSM fog from all perspectives; and instead look directly at the discussion framework expressed by Jesus Seade, AMLO’s guy:

[…] Asked by reporters outside the offices of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington if Canada would then join the talks, [Seade] said: “I don’t see any reason why they have to come after we finish. It’s up to (U.S. Trade Representative Robert) Lighthizer to organize his time.”
The Mexican delegation — and sources familiar with the closed-door negotiations — have said previously Canada would return to the table as soon as the other two resolved their bilateral issues — maybe even this week. Seade’s comments seemed to indicate otherwise. (LINK)

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It was ABSOLUTELY NOT coincidental that China sent a low level trade delegation to the U.S. at exactly the same time U.S.T.R. Lighthizer is conducting open hearings on Section 301 national security trade issues; which are specifically targeted toward China.
For the second time POTUS is using strategic deployment of sunlight on the relationship between Beijing and North Korea. President Trump is highlighting what has been hidden for decades.  China has structured the use of North Korean nuclear ambitions as the sword of Damocles over their economic adversaries in the West. China’s Chairman Xi Jinping controls the government officials that surround North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un:

(Tweet Links)

These tweets, along with the earlier tweet. are serious business.  They are being fired directly into the heart of Beijing.  They are the mother of all truth bombs, and they take away the ability of Chairman Xi to deploy the hidden threat and DPRK control.
“Subtle” like a brick through a window. [More backstory available here.]  President Trump is removing the Panda mask to reveal the authentic nature of Chairman Xi Jinping.  Simultaneously Trump is trying to rescue Kim Jong-un from the clutches of the Red dragon behind the panda mask.
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It is not coincidental that three events are occurring simultaneously:  (1) U.S.T.R. Lighthizer is conducting public hearings on Section 301 impacts; (2) a Chinese trade delegation is in the U.S. to re-initiate talks; and (3) U.S. President Trump conducts a roundtable meeting with congressional leadership over the Foreign Investment Risk Review and Modernization Act.

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[Transcript] 11:35 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being here this morning, and thank you to Secretary Mnuchin for joining us. And congratulations. You’re doing a great job. We appreciate it very much, Steve.
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When discussing or reviewing trade deals, particularly NAFTA, it is important to remember two baselines: (1) The trade reset is President Trump’s personal legacy initiative; it’s personal – ignore media banter – it’s personal; like, the most important thing he ever thinks about. Always. 24/7. (2) President Trump has no multinational corporations or financial interests with leverage/influence over his decision-making.

There are trillions at stake.

We begin:

“We are already looking at all the issues. We might close this, not in a matter of hours, but these days. We still have next week,” Jesus Seade, designated chief negotiator of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters.

Here’s where it becomes important to note that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has twice asked Jesus Seade to remain AFTER hours when all other trade officials have concluded discussions. Closed-door conversations between Lighthizer and Seade; and no-one else. [Refer back to the two Trump baselines again]
Next, before reviewing the comments and presentations of the media regarding the U.S. Mexico NAFTA status; again reference the team approach, and the division of responsibility. Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is meeting with the twitchy Chinese delegation – again, their arrival is not a matter of scheduling happenstance; it is directly related to the ongoing 301 hearings that began two-days-ago, Monday.
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UPDATE: Since initially posting the set-up for the July, 2017, FBI sting operation against George Papadopoulos a few more important research details have surfaced.  Charles Tawil, the guy who reached out to Papadopoulos in Greece; and who ultimately gave Papadopoulos $10,000 in cash; was a previous intelligence asset of the CIA and FBI.  SEE WIKILEAKS Cables (circa 2006): Paragraph #8, note:

“These undisclosed sources told Zuma that American citizens (not connected with the U.S. Government) were involved. This in part, coincides with another Embassy contact, Charles Tawil (protect), who told our Economic Counselor on November 29 that Zuma had received information from the mother of the King of Swaziland about CIA attempts to kill Zuma using poisoned clothes from the FBI” (link)

Who was the FBI Director in 2006?  Why, Robert Mueller of course.
On page #9 of the recent Sentencing Memo from Special Counsel Robert Mueller there’s an interesting paragraph about a $10,000 payment made to George Papadopoulos.

(pdf link)

The Daily Caller, via Chuck Ross, dug into that payment and outlined the specifics today:

[…] The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned that a man named Charles Tawil gave Papadopoulos $10,000 during a meeting in an Israeli hotel room in July 2017.
Sources familiar with the matter told TheDCNF Tawil flew to the Greek island of Mykonos to meet Papadopoulos and his now-wife, Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos. Tawil invited the pair to Israel, but Mangiante Papadopoulos stayed behind.

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Sad Panda increasingly frustrated as disruptor Trump heaps vociferous praise on Chairman Xi, while simultaneously out maneuvering Beijing’s geopolitical economic strategy.
China expert Michael Pillsbury discusses the current environment around the Beijing leadership with Fox host Tucker Carlson.  This is really important. WATCH:

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What Pillsbury outlines is exactly what CTH predicted last year when we shared how the Red Dragon would be caught entirely off-guard.  They’ve never seen this approach before.
NOTE: The upcoming Chinese trade delegation is not showing up at the end of this month as a matter of scheduling happenstance.  What no-one in the financial/trade/economic media is connecting is the timing of their visit with USTR Lighthizers’ Section 301 Tariff hearings –SEE HERE.  August 20th through August 27th, you can guarantee the Chinese delegations will be all over those hearings; including dispatching their paid lobbyists to provide input on their behalf.
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