Perhaps it’s because the complexity is difficult to distill; maybe it’s because some just can’t give President Trump any credit; or perhaps it’s because the scope is too challenging to comprehend against the constant belittlement meme du jour.  Regardless of reason, President Trump is fundamentally realigning international geo-political alliances and almost no-one is connecting the dots.

President Trump obviously held a long-ball strategy with the Chinese; he’s described the approach in his books and lived the approach in his business life:

At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing; then leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.

Almost no-one is noting the scope of what President Trump has accomplished simply by positioning himself at the furthest extreme from the best interests of China, and then working his leverage back toward dual-interests as the Chinese expend capital to meet the point of mutual benefit.

President Trump has expended nothing other than his sheer will, and yet he has leveraged gains that are jaw-droppingly consequential.

♦ What’s the goal of identifying China as a currency manipulator?  To stop China from manipulating currency, right?  Well, arm-chair opposition says President Trump has reversed his position simply by ‘not doing something’.   However, that opposition doesn’t seem to acknowledge the end-goal of the labeling has been achieved without expending an effort.   The doing is unnecessary when merely the threat of the doing changes the behavior of the doer.

In two days, April 6th and April 7th, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  What actions has President Trump taken, other than ‘not’ doing something, and what actions has President Xi Jinping taken? (more…)

As President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping wrapped up the summit in Mar-a-lago, overshadowed in media reports by U.S. missile strikes in Syria, President Xi joined with President Trump and focused on stressing the positive mood of the meetings between the world’s two biggest economies.

Team U.S.A insisted both President Trump and their delegation had made good on the pledge to raise concerns about China’s trade practices and said there was some headway. Team China and President Xi agreed to a 100-day plan for trade talks aimed at boosting U.S. exports and reducing China’s trade surplus with the United States.

Secretaries Tillerson (State), Mnuchin (Treasury) and Ross (Commerce) held a debriefing session with the media at the end of the summit.  What a stunning difference in the approach and level of direct and concise communication.  (Oh, and side note – Wilburne continues to crack me up, even in the reading of his responses.)  Here’s the transcript:

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Today President Trump and President Xi JinPing of China conducted bi-lateral meetings to discuss ongoing concerns surrounding trade, finance, military engagement, and the need for China to assist in leverage over North Korea’s hostilities.

[Transcript] 11:22 A.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I just want to say that President Xi and all of his representatives have been really interesting to be with.  I think we have made tremendous progress in our relationship with China.  My representatives have been meeting one-on-one with their counterparts from China.  And I think, truly, progress has been made.  We’ll be making a lot of additional progress.

The relationship developed by President Xi and myself I think is outstanding.  We look forward to being together many times in the future.  And I believe lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away.

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Oh man, THIS is epic. 

This is what happens when you take an intellectual gnat carrying nothing but ‘talking points’ (Tapper), and have them interview a Subject Matter Expert (Ross).

Secretary Wilburine hilariously flicks off the stuttering gnat with an immediate ‘Triple Farkas‘.

• Tapper: Muh “Chinese currency manipulation”?
• Wilburine: ‘I’m the Secretary of Commerce not Treasury’.

• Tapper: Muh “Well, Builder Trump used Chinese steel to build”?
• Wilburine: ‘Builders hire contractors, they purchase materials’.

• Tapper: Muh “But, but… Trump signed XO in different room”?
• Wilburine: ‘Where President Trump signs orders is not of particular concern’.

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Important note: Notice how not a single question of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was related in any way to commerce or trade.

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Perfect.

President Trump, through OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, has demanded the House of Representatives vote tomorrow on the current bill for ObamaCare Repeal and Replacement.
This directly calls out the UniParty structure of Washington DC.
The time for endless political talk in circles is over.  Time for action.  The Koch Brothers wing (House Freedom Caucus), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wing (Ryan/GOPe), will have to vote to support the Health and Human Services construct of Tom Price, or kill it by voting against it.

Either way they vote President Trump has delivered on his promise: an opportunity to vote for the repeal of ObamaCare.

All those who vote “NO” on the bill will own the outcome. Meaning, they support the continuance of ObamaCare and all of the subsequent outcomes therein.  Get them all on record. (more…)

A series of recent headline articles about traditional economic analysts, government and private, perplexed by financial and consumer trends – highlights the disconnect inherent amid those who cannot reset their frame of economic reference.
For 30+ years U.S. economic political policy has been driven by Wall Street interests. STOP. Main Street, the middle-class and the American worker have suffered. STOP. The successful election of Donald Trump, and the execution of his “main street” economic policy agenda, has sledgehammered the prior economic machine into a full seizure an halt. FULL STOP.

(WSJ Article Link)

It was Albert Einstein who aptly stated:

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

The same basic principle applies to those who are trying to understand and evaluate current economic activity yet failing to disengage themselves from their historic economic frames of reference. (more…)

President Trump’s U.S. trade policy of “America First”, free but FAIR trade, came to the forefront in Germany as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin subtly yet firmly pushed back against language that affirmed globalism and multilateral trade.
According to the Washington Post German officials urged Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to agree to their customary modern free trade language in the G20’s joint statement.
However, the U.S. Treasury Secretary refused their request and instead urged adoption of more general wording allowing each nation to make their own determinations of what constitutes “free and fair trade” with their own best interests in mind.
This approach is the basis for one-on-one bilateral trade.  It is also the starting point toward negotiating exceptional trade deals by providing leverage which allows President Trump, Secretary Ross and Trade Rep Lighthizer to frame proposals (by competing nations) against each other.  By holding firm to the basic trade outlook Secretary Mnuchin is setting the table for the U.S. trade team to renegotiate everything.
The disconnect from the traditional economic group-think of the G20 finance ministers is a direct break from the past two decades.  This central approach reflects the baseline change in ongoing U.S. trade policy.  It would appear President Trump and his economic team are more concerned about the interests of American workers than foreign nationals. Go figure.
Secretary Mnuchin suggested adding more general language committing to “strengthen the contribution of trade.”   A version of that sentence was included in the statement, despite criticisms from some G20 finance ministers that it was pointless.
(more…)

President Trump has initiated a new administration protocol of greeting each foreign dignitary personally at the entrance to the White House upon each visit.

Today German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the White House and attended a cabinet room roundtable discussion with U.S. and German business leaders on the topic of vocational training.  Anticipating a future trade negotiation President Trump also brought Commerce Secretary Wilburne (Ross) to engage:

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12:58 P.M. EDT [Transcript] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Chancellor, thank you very much. Such a great honor to get to know you, to be with you. I want to thank all of the business leaders who have joined us to discuss a subject that’s very important to me — training our workforce for the 21st century, especially with respect to manufacturing jobs.
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OMB Director Mick Mulvaney attends the daily White House press briefing and fields questions about the President Trump ‘America-First’ budget.
Director Mulvaney does an exceptional job explaining the larger budgetary issues, priorities and squashing some of the more ridiculous media narratives du jour.

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Regarding the non-discretionary side.  I would remind all:

Trump Economics – […] As the wage rate increases, and as the economy expands, the governmental dependency model is reshaped and simultaneously receipts to the U.S. treasury improve.
More money into the U.S Treasury and less dependence on welfare programs has a combined exponential impact. You gain a dollar, and have no need to spend a dollar. That is how the SSI and safety net programs are saved under President Trump.
When you elevate your economic thinking you begin to see that all of the “entitlements” or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional.
As the GDP of the U.S. expands, so too does our ability to meet the growing need of the retiring U.S. worker. We stop thinking about how to best divide a limited economic pie, and begin thinking about how many more economic pies we can create. (link)

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For those who are economic and trade policy junkies, President Trump’s key pick for U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, testified today at his Senate Confirmation Hearing.  To skip the legislative posturing {gag} forward the video to 33:00:

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Mr. Lighthizer, 69, worked for decades as a trade lawyer, representing clients including U.S. Steel Corp.  Historically, he has been critical of U.S. officials who supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, and argued the move worsened America’s trade deficit and hollowed out our manufacturing sector.
Two decades of actual, and quantifiable, results later shows Lighthizer was absolutely 100% correct in his criticisms and predictions.  Ultimately this is why the Globalists within the Democrat machine want to keep Lighthizer out of office.  Mr. Lighthizer will forget more about trade deals than the next closest person could ever know. (more…)