White House Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, is a straight shooter; he calls things as they are, not as many would pretend them to be.

On the issue of court orders demanding various cabinet secretaries spend money to fund the government, Director Hassett correctly reframes the issue around the law of federal spending that says money not appropriated for that expenditure cannot be spent. The Supreme Court will strike down, as they already have, any order not grounded in the law around government spending.

Hassett correctly warns that any cabinet agency who attempts to comply with a district or circuit court order, is running the risk of having a lawsuit filed against them for spending non-appropriated funds. This could be part of the reason why Democrats are purposefully not reopening government, to force the Trump administration into a catch-22 legally where they are going to violate the law either way.

Margaret Brennan stands jaw agape at the Machiavellian approach that Director Hassett outlines, “surely they would never do that” she proclaims. In response Hassett reminds Brennan that such Lawfare strategies are indeed part of the larger stop Trump movement. Video and Transcript Below.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We begin this morning with the Director of the White House National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. This is now the longest shutdown in American history. The treasury secretary told us two weeks ago November 15 was the hard stop for any paychecks going to US troops. Does that remain the point of exhaustion?

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Right, I think that- that’s about the right number. And the problem is that under the law, we’re not allowed to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated. And there is a law, the Antideficiency Act, that says that if a government official spends money that isn’t appropriated by Congress, which will only happen if the Democrats vote to open up the government, then you could even have criminal penalties. And so people are very carefully studying the law and trying to get as much money out the door as is legal. And we’re very glad that we found a way to get a lot of the SNAP money out, but it’s really pushing the boundaries of the law, which is why the Supreme Court had to take that ruling from Rhode Island and put it on hold.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Until the lower court rules–

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President Trump posted the importance of the Supreme Court case to support presidential authority on Tariffs.

The heart of the argument really is the “trillions at stake” aspect we have discussed on these pages for the past ten years.  If the institutions of our government factually want to dispatch President Trump and diminish the American middle-class, the Supreme Court will support the multinational corporations and Wall Street in decision to remove presidential tariff authority.

[Via Truth Social] – “Next week’s Case on Tariffs is one of the most important in the History of the Country. If a President is not allowed to use Tariffs, we will be at a major disadvantage against all other Countries throughout the World, especially the “Majors.” In a true sense, we would be defenseless! Tariffs have brought us Great Wealth and National Security in the nine months that I have had the Honor to serve as President. The Stock Market has hit All Time Highs many times during my short time in Office, with virtually No Inflation, and National Security that is second to none.

Our recent successful negotiation with China, and many others, put us in a strong position only because we had Tariffs with which to negotiate fair and sustainable Deals. If a President was not able to quickly and nimbly use the power of Tariffs, we would be defenseless, leading perhaps even to the ruination of our Nation. The only people fighting us are Foreign Countries who for years have taken advantage of us, those who hate our Country and, the Democrats, because our numbers are insurmountably good.

I will not be going to the Court on Wednesday in that I do not want to distract from the importance of this Decision. It will be, in my opinion, one of the most important and consequential Decisions ever made by the United States Supreme Court. If we win, we will be the Richest, Most Secure Country anywhere in the World, BY FAR. If we lose, our Country could be reduced to almost Third World status — Pray to God that that doesn’t happen!”

President Donald J Trump – Nov 02, 2025, 6:54 PM

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Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Asia tour by President Trump and the trade delegation that culminated with a lengthy meeting between President Trump and Chairman Xi Jinping.

By locking down trade agreements with Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Japan and South Korea in advance of the meeting with Xi, President Trump had effectively boxed out the maneuvers of Beijing and isolated any contravening strategy.

Chairman Xi was facing a U.S. strategic trade reset with multiple options for replacement of Chinese goods and resources.  As a result, the Beijing trade delegation recognized President Trump had effectively neutered the scale of their economic power and influence over the U.S. economy.  Instead, the best play for big panda was to shake hands and come to agreeable terms.  WATCH:

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Playing into President Trump’s hands was/is the strains currently ongoing within the Chinese domestic economy.  Further friction against the USA would have weakened Chairman Xi domestically.

The missing piece of the puzzle is now Russia.

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United States Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer is a very solid member of the Trump trade team.  Having learned at the knee of former USTR Robert Lighthizer, you can see the stability of thought in the consistency of approach.

USTR Greer outlines the ongoing discussions between the U.S. and China on the framework of a stable trade relationship.  Against a myriad of geopolitical chess moves on the economic and trade front, Greer and Treasury Secretary Bessent play key roles in executing the Trump Doctrine.

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In the background of the President Trump and Chairman Xi meeting, we can see the broad contours of President Trump’s strategy toward both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the China-Canada trade relationship.

If President Trump can formulate a strong, actionable and enforceable free trade agreement with Chairman Xi, it will undercut the ability of Canada to assemble cheap component goods not available in the U.S. manufacturing equation for total cost of goods.  This puts Trump in an even stronger position heading into the 2026 USMCA (CUSMA) dissolution phase.

Additionally, despite the mainstream thoughts to the contrary, putting distance between Russia and China is not averse to the interests of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who would strategically prefer to do business with the ‘West’ over Beijing.  However, China does not want to see their Biden-created tentacle weakened in Russia.

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CBS stenographer Margaret Brennan attempts to play the role of geopolitical trade expert in this interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.  She fails miserably.

Secretary Bessent gives a few more details on the upcoming trade agreement that will be signed by President Trump and Chairman Xi at the upcoming meeting in South Korea.   Brennan asks if the export controls on Chinese rare earth minerals “will be lifted.”  Bessent reminds Brennan the export controls have never been imposed.  lol  WATCH (or read):

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We begin this morning with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is traveling with President Trump. He joins us from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Good evening to you.

TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Margaret, good to speak to you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You have been negotiating directly with the Chinese. You said today a truce may have been reached. The threat on the table was a 155% tariff on China. The President said that would be effective November 1. Is that off the table? What are the terms?

SEC. BESSENT: Margaret, I think we had a very good two day meeting. I would believe that the- so it would be an extra 100% from where we are now, and I believe that that is effectively off the table. I’m not going to get ahead of the two leaders who will be meeting in Korea on Thursday, but I can tell you we had a very good two days. So I would expect that the threat of the 100% has gone away, as has the threat of the immediate imposition of the Chinese initiating a worldwide export control regime.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made the legacy media rounds Sunday saying that he and his Chinese negotiating counterpart had reached an agreement on export controls for rare earth minerals, that would lead to the United States not imposing 100 percent tariffs on China.

Secretary Bessent said that trade negotiations with China had been very productive. The plan was to create a deal for President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping this week in South Korea. However, NBC’s Kirsten Welker was not prepared for Bessent to make a positive announcement about U.S-China trade negotiations.

Because the script in front of her did not factor in the announcement by Bessent, what you see is Secretary Bessent breaking news about a U.S-China trade agreement, but Welker’s pre-scripted follow up questions didn’t align with that news. Welker ends up asking about tariffs and rare earth minerals, after Bessent says a deal to avoid tariffs and retain rare earth mineral access was developed.

Welker then continues asking about U.S-China trade conflicts until Bessent makes the point of saying something akin to ‘can you not hear me, the trade friction is resolved.’ Welker is then forced to abandon her script and ask about Canada. 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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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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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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Let’s put the events of the last 72 hours into context.

On Monday and Tuesday, Russian oil refineries in NATO countries Hungary and Romania suddenly, and simultaneously, have mysterious explosions and catastrophic fires {citation}}. On Wednesday, NATO head Mark Rutte comes to visit President Trump in the White House, and at the end of the day, the same Russian company, Lukoil, whose refinery exploded in Romania, suddenly becomes sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury {citation}. These events are not disconnected.

President Trump then disputes a Wall Street Journal report {citation}, further saying he did not give approval, nor does he know where NATO long-range missiles are coming from that were launched from Ukraine into Russia {citation}.

Alarmingly, both the Wall Street Journal and President Trump are seemingly correct.

President Trump did not give authorization; however, he did cede authority to NATO to make independent decisions about long-range missiles. The U.K. provided the British storm shadow missiles, and Ukraine launched them with NATO support for targeting deep into Russia.

President Trump saying, “wherever they may come from,” is alarming in itself.  We all know that British PM Starmer, French President Macron, German Chancellor Merz and NATO Secretary Mark Rutte are all in alignment to push NATO into a direct conflict with Russia using the non-NATO state of Ukraine to do it.

The frustrating part is not the obtuse deflection by President Trump – perhaps he really doesn’t know – but rather the alarming issue of questioning whether President Trump is getting accurate information from the U.S. intelligence apparatus to make sound decisions.  President Trump has abdicated the conflict decision-making to the NATO “coalition of the willing”, while the USA remains in NATO as a sideline observer.

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