Tag Archives: First 100 days

Apr 14 2017

Secretary Wilbur Ross Delivers A Message – The “UniParty” Congress is Put On Notice…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 14, 2017 by

To say we consider Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a man with a unique skill-set for this defined moment in U.S. economic history would be an understatement of epic proportions. Ross is one of the most consequential and dynamic forces within the President Trump administration.

That said, Secretary Ross also knows the real economic adversary is not necessarily external to our border. The bought-and-paid-for UniParty congress has been under the influence of the globalist-minded U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the myriad of K-Street lobbyists, for almost two decades.

Today, Wilbur “Wilburine” Ross fires a shot across the bow of the U.S. Economic Swamp Defenders:

Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade.

Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification letter in compliance with the Trade Promotion Act. But, under President Trump’s leadership, I have no doubt that we will be successful in rebalancing American trade in favor of American workers and businesses.

There are, as you know, trillions of dollars at stake. The American electorate have no reference points for the battles that lie ahead within budgets and trade principals.  The Trump administration will necessarily direct attention to the real source of political power and influence, the DC financial system.

Wilbur Ross provides no quarter.  This is a zero-sum game; it is not some esoteric argument about priorities. The DC UniParty will do everything within their power to block their diminishment.

As outlined by Wilburine:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross – The United States is the least protectionist country in the world but has the largest trade deficit, while other countries are highly protectionist and have huge trade surpluses. This cannot continue.

We can no longer afford to be ignorant or naive in the aggressive global marketplace, and there is no reason why we should be forced to singlehandedly absorb the $500 billion trade surplus of the rest of the world.

Since inauguration, the Administration and the Department of Commerce have been moving rapidly to institute the vision and policies of President Trump. We are acting to vigorously protect the interests of the United States and to restore the primacy of American workers and businesses.

This administration will not be taken advantage of or cheated through illegal subsidies and market manipulation, and we are acting aggressively against those countries that mock our trade laws.

To start, we have brought a new energy to enforcement, working to ensure that all countries play fair and by the agreed-upon rules. We have been executing these trade investigations very rapidly.

In our short time in office, Commerce has opened investigations into dumping or unfair subsidization of over $1 billion dollars of aluminum and metal imports from China and other countries; progressed in investigating over $14 billion in dumped or illegally subsidized imports of steel, chemicals, and other products into the United States; and issued final determinations and imposed duties on imports of steel and other products valued at over $2 billion, including steel from China.

We have also begun the process of self-initiating trade cases, which speeds up the process of taking corrective action while allowing the Department of Commerce to shield American businesses from retaliation.

To further these efforts, the President recently issued two executive orders giving the federal government additional tools to ensure fair treatment of American workers and businesses.

The first order tasks the Department of Commerce with an omnibus review of our nation’s trade deficit. We are now going through country by country, product by product, to identify and study the sources of America’s trade imbalance.

While some of this information is already collected by various government agencies, there has never been such a systematic collection, review, and analysis of the data. As we seek to rebalance our trade relationships, this report will be our go-to resource.

The second executive order provides another more concrete weapon in the fight against unfair trade practices. I was amazed to hear that the government has failed to collect literally billions of dollars in antidumping and countervailing duties that we impose pursuant trade judgements in favor of American industry. Many importers use straw man companies with little or no assets to import their goods, so that when it comes time to collect the duties, there is nothing to collect.

It makes no sense to expend the time and resources to get an affirmative ruling if you cannot then take the necessary action to punish and deter bad actors. This will no longer occur, as the President’s second executive order empowers the Department of Homeland Security to require companies to put up collateral in the form of cash, insurance bonds, or letters of credit in order to import goods.

While we will ensure that there is a full and fair assessment of the facts in all enforcement cases, we intend to act swiftly and harshly to halt any unfair or improper trade practices.

Commerce is also charged with protecting our national security from those who would harm this country. In executing that mission, our Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently led the federal government in imposing a $1.19 billion dollar fine against Chinese telecommunications manufacturer ZTE, the largest fine ever in an export control case. BIS caught ZTE shamelessly exporting sensitive telecommunications products to both Iran and North Korea.

Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade. Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification letter in compliance with the Trade Promotion Act. But, under President Trump’s leadership, I have no doubt that we will be successful in rebalancing American trade in favor of American workers and businesses. –link–

Apr 14 2017

Microsoft Transparency Report Shows Massive Increase in 2016 Obama Era FISA Orders…


Re-Posted from Conservative Tree House on April 14, 2017 by sundance

Microsoft tries to thread the needle of transparency by telling its consuming audience as much about governmental collection of data as possible. Toward that end Microsoft releases a biannual transparency report.

Within the latest transparency release Microsoft reports in the first half of 2016 they received a massive increase in FISA orders; primarily from U.S. governmental agencies.

• “For the latest Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) data reported, Microsoft received 1,000-1,499 FISA orders seeking content disclosures affecting 12,000-12,499 accounts, compared to the 0-499 FISA orders seeking disclosure of content impacting 17,500-17,999 accounts reported for the previous period.

We received 0-499 National Security Letters in the latest reporting period, which remains unchanged from the previous period.” (link)

Why would there be such a significant spike in FISA orders during the first six months of 2016?

Due to legal compliance restrictions Microsoft cannot divulge the actual number of FISA Court Orders, only the range. As you can see there was at least a doubling of requests (Prior: 0-499 ~vs~ Now: 1,000-1,499) perhaps much more.

However, simultaneous to the increase in the number of FISA orders, the requests were on fewer accounts. So FISA using agencies were seeking more total data but on a smaller number of accounts.

Apr 14 2017

UK & Germans Did Intercept Trump’s Phone Calls with Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/Australia & Oceania

Re-Posted Apr 14, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

gchq

After denying that British and other European intelligence agencies have intercepted communications between Donald Trump’s staff and Russian citizens and other Russian citizens during the campaign, the truth has come out that they did exactly that. The Guardian, which has also been extremely anti-Trump, reported: “Britain’s spy agencies played a crucial role in alerting their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, the Guardian has been told.”

European intelligence agencies sent these intercepts to their US counterparts, US Congress and law enforcement agencies, and US and European intelligence agencies. This is all part of an elaborate scheme. US intelligence agencies cannot by law tap American calls. The British and Germans can and do. They then hand it to the US agencies who then claim they didn’t do anything.

These European intelligence services did monitor those communication between the Trump staff and the Russian individuals for several months, and then passed the results to the US. The United States and the UK are part of the so-called “Five Eyes” agreement (together with Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which provides an exchange of intelligence from the member countries. Foreign intelligence monitors citizen with a country and then hands the results to that domestic agency. This is how they all circumvent civil rights of their own citizens. The new head of the CIA can bullshit everyone saying they do not tap American phones, but he NEVER said they do not get that info by allowing foreign intelligence to do so.

Judge Andrew Napolitano made the following statement that his sources said that President Obama was outside the command chain to spy on Trump. He did not use the NSA, he did not use the CIA, he did not use the Ministry of Justice, he used GCHQ, the British intelligence. When he made those comments, he was blasted by every news media as making this up. Then the British GHCHQ came out and lied to the world saying the allegations were nonsense, and they were “utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.” Beware whenever any government says such statement should be ignored. That is always a code word for they are true.

Now the British and Germans claim that these communications were recorded during the routine monitoring of Russian officials and other Russians known to Western intelligence services. The British and European intelligence agencies, including GCHQ, the British Intelligence Service responsible for communications monitoring, were not proactive in the Trump team, but took these communications in the so-called “random collection”.

Since foreign intelligence services are intercepting every phone call from the USA outside the country and then share that information with the US intelligence agencies, this is direct circumvention of the Constitution and the NSA, CIA, and FBI can deny they tap people all the time, but they just get someone else to do it for them.

Let’s make one point very clear. They are monitoring absolutely EVERY phone call, email, and SMS and they call this “random” since they do not target a specific person, they just collect everything. They then can identify each phone call and create files. This is the objective and it is not for terrorism and this Trump incident proves. They will be able to track every penny and this is for taxes.

 

Apr 14 2017

Impeachment


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Apr 14, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Andrew Johnson Impeachment

QUESTION: Wasn’t Andrew Jackson impeached or they began impeachment proceedings because he moved all funds from the Bank of the United States to his pet banks? Do you think they can impeach Trump as they keep yelling about?

ANSWER: Andrew Jackson drew a censure resolution from the Senate over his actions in opposition to the Second Bank of the United States. When he moved the federal government’s deposits to state-chartered banks in defiance of Congress’ wishes, he triggered a financial panic. As President Andrew Jackson began to remove money from the Bank and deposited it in the so-called “pet banks”, the Senate voted to officially censure him in 1834.  Jackson filed a protest with the Senate, saying the Bank’s abuses of power made it his “duty” as chief executive to rid the country of the Bank.  He carefully ended with an appeal to the people, explaining anew his reasons for opposing government monopolies and saying that he was proud of his actions.

Andrew_Johnson_impeachment_trial

Andrew Johnson was against being hard on the South and opposed the Radical Republicans who demanded the South be punished. During the mid-term election, the Radical Republicans gained more seats and nullified any possible veto of Johnson. Here is a ticket to that impeachment proceeding. In those days, it was like going to watch a movie.

On February 24, 1868, for the first time in American history, the United States House of Representatives impeached a sitting president, Democrat Andrew Johnson. At that time, Johnson faced trial before the U. S. Senate. The House formally agreed to the articles of impeachment on March 2, 1868, and forwarded them to the Senate, which in the end, could not get the 2/3rds majority to convict and remove him from office.

Any impeachment of Donald Trump does not seem remotely possible. It would take two-thirds of the Senate and there is no way that can be accomplished at this time. Beside, you can only impeach a president for something he has done in office – not before

Apr 13 2017

Judge Napolitano Vindicated? British Intelligence Was Used By Obama Administration to Obtain FISA Warrants On Trump Team…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 13, 2017 by

On March 14th Judge Andrew Napolitano said:

“Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA. He didn’t use the CIA. He didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database. So by simply having two people go to them saying, ‘President Obama needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump, conversations involving president-elect Trump,’ he’s able to get it, and there’s no American fingerprints on this.”

~ Judge Andrew Napolitano

On March 20th Fox News suspended Napolitano for making those remarks.  The British government and British intelligence community was furious at Napolitano and Fox News.  At the time Rupert Murdoch was attempting to purchase SkyNews, which might have aided in the severity of his response to Napolitano.

However, today CNN is confirming much of the construct for what Napolitano was previously saying: 

CNN – British and other European intelligence agencies intercepted communications between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and other Russian individuals during the campaign and passed on those communications to their US counterparts, US congressional and law enforcement and US and European intelligence sources tell CNN.

The communications were captured during routine surveillance of Russian officials and other Russians known to western intelligence. British and European intelligence agencies, including GCHQ, the British intelligence agency responsible for communications surveillance, were not proactively targeting members of the Trump team but rather picked up these communications during what’s known as “incidental collection,” these sources tell CNN.

The European intelligence agencies detected multiple communications over several months between the Trump associates and Russian individuals — and passed on that intelligence to the US. The US and Britain are part of the so-called “Five Eyes” agreement (along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which calls for open sharing among member nations of a broad range of intelligence. (read more)

Against the backdrop of President Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice finally admitting she was the White House entity who unmasked the names of U.S. people contained within U.S. intelligence reports, the prior substantive concerns of Judge Andrew Napolitano appear confirmed.

It would appear the justification for the early 2016 President Obama surveillance program was, in part, constructed by utilizing information from British intelligence sources.

Earlier we considered that NSA Director Mike Rogers didn’t want to participate in, or give aid in relationship to, the surveillance scheme.  Consequently, the Obama White House worked around Rogers with another source, British Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ), for the same information.

In 2013 Edward Snowden released information the UK GCHQ was being party funded by the U.S. NSA to the tune of over £100 million:

[…]  The funding underlines the closeness of the relationship between GCHQ and its US equivalent, the National Security Agency. But it will raise fears about the hold Washington has over the UK’s biggest and most important intelligence agency, and whether Britain’s dependency on the NSA has become too great. (link)

January 23rd, 2017, three days after President Trump’s inauguration, the head of the U.K. General Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ) unexpectedly resigns:

Robert Hannigan, the director of GCHQ, has resigned from his job as head of one of the three Government intelligence agencies after just two years.

GCHQ would only say that Mr Hannigan had left his post for “personal reasons” and that he was not sacked or subject to disciplinary proceedings.  (link)

[Previously] In hindsight, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers may have notified Team Trump of Obama’s Intelligence Community (James Clapper and John Brennan) involvement or engagement in surveillance activity.

As you look at the dates below, it’s important to note that NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers would be keenly aware of both the June FISA request – Denied, and the October request – Granted.  Pay specific attention to the October request. “October”!.

clapper-comey-rogers-brennan-1

June 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration files a request with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. The request, uncharacteristically, is denied.

October 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration submits a new, narrow request to the FISA court, now focused on a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of links to Russian banks. No evidence is found — but the wiretaps continue, ostensibly for national security reasons.

Andrew McCarthy at National Review later notes. The Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using the high-tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services.

♦ On Tuesday November 8th, 2016 the election was held.  Results announced Wednesday November 9th, 2016.

NSA Director Rogers participates in session at Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington♦ On Thursday November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York and met with President-Elect Donald Trump.

♦ On Friday November 18th The Washington Post reported on a recommendation in “October” that Mike Rogers be removed from his NSA position:

The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed.

The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

[…]  In a move apparently unprecedented for a military officer, Rogers, without notifying superiors, traveled to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower. That caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters. (link)

Remember, historically The Washington Post is the preferred outlet for the CIA and Intelligence Community within Deep State to dump their “leaks” and stories.  [The State Department “leaks” to CNN for the same purposes.]

♦ On Saturday November 19th Reuters reported on the WaPo Story and additional pressure by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and DNI James Clapper to fire Mike Rogers.

[…]  The Washington Post reported that a decision by Rogers to travel to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday without notifying superiors caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, but the recommendation to remove him predated his visit.  (link)

If you just look at the timeline of activity a picture emerges:

  1. The Intelligence Community -at the direction of President Obama- made a request to a FISA court for the NSA to spy on Donald Trump in June 2016.  It was denied.
  2. In October the Intelligence Community (NSA) -at the direction of President Obama- made a second request to the FISA court for the NSA to spy on activity around Donald Trump.  It was approved.
  3. At around the same time (October), as the second request, (Def Sec) Ash Carter and (DNI) James Clapper tell President Obama to dump NSA Director Mike Rogers.
  4. A week after the election, Director Mike Rogers makes a trip to Trump Tower without telling his superior, James Clapper….
  5. …Which immediately brings about new calls (November media leaks to WaPo) for President Obama to dump Admiral Mike Rogers.

Apr 13 2017

President Trump Interview With Maria Bartiromo…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 12, 2017 by

Yesterday President Trump gave an interview to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.  The interview aired earlier today (4/12/17).

Apr 13 2017

Economic Diplomacy Continues – President Trump Softens Tone Toward China Currency Manipulation…


Re-Posted from the Conservative Tree House on April 12, 2017 by

President Trump gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal where he changed a prior position on declaring China a “currency manipulator”:

(Via ABC) According to the Wall Street Journal, the president said the decision came in consideration of talks with China over its role in countering North Korean weapons testing. Trump said that any move to attach the designation could hamper China-U.S. relations. He claimed that, in recent months, China’s currency manipulation has halted. (link)

Is this a change in position? Yes.

It is an arbitrary change, or even an unexpected shift? Hell no.

As we have pointed out since the February 2016 GOP debate, the Trump approach toward North Korean hostilities is to leverage China to get control over N-Korea. –Expanded Backstory–

President Trump is realigning U.S. geopolitical relationships based on America-First interests.   President Trump is using economic leverage to provide security and global stability. President Trump knows how to stroke the panda fur.

Last night President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held another consultation call. 

Earlier today China abstained from vetoing a U.N. security council resolution against the use of chemical weapons in Syria.  Russia was forced to stand alone in alliance with Bashir Assad.  Russia is now isolated.  To emphasize that point, President Trump publicly states his support for NATO.

Earlier this week, following the April 6th, 7th Florida meeting between President Xi and President Trump, China refused to allow North Korean coal cargo ships to unload.  Today, China signaled they may temporarily ban the export of oil into North Korea.  Through these actions North Korea is becoming isolated.

China holds leverage over North Korea as the U.S. holds leverage over Puerto Rico.

As we stated in 2016, and again in January 2017, President Trump is positioning economic leverage with China to promote U.S. security interests.

The non-designation of China as a “currency manipulator” may be a billion benefit to China today, but if China can leverage productive action by North Korea, that same transactional exchange may save the U.S. billions in the use of military and peacekeeping assets, and provide enhanced security to South Korea – another strategic economic interest of the U.S.

This should come as no surprise to those who carefully followed Donald Trump’s public positions on the issues.   Bold predictive statements made earlier provide the leverage today for President Trump to find a larger economic and national security win.

In the last 24 hours:

♦ Russia said President Putin would not meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.  Hours later Vladimir Putin hosted T-Rex for more than two hours.

♦ Russia vetos a U.N. Security Council resolution against Syria, and China refused to stand with them – that’s a historic shift of alliance.

♦ President Trump modifies his position on Chinese currency, and China announces the possibility of an oil embargo against North Korea.

[…]  A new nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile test, if conducted by Pyongyang at this time, will be a slap in the face of the US government and will intensify the confrontation between North Korea and the US.

Presumably Beijing will react strongly to Pyongyang’s new nuclear actions. China will not remain indifferent to Pyongyang’s aggravating violation of the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution.

More and more Chinese support the view that the government should enhance sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. If the North makes another provocative move this month, the Chinese society will be willing to see the UNSC adopt severe restrictive measures that have never been seen before, such as restricting oil imports to the North.

Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program is intended for securing the regime, however, it is reaching a tipping point. Pyongyang hopes its gamble will work, but all signs point to the opposite direction. (link)

President Trump is leveraging China toward successful objectives in both Syria and North Korea.  In both instances Russia and North Korea are more isolated.  Additionally, in both of the key security interests of the United States, the use of this economic leverage means we do not have to involve our military.

The media are gleefully pointing out reversals or modifications of prior positions announced by candidate, now President, Donald Trump.   However, within each of these modified positions there are enormous benefits to the America-First platform.

America-First is not about isolationism; it is about the smart use of America’s aggregate scale and influence to shape outcomes that benefit America First.

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

Apr 12 2017

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Mattis: “We’re Not Going Into Syria”…


Re-Posted from thehttps://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/04/11/president-trump-and-secretary-of-defense-mattis-were-not-going-into-syria/#more-131214 Conservative Tree House Posted on April 11, 2017 by

President Trump and Defense Secretary Mattis both gave almost identical responses today when asked about the future administration policy toward Syria.   Secretary Mattis speaking from the Pentagon stated:

…”I think what we have to look at here is a policy decision by the United States.  There is a limit to what we can do.  And when you look at what happened with this chemical attack we knew that we could not stand passive on this.  But it was not a statement that we could enter full-fledged, full-bore, into the most complex civil war probably waging on the planet at this time.”  (link)

President Trump speaking to the New York Post stated:

(Via New York Post) Amid complaints that his aides are saying different things about Syria and his policy is confusing, President Trump emphatically cleared the air.

“We’re not going into Syria,” he told me yesterday in an exclusive interview. “Our policy is the same — it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.”

The president, speaking by phone Tuesday, called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a “butcher” and a “barbarian” for using sarin gas on his own people, but said last week’s successful missile strike was not the start of a campaign to oust the dictator.

“Our big mission is getting rid of ISIS,” Trump said. “That’s where it’s always been. But when you see kids choking to death, you watch their lungs burning out, we had to hit him and hit him hard.”

He called the attack, which involved 59 cruise missiles fired from two Navy destroyers, “an act of humanity.”  (read more)

[Via Michael Goodwin] When I asked the President Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Steve Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”

He ended by saying, “Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.” (link)

President Trump is the wave, the Tsunami wave.  Steve Bannon is the surfer…. you already know how this story ends:

The conspiracy nutters and cruz-bots are going to go bananas when surfer Bannon falls into the rocks.  It’s clear now, the fall is coming.  Oh well.

Good to remind yourself that Steve Bannon was the political strategist of billionaire Robert Mercer supporting Ted Cruz in 2014 and 2015.

Never forget Steve Bannon at Breitbart put together the data-collection strategy consisting of the presidential support polling for more than a year; and delivering the user-data to the Ted Cruz campaign which they then combined with with Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica to fundraise on behalf of Ted Cruz. –Full Background–

Steve Bannon was campaigning for Ted Cruz for a long time, and sent donor solicitation on behalf of Ted Cruz’s campaign using Breitbart letterhead and email banner headings.

Despite the small base appeal of the preaching, Bannon, Robert and Rebekkah Mercer, saw Ted Cruz as the best candidate to beat Jeb Bush.  Until Donald Trump squished Ted.

Robert Mercer, Steve Bannon and Kelly-anne Conway were part of Team Cruz all the way through the GOP convention.   It wasn’t until Senator Cruz embarrassed himself with his self-righteous and sanctimonious convention speech that financial backers Robert and Rebekkah Mercer dumped Cruz and directed all resources they controlled -including Bannon and Conway- to assist the Trump campaign.

It was Jared Kushner’s (and Ivanka) counsel with Donald Trump that advised his father-in-law to hire Steve Bannon and Kelly-Anne Conway as a useful strategy.  The social media moonbats who tried to force the hand of President Trump to remove Kushner are loons for thinking such a position would be even considered.

Then again, the antisemitic crowd and Cruz supporters are just that – loons.

Apr 11 2017

Economic Diplomacy – China Refuses a Dozen Cargo Ships of North Korean Coal…


Re-Posted from Conservative Tree House on April 11, 2017 by

During the February 2016 GOP primary debate candidate Trump told the world what he would do in response to continued North Korean missile aggression –SEE HERE–  In January of 2017 President Trump repeated the message –SEE HERE–

On April 6th and 7th, last week, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a two day summit discussing trade and North Korea.   The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world.  Now see this:

A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.

[…]  To curb coal traffic between the two countries, China’s customs department issued an official order on April 7 telling trading companies to return their North Korean coal cargoes, said three trading sources with direct knowledge of the order.

[…]  Shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon, a financial information and analytics platform, shows a dozen cargo ships on their way to North Korea’s main west coast port of Nampo, almost all carrying cargoes from China.  (read more)

 

[…] To make up for the shortfall from North Korea, China has ramped up imports from the United States in an unexpected boon for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared he wants to revive his country’s struggling coal sector.

Eikon data shows no U.S. coking coal was exported to China between late 2014 and 2016, but shipments soared to over 400,000 tonnes by late February.

This trend was exacerbated after cyclone Debbie knocked out supplies from the world’s top coking coal region in Australia’s state of Queensland, forcing Chinese steel makers to buy even more U.S. cargoes.  (read more)

“Complicated business folks,… Complicated business”…

 

Apr 10 2017

Sean Spicer White House Press Briefing – April 10th 1:30pm Live Stream…