Chopper pressers are the best pressers. President Trump delivers remarks to the press as he departs the White House for an energy policy speech in Louisiana. The president answered multiple questions about current events including China, Bill Barr, John Durham, Iran, Don Jr., and immigration. [Video and transcript below]
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[Transcript] 11:21 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: So, the economy is doing very well by every measure. We’re having probably the greatest economy that we’ve had anywhere, anytime, in the history of our country.
We’re having a little squabble with China because we’ve been treated very unfairly for many, many decades — for, actually, a long time. And it should have been handled a long time ago, and it wasn’t. And we’ll handle it now.
I think it’s going to be — I think it’s going to turn out extremely well. We’re at a very strong position. We are the piggy bank that everybody likes to take advantage of, or take from. And we can’t let that happen anymore.
We’ve been losing, for many years, anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion a year with China and trade with China. We can’t let that happen.
The relationship I have with President Xi is extraordinary. It’s, really, very good. But he’s for China and I’m for the USA, and it’s very simple.
We are, again, in a very, very strong position. They want to make a deal. It could absolutely happen. But, in the meantime, a lot of money is being made by the United States, and a lot of strength is being shown. This has never happened to China before.
Our economy is fantastic; theirs is not so good. We’ve gone up trillions and trillions of dollars since the election; they’ve gone way down since my election.
So, that’s the way it is. That’s the way it stands. We’re going to do very well.
Yeah.
Q Mr. President, are you confident that there will be no recession while you’re in office?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you never can say that, but we’re doing very well. We’re doing — I think we probably have the greatest economy that we’ve ever had.
The employment numbers came out. As you know, they’re record levels in almost every category: African American — the best in history, if you take a look; Hispanic American, the best in history. Yesterday, Asian American numbers came in; they are the lowest in history — the history of our country. Women — I think in 61 years, and soon that will be historic, too.
So that we are doing — and as far as employment numbers, we have the most people working today in the United States than we’ve ever had before. Almost 160 million people. So it’s really good.
Q Mr. President, trade talks collapsed with China. Would you describe it —
THE PRESIDENT: You got a machine over there.
Q Have trade talks collapsed with China? Would you describe it like that?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I wouldn’t. We have a very good dialogue. We have a dialogue going. It’ll always continue. But we made a deal with China. It was a deal that was a very good deal. It had to be a good deal; otherwise, we’re not making it. Because we’ve been down so low in trade — and other Presidents should’ve done this a long time ago — we can’t just make a new deal. And I told that to President Xi.
But we had a deal that was very close, and then they broke it. They really did. I mean, more than just — more than renegotiate, they really broke it. So we can’t have that happen.
Q Mr. President, did you ask the Attorney General to launch a probe into the Russia investigation?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t ask him to do that.
Q Did you know he was going to do it?
THE PRESIDENT: I didn’t know it. I didn’t know it. But I think it’s a great thing that he did it. I saw it last night. And they want to look at how that whole hoax got started. It was a hoax. And even Mueller — not a friend of mine — even Bob Mueller came out: “No collusion.” And he had 18 people that didn’t like Donald Trump. They were Hillary Clinton fans. They contributed, many of them, to Hillary Clinton. They came out. It was the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the people of this country.
And you know what? I am so proud of our Attorney General, that he is looking into it. I think it’s great. I did not know about it. No.
Q Mr. President, were you surprised by the Chinese retaliation, sir? You tweeted they “should not retaliate,” and then they did.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no. I wasn’t surprised. But you have to understand they do $600 billion, meaning we buy $600 billion and they buy $100 billion. We have all the advantage. It’s a very small factor for us. And we have a much bigger economy now. You know, since my election, we’ve gone up so much. We have a much bigger economy than China. But if you take a look, $600 [DEL: million :DEL] [billion] versus $100 [DEL: million :DEL] [billion]. It’s a different world.
Q Mr. President, (inaudible) $100 billion in additional tariffs, then?
THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at that very strongly. About the $325 billion — we’re looking at it very strongly.
David.
Q Mr. President, did you tell DHS to round up immigrant families?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know anything about that. I read that. It’s probably fake news. But I read that this morning. I don’t know anything about it.
Q Mr. President, why is it unfair? Why is it unfair, sir, for Don Jr. to be subpoenaed if he’s pulled out of testifying twice?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, it’s really a tough situation because my son spent, I guess, over 20 hours testifying about something that Mueller said was 100 percent okay. And now they want him to testify again. I don’t know why. I have no idea why, but it seems very unfair to me.
Q Mr. President, are you planning to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East in response to Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s fake news, okay? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we’re not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that.
But I think it’s just — where was that story? In the New York Times? Well, the New York Times is fake news.
Go ahead.
Q You say this is a small squabble, but don’t you understand that American consumers may very well suffer because of this?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. So you have no tariff to pay whatsoever if you’re a business. All you have to do is build or make your product in the United States. There’s no tariff whatsoever. So that really works out very well.
Q Do you think you’re winning the trade war, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we’re winning it. We’re going to be collecting over $100 billion in tariffs. Our people, if they want, they can buy from someplace else, other than China. Or they can — really, the ideal is make their product in the USA. That’s what I really want. Yeah, we’re winning it.
You know what? You want to know something? You want to know something? We always win. We always win.
How are you, Emerald?
Q I’m good. How are you?
THE PRESIDENT: Good. What’s up?
Q Do you have confidence in Christopher Wray after he said he wouldn’t exactly call it “spying”?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I didn’t understand his answer because I thought the Attorney General answered it perfectly. So I certainly didn’t understand that answer. I thought it was a ridiculous answer.
Once again the New York Times is getting out ahead of the story to reveal Attorney General Bill Barr has instructed U.S. Attorney John Durham to review the origins of the 2016 DOJ and FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign. [Durham Background Here]
The appointment looks like a way to keep the sensitive inquiry within Barr’s control as opposed to appointing a special counsel. John H Durham, the U.S. attorney from Connecticut, has handled previous investigations into the intelligence community.
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.
John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.’s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees.
His inquiry is the third known investigation focused on the opening of an F.B.I. counterintelligence investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign into possible ties between Russia’s election interference and Trump associates.
The department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is separately examining investigators’ use of wiretap applications and informants and whether any political bias against Mr. Trump influenced investigative decisions. And John W. Huber, the United States attorney in Utah, has been reviewing aspects of the Russia investigation. His findings have not been announced.
[…] Mr. Durham, who was nominated by Mr. Trumpin 2017 and has been a Justice Department lawyer since 1982, has conducted special investigations under administrations of both parties. Attorney General Janet Reno asked Mr. Durham in 1999 to investigate the F.B.I.’s handling of a notorious informant: the organized crime leader James (Whitey) Bulger.
In 2008, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey assigned Mr. Durham to investigate the C.I.A.’s destruction of videotapes in 2005 showing the torture of terrorism suspects. A year later, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. expanded Mr. Durham’s mandate to also examine whether the agency broke any laws in its abuses of detainees in its custody. (read more)
Again, cautious optimism this appointment is a step in the right direction.
We would be remiss if we didn’t note the prior DOJ head-fake when U.S. Attorney John Laush was assigned to review and deliver documents to congress. That effort resulted in absolutely nothing; the documents were never produced; the redactions were never removed; and the corrupt institutional schemes were unfazed by Laush’s assignment.
It would seem like most of the investigative material Mr. Durham might need is already present in the accumulated files from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Keep an eye open to see if John H Durham is given a staff, investigative resources and/or a budget therein. If this is a genuinely motivated effort there should be visible activity.
This better-damn-well-not be another years-long investigation, specifically structured and coordinated to extend the tick-tock timeline of investigative inquiry into another 2020 election year, while the deep state institutional protectors say: “Trust Durham“.
Watching…
UPDATE: Prior letter from Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows to U.S. Attorney John H Durham in January of 2019, about the October 18, 2018, testimony from former FBI legal counsel James Baker where Baker’s lawyers identified Durham as a prosecutor investigating the claims of Baker leaking to media.
Michael Pillsbury discusses the ongoing U.S-China trade negotiation and notes the internal dynamic within China as their primary negotiator Vice-Premier Liu He was stripped of his title: “Special Envoy of Chairman Xi Jinping”.
Earlier this afternoon President Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the White House for bilateral discussions. During an oval office press availability both leaders answered questions from the media. [Video and Transcript]
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[Transcript] Oval Office – 2:14pm EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have with us the Prime Minister of Hungary. And Viktor Orbán has done a tremendous job in so many different ways. Highly respected. Respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s okay. That’s okay. You’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.
We’ll be discussing NATO. As you know, Hungary is a proud member of NATO, and we are — we’ve really gotten to know each other a little bit. We’ll be discussing trade, very much so, and lots of other subjects. We’ll be meeting with representatives of Hungary later on, and with the Prime Minister. And we’ll spend some very good time together.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being at the White House. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thanks.
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: May I have a word?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, please.
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: So, President, thank you very much for the invitation.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: May I just say here that we are proud that so many Hungarians contributed to the tremendous progress of United States. I’m very happy to be here again, and, may I say, to be young again. It was 20 years ago, first time here.
I have some expectations for this meeting this afternoon. First of all, to strengthen our strategic alliance. Then, to discuss global political issues because so many changes are going on, and we have some similar approaches. And I would like to express that we are proud to stand together with the United States on fighting against illegal migration, on terrorism, and to protect and help the Christian communities all around the world.
So, President, thank you very much for the invitation.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: And you have been great with respect to Christian communities. You have really put a block up, and we appreciate that very much.
So we’re going to have some meetings now. A lot of subjects under discussion. And the relationship is very good with Hungary. Thank you all very much.
Q Mr. President, what’s your reaction to China’s decision today to retaliate on tariffs, and the market reaction to that?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the reaction is very simple. China has been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years. I’m not just talking about during the Obama administration. You can go back long before that. And it’s been taking out four hundred, five hundred, six hundred billion dollars a year out of the United States. And we can’t let that happen.
We’re in a very strong position. Our economy has been very powerful; theirs has not been. We’ve gone up a lot since our great election in 2016. And if you look at the numbers, they’ve gone down quite a bit.
We’re dealing with them. We have a very good relationship. Maybe something will happen. But we’re going to be meeting, as you know, at the G20 in Japan. And that will be, I think, probably, a very fruitful meeting.
But we’re taking in, right now, hundreds of billions of dollars. We’re taking in billions of dollars of tariffs. And those tariffs are going to be tremendously — if you look at what we’ve done thus far with China, we’ve never taken in 10 cents until I got elected. Now we’re taking in billions and billions.
Now, it went up, as of Friday, very substantially. It’s 25 percent on $200 billion. So now the total is 25 percent on $250 billion. In addition to that, we have another $325 billion that we can do if we decide to do it.
So we are taking in tens of billions of dollars. We’ve never done that before with — with China. We’ve never done that before with anybody, frankly, because we’ve been taken advantage of on all of our trade deals, practically.
This is a — a very positive step. I love the position we’re in. There can be some retaliation, but it can’t be very, very substantial, by comparison. And out of the billions of dollars that we’re taking in, a small portion of that will be going to our farmers because China will be retaliating, probably, to a certain extent, against our farmers.
We’re going to take the highest year, the biggest purchase that China has ever made with our farmers, which is about $15 billion, and do something reciprocal to our farmers so our farmers can do well. They’ll be planting. They’ll be able to sell for less, and they’ll make the same kind of money until such time as it’s all straightened out.
So our farmers will be very happy. Our manufacturers will be very happy. And our government is very happy because we’re taking in tens of billions of dollars. I think it’s working out very well.
Again, we do much less business with China than they do with us. If you take a look at $100 billion versus $600 billion — and just so you understand, we don’t have to pay any tariffs if you’re a manufacturer in this country. You pay nothing. Open your division or open up your product. Have it made in this country as opposed to made in China. Or, if you don’t want to do that — and that would be the ideal; that’s what it used to be a long time ago when we were smart, when we had an economy that was really something very special. Now we’re having a period of tremendous growth and tremendous success like we haven’t seen for a long time.
But in the old days, we made our product and we took our product, and that’s what it was. Now we go to China, and we buy it — not anymore.
And if they don’t want to pay tariffs, make it here or buy it from another country that’s a non-tariffed country. So whether you go to Vietnam or so many others, you can do that.
So, the bottom line is we are taking in a tremendous amounts of money. It already started as of last Friday, but it really started seven months before that. It’s in the form of tariffs or taxes, and it had a tremendous impact.
If you looked at the first quarter — which is always, historically, the worst quarter — we were at 3.2 percent. People were very surprised. Well, a lot of that was the tariffs that we were taking in from China. So we’re in a very good positon and I think it’s only going to get better.
Q Can you guarantee a trade deal with China by June 1st?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re in a great positon right now, no matter what we do. Yeah, I think China wants to have it because companies are already announcing that they’re leaving China because they can’t do that. They can’t compete if they’re in China, with the tax.
So what a lot of companies are going to be doing, quite naturally, is leaving China and going to other countries so they don’t have to pay the tariff. That’s something that’s a problem for China. They don’t want to have that. And we don’t want to have that necessarily happen to China.
But we had a deal with China; it was 95 percent there. And then, my representatives — as you know, Secretary Mnuchin and Bob Lighthizer — Ambassador Lighthizer — they went to China and they were told the things that were fully agreed to we’re not going to get anymore; they’re going to un-agree to them. That’s not acceptable.
I said, “Good. That’s fine. Put on the tariffs.” And again, so we have tens of millions of dollars pouring into our coffers — the coffers of the U.S. Treasury.
Q Are you at war with Iran? Are you seeking regime change there?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything, it would be a very bad mistake. If they do anything. I’m hearing little stories about Iran. If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. We’ll see what happens with Iran.
Q Mr. President, will you meet with President Xi directly at G20?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’ll meet with him directly, yes. I’ll be meeting with President Xi of China. Yes.
Q What about President Putin? Will you also meet with him at G20?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I’ll be meeting with President Putin also.
Q On Russia: Secretary Pompeo is there — or is heading there. What message do you have for him to send to Putin?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think the message is that there has never been anybody that’s been so tough on Russia but, at the same time, we’re going to end up getting along with Russia. It makes sense to get along with Russia.
Nobody has sanctioned Russia like I have. Nobody has talked about the pipeline going to Germany and various other places like I have. I said it’s very unfair — having to do with the United States and NATO. There has been nobody that’s ever done — and if you really look at something big, our energy business — we’re now the biggest in the world. We’re bigger than Russia. We’re bigger than Saudi Arabia. We’re bigger than anybody. That it all happened since I’ve become President because I’ve made it so that you can do that. And we’re taking in a lot of money.
Look, our country is doing really well. We’ve probably never done this well before, and it’s going to continue. We have tremendous signs. As far as the deal with China is concerned, believe it or not, it’s very important, but it’s a very, very small part of the kind of numbers that we’re doing right now, since my election.
Q Will you pursue the $325 billion in tariffs? The additional tariffs — are you going to pursue that?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I haven’t made that decision yet. We have the right to do another $325 billion at 25 percent in additional tariffs. That is a tremendous amount of money that would come into our country. I have not made that decision yet.
Q Should Don McGahn be held in contempt of Congress?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t know anything about what’s going on. I can tell you that there has never been anybody so transparent as the Trump administration. And it was no collusion and no obstruction. And we’re wasting a lot of time with that stuff. But the Mueller report came out; it was a very good report for us.
Q Mr. President, are you concerned about democratic backsliding in Hungary under this Prime Minister?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, people have a lot of respect for this Prime Minister. He’s a respected man. And I know he’s a tough man, but he’s a respected man. And he’s done the right thing, according to many people, on immigration. And you look at some of the problems that they have in Europe that are tremendous because they’ve done it a different way than the Prime Minister. But I’ll let him speak to that question.
Mr. Prime Minister, please.
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: “From the people, by the people, for the people.” This is the basis for the Hungarian government. So, it’s a government which is elected by the Hungarian people several times, so we are happy to serve our nation.
Q What about democratic reforms, sir?
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: We have a new constitution accepted in 2011, and it’s functioning well.
Q Mr. President, you talked about —
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Don’t forget they’re a member of NATO, and a very good member of NATO. And I don’t think we can really go into too much of a discussion unless that’s mentioned.
Yeah.
Q You talked about transparency, sir. If you’re so transparent, why continue to block these House Democrats who are looking for information from Secretary Mnuchin and others?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because they’re asking for things that they’re not entitled to. I could ask them. I assume, if they ask me, I could ask them for the same kind of thing. They wouldn’t want to do it. All they’re doing is trying to win an election in 2020.
And I think we’re in very good shape. We’re have the strongest economy we’ve ever had. We have the single best employment numbers we’ve ever had — and unemployment numbers.
You know, it’s very interesting, but, Mr. Prime Minister, as of today, we have the most number of people working in the United States than we have ever had at any time in the history of our country. Almost 160 million people —
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: Congratulations.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: — are working. So, that’s a big — that’s a big number.
PRIME MINISTER ORBÁN: Congratulations.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I just saw the final number. We’re close to 160 million people. If you look at African American, Asian, Hispanic unemployment, it’s the lowest number it’s ever been.
So we’re doing really well. And all the Democrats want to do is find any way they can to stop it. They’re putting their own personal goals ahead of the country, and you can’t do that. You just can’t do that.
And we have a wonderful Attorney General. He’s done a very, very good job. And I’m sure it’ll all work out.
Q On your campaign, sir: Will you commit to not using any information stolen from a foreign adversary? Will you make that commitment?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I never did use, as you probably know. That’s what the Mueller report was all about. They said, “No collusion.” And I would certainly agree to that; I don’t need it. All I need is the opponents that I’m looking at. I’m liking what I see.
Q Mr. President, are you concerned about the attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens, I can tell you that. They’re not going to be happy. They are not going to be happy people. Okay?
Q What do you mean by that?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: You can figure it out yourself. They know what I mean by it.
Okay, does anybody else have a question other than these two? Any questions for the Prime — are there any questions for the Prime Minister, please?
Q Mr. President, what can you tell us about this American citizen that was rescued by the French in Africa?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, the French did a great job.
Q Who is she? Was it coordinated with your administration?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: The French did a great job and we appreciate it very much. And I’ve already communicated that feeling. We worked with them on intelligence, and we were able to get that person back. And we thank the French very much. Great job.
Q Who is she? Who is she? What work was she doing there?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t want to — I don’t want to tell you that now. I’ll tell you at some later date, I’m sure.
Okay?
Q The farmer aid package, sir — the $15 billion — can you elaborate on what that looks like or where that’s coming from?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it’s being devised right now. It’s something that has taken place over the years. And if you would like, speak to Sonny Perdue, Department of Agriculture.
We love our farmers. We take care of our farmers. Our farmers have been incredible. No country can get in the way of our farmers. Our farmers are great patriots and they’ve done a fantastic job. So our farmers are going to be very well taken care of.
President Trump is executing one of the most brilliant geopolitical economic resets in the history of global trade. It really is stunningly remarkable how President Trump has controlled the entire landscape. The consequential phase now begins.
It is fascinating how the financial pundits didn’t see this coming. Perhaps one of the best indicators of where things are today comes from this quote within the South China Post:
“The Administration’s Section 301 tariffs and China’s retaliatory tariffs will now further disrupt – or even break – many thousands of supply chains in both countries.”
The quote by Nelson Dong is stated *as if* shifting/breaking supply chains is a flaw in the approach. It’s not. Exactly the opposite is true; this is a feature of the strategic reset. A specific and purposeful feature designed by President Trump.
What Dong is predicting is the deconstruction of “one-belt, one-road”.
As President Trump highlighted today, over time (and it won’t take long) there will be an exodus of multinational manufacturing away from China. Corporations will shift their purchase agreements, manufacturing and assembly plans to ASEAN countries outside the investment ‘risk zone’ that is now China.
Notice some of the nuance (specific references) within President Trump’s tweets. Japan, Vietnam (President Trang Dai Quang), South Korea (KORUS), Philippines and India are positioned to pick-up business.
To counteract the predictable exodus the Chinese state-run enterprises (and banks) will offer incentives to retain the corporate manufacturing business. This process means China, in essence, subsidizes the tariffs:
China has no choice if they want to retain their economic model. Remember, China’s economy is deep (manufacturing) but also narrow. They are dependent on raw materials, customers and market access. {Go Deep}
Additionally, President Trump announces today he has not made any decision on the next phase of 25% tariffs on the remaining $350 billion in Chinese products. He doesn’t need to. Merely the possibility of additional tariffs will pause any further investment; and some companies not currently impacted will make decisions to avoid the possibility of impact.
President Trump has walked Chairman Xi into a trap. There is only downside for China in the current dynamic. In an effort to avoid the downside, China will bleed cash to retain their economic position…. However, this can only last so long.
President Trump knows the strength of our U.S. position is that our economy is deep and wide. The U.S. is a self-sustaining economy. Almost 80% of our internal production and manufacturing is purchased within our own market.
In the big picture – economic strength is an outcome of the ability of a nation, any nation, to support itself first and foremost. If a nations’ economy is dependent on other nations to survive it is less strong than a nation whose economy is more independent.
The reality of China as a dependent economic model; heck, they cannot even feed themselves; puts them at greater risk from the effects of global economic contraction. However, more importantly it puts China at risk from President Trump’s strategic use of geopolitical economic leverage to weaken their economy. Trump is exploiting that risk.
As things go forward, China cannot sustain a long-term economic conflict with the U.S. As each day passes the ASEAN alliance will see their investment grow as companies pull-out of China and invest in S-Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, India etc. The GDP of our allies (including Mexico) grows, and the controlled GDP of China, as an adversary, shrinks.
(LA Times) GoPro Inc. will move most of its U.S.-bound camera production out of China by summer, becoming one of the first brand-name electronics makers to take such action to minimize the impact of the U.S.-China trade war.
“Today’s geopolitical business environment requires agility,” GoPro Chief Financial Officer Brian McGee said in a statement Monday. “We’re proactively addressing tariff concerns.” The company is still deciding where to put the manufacturing operation. (more)
All of this was entirely predictable. President Trump and Ambassador Lighthizer told the world what to expect in 2017:
Da Nang, Vietnam – United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today released the following statement in response to President Trump’s speech on trade between the United States and the Indo-Pacific region, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit (emphasis mine):
“The President spoke loud and clear: the era of trade compromised by massive state intervention, subsidies, closed markets and mercantilism is ending. Free, fair and reciprocal trade that leads to market outcomes and greater prosperity is on the horizon.
“President Trump understands that too many nations talk about free trade abroad, only to shield their economies behind tariff and non-tariff barriers at home. The United States will no longer allow these actions to continue, and we are willing to use our economic leverage to pursue truly fair and balanced trade.
“I look forward to doing as thePresident instructed me and to pursue policies that will improve the lives of our workers, farmers and ranchers.” (link)
Looking at the retaliatory response from China today; there’s lots of great news. China is doing exactly what President Trump quietly predicted. They are walking directly into his trap. Trump is a friggin’ genius…. more on that coming.
This video from Steve Hilton last night was very well presented.
CTH was wondering how long it would take for President Trump to point out the brutally obvious…. Thanks to some advanced planning that everyone ignored, there are multiple trade alternatives to China:
Perhaps now people will reference President Trump’s long-game strategy which has been evident since his marathon Asia trip in November 2017.
Long before media pundits starting noticing/considering how serious President Trump was about structurally resetting the entire landscape of a U.S-China trade relationship, President Trump quietly and methodically laid the groundwork with personal visits to: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Japan); President Moon Jae-in (S-Korea); President Tran Dai Quang (Vietnam); and President Rodrigo Duerte (Philippines).
Oh, how quickly the media forgot.
These were not visits as part of multi-national/multilateral G20 or G7 discussions. The November 2017 tour of Asia was President Trump traveling to meet directly, face-to-face, one-on-one with the manufacturing heavyweights of Southeast Asia.
At every single stop he broadcast the intent of the visit: “We’re talking TRADE”!
These were unilateral meetings; and, in hindsight, clearly designed to structure the foundation of the current U.S-China trade conflict. You might remember CTH calling this the “golden ticket tour“. The tour culminated in the November 12-13, 2017, ASEAN summit; but the 10-day tour of Asia was entirely separate from the summit.
After the collapse of the U.S-China negotiations, there’s a reason why President Trump says: “we’re in no rush” to make a deal.
The reality is, though President Trump will continue to provide enticements for U.S. product manufacturing to return, there is an abundant ASEAN base to replace China.
This Art-of-The-Deal strategy is an aspect that almost no-one is paying attention to.
Of course, to consider this strategy the media would have to admit that President Trump has just executed one of the biggest global and geopolitical trade strategies of all time….
Nah, can’t be. Wait, wha?
It’s clear from the responses of nations who were visited in November 2017 and 2018, that some anticipation toward this trade outcome was likely.
Now ask yourself, how much did those golden tickets just appreciate in value?
Additionally, remember that innocuous Ivanka Trump visit to India. Again, November 2017:
Strategery.
….. And the important new Trump terminology: “Indo-pacific”?
Da Nang, Vietnam – United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today released the following statement in response to President Trump’s speech on trade between the United States and the Indo-Pacific region, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit (emphasis mine):
“The President spoke loud and clear: the era of trade compromised by massive state intervention, subsidies, closed markets and mercantilism is ending. Free, fair and reciprocal trade that leads to market outcomes and greater prosperity is on the horizon.
“President Trump understands that too many nations talk about free trade abroad, only to shield their economies behind tariff and non-tariff barriers at home. The United States will no longer allow these actions to continue, and we are willing to use our economic leverage to pursue truly fair and balanced trade.
“I look forward to doing as thePresident instructed me and to pursue policies that will improve the lives of our workers, farmers and ranchers.” (link)
…. Which led to a very unusual November 2018 “Trilateral” meeting….
An important trilateral meeting between President Trump, Prime Minister Abe and Prime Minister Modi which forms an important economic alliance for President Trump’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy. As we noted when it happened: “this larger geopolitical strategy is the counterweight to China’s One-Belt/One-Road (red dragon) maneuver.”
[Transcript] Buenos Aires – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with Prime Minister Modi of India, and, as you know, Prime Minister Abe of Japan. And we just had a great meeting, and we’re having now what we call a “trilat.”
The relationships between our three countries is extremely — extremely good, extremely strong. I think, with India, maybe stronger than ever. And with Japan, I think, stronger than ever. We’re doing very well together. We’re doing a lot of trade together. We’re doing a lot of defense together, a lot of military purchases.
And we’re going to now have a little discussion between the three of us. So thank you very much.
Mr. Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER MODI: (As interpreted.) I feel this is a very good occasion for our three countries — countries which have shared values, democratic values — Japan, America, and India together. We will be playing a big role together for world peace, prosperity, and stability.
I’m also happy that both the countries are our strategic partners. Both of them are very good friends. And the three countries together — it is a matter of good fortune that we will work together.
When you look at the acronym of our three countries — Japan, America, and India — it is “JAI,” which, in Hindi or in India, in general, is for “success.” In a way, this “JAI” — “success,” this message — is a good message that goes out. It’s a good beginning.
And together, as I said earlier, we’ll be playing a very big role to work together for world peace, prosperity, and stability.
PRIME MINISTER ABE: (As interpreted.) I am very delighted to hold the first-ever Japan-U.S.-India trilateral summit meeting today. Japan, the U.S., and India share fundamental values and strategic interests. And I certainly hope to further reinforce our trilateral partnership and to continuing our close cooperation toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.
By having three of us working together, we’ll bring more prosperity and more stability in the region, as well as globally.
Boy howdy, Maria Bartiromo has the big picture of the 2015/2016 political weaponization of the intelligence apparatus exactly right. In this interesting interview with Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham both Bartriromo and Graham discuss the scale and scope of the 2015/2016 effort to stop Trump.
Interestingly, in a shift of tone, Senator Graham outlines what this surveillance operation means when contrast against the structures of our constitutional government.
Traditionally Lindsey Graham would bury any issue adverse to the institutions of the DC administrative state. So there’s two possibilities here: (A) Graham has fundamentally changed his outlook toward the dangers of the institutions within government; or, (B) Graham is doing a full ‘Castellanos‘ and embracing the controversy in order to control the risk to the administrative state with intent to protect it. [The latter is tradition]
The best way for DC to protect itself from the mob’s approach is to lead it themselves. The modern GOPe club has used this defense sending agents to the front of the grassroots anger in order to control the outcome. [Fast-n-Furious, IRS targeting, Benghazi, etc.]
♦When the common sense Tea Party movement formed in 2009 and 2010 it contained a monumentally frustrated grassroots electorate, and the scale of the movement caught the professional republican party off-guard.
♦When Donald Trump ran for the office of the presidency in 2015 and 2016 he essentially did the same thing; he disrupted the apparatus of the professional republican party.
The difference between those two examples is one was from the bottom up, and the second was from the top down. The commonality in the two forces resulted in the 2016 victory.
It took a few years for the heavily armored old guard of GOP to formulate a plan to retain their control. In the example of the Tea Party, the republican power structures moved in 2011 through 2014 to co-opt the vulgarian movement and impede their disruptive influence. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was at the forefront of those power moves. {Go Deep} and {Go Deep} The basic issue for the GOP was retention of power.
McConnell and crew tamped down the fire. A few years pass and the issues that spurred the Tea Party movement remained unresolved. In 2015 Donald Trump taps in to that exact same Tea Party frustration toward the control authority within one-half of the DC UniParty; again, the professional republican apparatus was disrupted.
From the first moment candidate Trump announced his platform positions; from the very first poll *after* those platform positions were announced; Donald Trump was leading the republican field in every-single-poll from August of 2015 through today. Center stage throughout 2015 and 2016 and President of the United States as an outcome therein.
Yes, the “movement” rebranded and now MAGA wins the presidency.
However, think back to the 2015 instructions from republican insider Alex Castellanos as he described how the RNC could eliminate the disruptive influence of Donald Trump:
[…] “The best way to do it is how Brutus killed Caesar. Get real close, snuggle up, and shiv him in the ribs”… (link)
For the past two years it’s been a never-ending game of whac-a-mole as each of the establishment minded embeds surfaces at different times. Within the dynamic, the one commonality within the internecine conflict inside the Trump administration is the establishment GOP -vs- Trump MAGA.
It’s like having an independent MAGA administration that contains establishment terror cells. Each cell acts independently, but each cell also acts based on a common objective: retain the UniParty.
When you think about the actual structure of the National Republican Party -vs- the state party machines; it’s enough to make you wonder if the mid-term outcome and lack of structural fight was not part of this dynamic. After all, “their” party was taken over by a new MAGA base and a new pragmatic political leader, Donald Trump.
The same UniParty dynamic is visible in the way the FBI/DOJ and aggregate intelligence community were weaponized against Donald Trump – with Democrats and Republicans participating in the unlawful processes. Now, in the downstream consequence phase, we see a UniParty defense approach to block Trump from revealing what happened.
I’m not sure people fully completely understand this dynamic within “spygate”. It was not a targeting operation by democrats; republicans were just as complicit. The ongoing goal to eliminate candidate and president Trump is *not* partisan.
I hope Senator Lindsey Graham has encountered something that has fundamentally changed his core sense of identity. I truly hope that is the case. However, in the modern era of DC politics I cannot reference an example where the outlook of the individual, the guiding principles, changed inside a politician.
Check the audience at 01:25 (look fast):
.
CTH has been in this modern-era conservative battle for a long time. We have the GOPe battle scars, and a thousand points of betrayal to reference.
The genuine Tea-Party/MAGA movement has the same ideologies and objectives. It is the ‘Monster Vote’. It is also the most important political movement in our lifetime. However, we will not promote ‘hope-porn’ and fantasy proclamations amid sudden appearances of political altruism.
We fight for DC change; we support our President, and we accept the battle-space as it exists; not as we wish it to be.
National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News to debate Chris Wallace over the U.S-China trade reset. As customary Wallace completely ignores the dynamic of communist China as a state run economy, and not a free market system; thus presenting the fictitious Wall Street position about bad tariffs.
Chairman Kudlow notes the bigger issues of President Trump confronting the enforcement mechanisms that must be in place if a trade agreement (FTA) between a free-market system (USA) and a state-run system (China) are going to work…
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Washington, DC – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today released the following statement regarding additional action under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974:
“Earlier today, at the direction of the President, the United States increased the level of tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. The President also ordered us to begin the process of raising tariffs on essentially all remaining imports from China, which are valued at approximately $300 billion.”
The process for public notice and comment will be published shortly in the Federal Register. The details will be on the USTR website on Monday as we begin the process prior to a final decision on these tariffs. (link)
Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News President Trump campaigned against the press. He governs against the press. And in February, Trump tweeted this about the press. There’s a reason for this: Republicans in general, and Trump supporters in particular, hate the media. A Pew poll from May found that in the Trump era, the partisan divide over the role of the press is the largest it’s been since they began asking this question. VICE News went to a Trump rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this week to ask his supporters why they hate the media. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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