President Trump gave a lengthy interview to Steve Hilton on a variety of topics.

Interview continues (just hit play):

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has to be the coolest cat in the crew. On May 15th at 6:00pm Ross blacklists Chinese Company Huawei, requiring Commerce Dept. licensing prior to any “American technology transferring to a company or person on the Entity List.” An hour later… Wilbur Ross is chillin’ in the East Room at a black tie dinner:

President Trump […] … And Wilbur had a very big day today. You probably have read about it. It came out at about 6 o’clock in the evening. So, we’re surprised to see you here, Wilbur. You should be working right now, Wilbur — (laughter) — wherever you are. (link)

The Chinese communists hate U.S.T.R. Lighthizer, but I bet they tremble more over Ross.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world.

The move could hobble Huawei’s smartphone business outside China as the tech giant will immediately lose access to updates to Google’s Android operating system. The next version of its Android smartphones will also lose access to popular services including the Google Play Store and Gmail and YouTube apps.

“Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google,” the source said. (read more)

Notice how Wallace never interrupts a Wall Street Decepticon?   Senator Pat Toomey (U-CoC) and swamp gatekeeper Chris Wallace discuss tariffs on China, the immigration crisis and a possible threat from Iran.

President Trump delivers remarks to the National Association of REALTORS Legislative Meetings and Trade Exposition.

A combination of the NAFTA “Fatal Flaw” & transnational Chinese shipments, was always at the heart of President Trump placing steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico during negotiations that culminated in the USMCA trade agreement.  The goal was to block China from dumping product into the U.S. through the doors of Canada/Mexico.

Within the USMCA President Trump and Robert Lighthizer placed a specific rule Article 32:10 which grants the U.S. the right to veto (control) Canadian and Mexican purchase agreements with “Non FTA Market Countries”, ie. China.

This Article 32:10 rule is at the core of the USMCA agreement.   However, after the USMCA agreement was reached President Trump kept the Steel/Aluminum tariffs in place.  For those who don’t understand Trump (insert Chrystia Freeland here) the question was always: why?

Quite simply the answer behind the question was President Trump’s retention of leverage. Yes, in 2018 the USMCA was agreed to; however, the USMCA was not ratified by either Canada or Mexico…. it was only an agreement.  Why would Trump remove critical leverage on an initial promise.

Trump is not a politician; he’s a businessman who knows promises are paper until they become action. Additionally, President Trump is a tactician; the tariff leverage was held until such a time as removing it would generate an immediate gain in national compliance toward his trade objective… That’s the action.  Today:

(Bloomberg) President Donald Trump said the U.S. will lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, boosting efforts to encourage lawmakers to ratify a new North American trade deal.

“I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico and will be selling our product into those countries without the imposition of tariffs or major tariffs,” Trump said at an event Friday. “Hopefully Congress will approve the USMCA quickly.”

In a joint statement Friday, Canada said it will lift retaliatory duties on U.S. products as part of the deal, which will take effect within two days. Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Jesus Seade, in a Twitter post, welcomed Trump’s removal of the duties. Both nations suggested it would open the way for their lawmakers to approve the new trade pact.

The move will lift the 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs the U.S. placed on the two trading neighbors almost a year ago in the name of national security. The decision sparked tit-for-tat duties from Canada and Mexico on U.S. farming goods and other products, and became an obstacle for lawmakers in all three nations to ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

As part of the agreement, the U.S. will be able to re-impose the tariffs on metals imports if not enough is done to prevent any surge of metals imports beyond historical levels. The nations have also agreed to ramp up efforts to trace where the metals have come from originally, to stop the diversion of shipments from other nations to dodge tariffs.

The enforcement system will aim to advantage primary steel and aluminum producers in the three-nation trading bloc to ensure that the metal is melted, poured or smelted regionally. (read more)

President Trump is strategic.  The timing is perfect as the U.S. has shown the world the administration’s response to China is unrelenting.  As a result of Beijing failing to uphold their end of the prior agreement between Vice-Premier Liu He and USTR Robert Lighthizer, the negotiations with China have stopped.

The consequence of China failing to reach a free, fair and reciprocal trade agreement with the U.S., with strong enforcement mechanisms, means that China remains a “non market-based economy”.  Tariffs against China now increase, and both Canada and Mexico are specifically accountable under the USMCA to retain the U.S. market position toward Chinese goods.

In essence, if Mexico or Canada violates USMCA Article 32:10, they will suffer similar consequences as currently visible toward China.  The U.S. will enforce all the regulatory and compliance verification to ensure that Canada and Mexico do not engage in transnational shipments of Chinese products.  That is the “enforcement system” that both nations will adhere to enjoy the benefits of steel/aluminum tariff removal.

President Trump and Secretary Wilbur Ross created the tariffs out of thin air. Yes, they simply created killer trade leverage…  Now, two years later, in exchange, for removing a punishing trade restriction that (A) previously didn’t exist; and (B) was crushing both economies; Canada and Mexico remove all countervailing duties which further opens their markets to U.S. goods…. and, simultaneously, agree to the terms which were at the core of the original demands, intents and purposes of President Trump.

USTR Washington, DC –Today, the United States announced an agreement with Canada and Mexico to remove the Section 232 tariffs for steel and aluminum imports from those countries and for the removal of all retaliatory tariffs imposed on American goods by those countries.  The agreement provides for aggressive monitoring and a mechanism to prevent surges in imports of steel and aluminum.

If surges in imports of specific steel and aluminum products occur, the United States may re-impose Section 232 tariffs on those products. Any retaliation by Canada and Mexico would then be limited to steel and aluminum products.

This agreement is great news for American farmers that have been subject to retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico. At the same time, the Agreement will continue to protect America’s steel and aluminum industries.  (USTR)

Canada and Mexico can no longer broker themselves as back-doors to the U.S. market; and at any given time, if either nation flinches, a future administration can pull out Article 32:10, enforcement entirely in the control of the United States, and POOF insta-leverage.

Don’t forget President Trump’s entire purpose for eliminating NAFTA was to stop Canada and Mexico from exploiting their access to the U.S. market at our expense.  Initially both nations said they would never agree to terms that undercut their independent abilities.  Here we are two years later, and they have agreed to the exact terms that underlined the original foundation of Trump’s position.

President Trump, Secretary Ross and Ambassador Lighthizer took the entire North American business community on a scenic two-year tour deep inside the land of leverage.

Greatest economic President in modern history.

A businessman.

A Titan.

(LINK to Article 32 pdf)

…”Complicated business folks, …complicated business”….

Funny how that happens. Less than 24 hours after President Trump declared new tech telecommunication is a national security issue; and one day after Secretary Wilbur Ross bans Huawei (and affiliates) from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval; all of a sudden the UK is having second thoughts.

…Huh, go figure:

LONDON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei poses such a grave security risk to the United Kingdom that the government must not allow it to have even a limited role in building 5G networks, a former head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service said on Thursday.

In what some have compared to the Cold War arms race, the United States is worried that 5G dominance would give any global competitor such as China an advantage Washington is not ready to accept.

The Trump administration, which hit Huawei with severe sanctions on Wednesday, has told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied this.

But British ministers have discussed allowing Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network. The final decision has not yet been published. (read more)

Oh, and we are not naive enough to overlook the current status, and subsequent leverage,  of the executive declassification process which might well outline how the U.K. intelligence apparatus was aligned to defeat President Donald Trump in 2016.

…”Well, where we go yuan, we go all didn’t work out… now what”?

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump release their 2018 financial disclosure forms.  Summary: They’re Rich….

A clear example of the Administrative State’s seditious alignment with global financial interests and DC indulgences.  This is the deep state at its deepest and most statist.

Mrs. Susan Thornton, the former acting assistant secretary of state in the Trump administration, tells her Beijing audience to stop negotiating until President Trump is removed from office in 2020.

(BEIJING) […] “I want to be optimistic,” said Thornton, whose 27-year career in Washington ended in July. “I tell all our foreign counterpartsthey should keep steady, keep their heads down and wait. [They should] try to not let anything change dramatically.”

“If this skeptical attitude towards talking diplomacy continues in this administration, you might have to wait till another administration,” Thornton said at an event held by National Committee of US-China relations and Shanghai’s American Chamber. (read more)

There was a prescient article written in Politico when Thornton announced her exit from the State Department.

POLITICO […] – Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pushed for Thornton to lead the state’s East Asia bureau during his tenure, but then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon tried to block her advancement. Bannon claimed she was too soft on China, but her nomination moved forward after he was ousted from the White House. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also said he did not want her to be confirmed. Thornton did receive a confirmation hearing, but never a vote.  –link–

This type of undermining of the president by a well known top diplomat is likely why the Chinese politburo rebuked the deal put together by USTR Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice-Primier Liu He.

Obviously President Trump’s opposition is confident they can remove him from office; and giving advice to the Chinese who are making long-term strategic decisions with that confidence in mind.

Again, just another example of the scale and scope of the challenges faced by President Trump as he attempts to negotiate strength for the U.S. economy, and is undermined by bureaucrats who make more personal wealth selling out our nation to foreign  governments.

There are trillions at stake; and former bureaucrats like Ms. Susan Thornton use their former positions to make millions at the trough even if that means advocating for the interests of a communist government.

Disappointing would be an understatement.

Those who have sold out our nation despise President Trump.