A lengthy interview (recently released) between Greta Van Susteren and President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina. The topics include: the USMCA trade agreement; the conflict between Russia and Ukraine; overall global trade; issues within the global climate change economy; Brexit, China, the U.S. economy and immigration.
As most CTH readers are aware MAGAnomic policy, economic nationalism, is the largest focus of President Trump. Beyond all other issues, this is the POTUS priority. Within this interview the president walks through the geopolitical issues and interests for the U.S. economy. Well worth watching:
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You are a personal friend of the royal family of Qatar. Would you care to share your inside knowledge of Qatar leaving OPEC?
KR
ANSWER: Just for the record, I was a friend of Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed al-Thaniwho was a member of the Royal family of Qatar. We were probably the two biggest collectors of ancient coins in the world. He was always trying to buy me out, with a smile of course. Yes, he came to our office to see me with the royal bodyguards and the whole bit a few weeks before he died in 2014 and yes, I visited him at his home in London. Because of our friendship, he offered Qatar as the headquarters for our operation, but could not grant me a citizenship because I was Christian. We set up our office instead of in Abu Dhabi.
That said, Qatar is the richest nation on Earth on a Per capita basis. Abu Nakhlah Airport (Arabic:مطار أبو نخلة) in Qatar houses both the Qatari Air Force and U.S. Air Force as well as other Coalition personnel. It is also the headquarters of United States Central Command. Its conflict between other member states when the government supported Iran created a real feud. Even their airline was banned from other airports. That is a very complex issue that would take more than a blog to explain.
I have also written that the US desire to invade Syria had NOTHING to do with gassing people. It was simply about to get a gas pipeline through Syria to Europe in order to compete with Russia. The US wanted to choke off Russia from serving Europe. That is why Putin went into Syria and this is the real story behind the pretended human right nonsense. There are plenty of human rights issues in Africa we do nothing about because there is no profit or political gain. North Korea really had weapons of mass destruction yet we did not invade them as we did in Iraq because there was no profit to be had. Just follow the money. Those in power BELIEVE they can bullshit the people ALL THE TIME because the press is in their back pocket and will never report the truth. Mainstream media is no different than Pravda (truth) of Communist USSR.
Now the small, gas-rich state of Qatar state said that it will leave the oil cartel on January 1st, 2019 after nearly 60 years. Why? (1) there is the political conflict with its neighbors. (2) The country’s state oil company, Qatar Petroleum, said its withdrawal decision reflects “Qatar’s desire to focus its efforts on plans to develop and increase its natural gas production.”
Qatar has been under a diplomatic and economic embargo by its Arab neighbors, including OPEC members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for the past 18 months. In response, Qatar has actually been increasing its gas production in retaliation for gas, not oil, is its primary source of revenue – hence the gas pipeline proposal through Syria. In reality, OPEC is concerned about oil – not natural gas. It is only logical that Qatar would withdraw from OPEC based upon its output, but at the same time, there is the diplomatic and economic embargo dispute with other Gulf states. Qatar policy has been to further its position as the world’s leading supplier of gas. Its exports currently account for about 30% of global demand.
COMMENT: My sister lives in Chicago. She is looking to leave finally. She told me there is a 9% tax on any amusement like Netflix or PlayStation for her son. You are right. They keep finding things to tax rather than address the problem. This cannot be maintained forever.
OT
REPLY: This is what happens. Rather than increasing taxes, they expand things to tax. They assume they can get away with that easier than be seen as raising taxes. It is all about how it will be reported. Sony has indeed agreed to comply with Chicago’s Amusement Tax, which means that PlayStation users now have to pay an extra 9% tax on streaming and rental services, which took effect on November 14th, 2018. This latest expansion of the city’s Amusement Tax will apply to purchases such as rentals, but not full sales of games. Back in 2015, Chicago’s Department of Finance expanded the tax on events to include streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify. It is most likely illegal but under our legal system, the burden is on you to spend money to prove you have a right. Governments can pass a law to do anything, even kill your first born. Only if they try to enforce it then you have to take them to court and spend years to get to the Supreme Cour
The austerity measures of the EU are having a profound impact in Europe. In Paris of December 1st, 2018 (right on time with our volatility models for December) there was a major civil uprising, the worst France has witnessed in recent decades. Yellow Vests have converged in Paris to protest high living costs or in other words – a TAX RIOT. Rioters ran across central Paris torching cars and buildings, looting shops, smashing windows and clashing with police. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, was in Argentina for a G20 summit and said he called an emergency meeting on Sunday when he would return. Jeanne d’Hauteserre, the mayor of Paris’ 8th district, near the Arc de Triomphe, came out and told the press: “We are in a state of insurrection, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
This has followed what was billed as a violent protest two weeks before of nationwide against fuel taxes and living costs. This tax rebellion is known as the “Yellow Vest” movement after fluorescent jackets kept in all vehicles in France. Politicians simply never learn. This is not just the youth. This is the older generations as well. Revolutions come become of taxes and corruption. The famous saying of Marie Antoinette “Let them eat cake” was the popular slogan during the French Revolution. There is no evidence that she ever actually said those words. Still, it inspired a revolution. The “cake” was not a desert, but it was a term that referred to the crust of the pâté which was left over. It certainly seems that the EU politicians are making the very same mistake. With that callous remark that was attributed to her, the Queen of France became the most hated symbol of the decadent monarchy and fueled the revolution that would cause her to (literally) lose her head several years later.
In Paris, the police fired stun grenades, tear gas and water cannon at protesters on the tourist street known as the Champs-Elysees boulevard. The police said they had arrested almost 300 people while 110 were injured, including 20 members of the security forces. As a consequence, there are now parts of the city of Paris completely void of police as there was a shortage to defend the entire city. This has resulted in groups of masked men roaming and looting through its fanciest shopping districts, smashing the windows of designer boutiques.
We can easily be witnessing the start of the next French Revolution. Our model for civil unrest interesting turned up in France on February 18th, 2013. The year before on May 6th, 2012, François Hollande was elected as the new president of France. While he may go down as perhaps the worst president in French history, on May 5th, 2013 is when the protests in Paris began. That first protest numbered in the tens of thousands marking the rising discontent with the Socialist François Hollande after just one year in power. Even the many supporters of leftist parties expressed dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy.
Ever since the civil unrest began on May 5th, 2013, there has been a building on economic tension within France. The lack of economic growth has plagued France and Europe as a whole. The French share market peaked in 2000 and has been unable to elect ANY Yearly Bullish Reversals to date and 2018 appears to be no different for this year’s closing.
This latest series of popular rebellions erupted on November 17th, 2018 and has spread quickly via social media, with protesters blocking roads across France and impeding access to shopping malls, factories, and some fuel depots. The gather at the Arc de Triomphe, chanting “Macron Resign” and writing graffiti on the Arch itself: “The yellow vests will triumph.”
Macron held a news conference in Buenos Aires where he said that there was no cause justified the looting of stores, attacking the security forces, or torching of property. Macron totally fails to comprehend that the violence is building frustration that historically is necessary to mature into a revolution. This is not a political movement. This is economically driven. The police said that violent far-right and far-left groups had infiltrated the yellow vests movement in a desperate effort to call them extremists. These protests began as a backlash against Macron’s fuel tax hikes, but have tapped into a growing resentment that all people get are higher taxes and lower standards of living.
While the protests appear to have caught Macron off-guard despite the fact that his poll rating is now down to 20%, like François Hollande, Macron is unrepenting and unyielding. He said he would not change his policy because of the protests of “thugs”. This only fuels the angry response that he is also out of touch with ordinary people, particularly in rural villages and the provincial hinterlands. There were people with signs reading “Macron, stop treating us like idiots!” Macron is inspiring real hatred as did Hillary Clinton when she called 50% of the country who voted for Trump the “deplorables!”
Macron may call them “thugs” but the “Yellow Vests” have widespread public support, even in cities. The vast majority of French people were fed up with Macron. You can see the anger is escalating more and more throughout France, according to my sources there, and Macron is as unyielding as was Hollande. Some say that Macron had written a book called Revolution. He obviously failed to understand what really makes a revolution – TAXES
The Australian MP Michael Danby (outgoing) is to table the “Australian Magnitski Act” which is very strange. Things like this always seem to be presented by people who later do not stand for election. Nothing other than Browder’s narrative has considered. There appears to be an agenda here and it is building to what looks like a much needed war in order to relieve governments of the failure of Socialistic promises. Nobody seems willing to even look at the allegation of Browder for there was no way Putin would have killed Magnitsky when he would have been the BEST witness Putin would have had against the Western bankers.
On his Facebook page, Danby claims Australia needs a Magnitsky Act. That’s why I’ll be introducing a Private Member’s Bill on Monday to ensure it happens
Too funny… this is what we would call a win/win. President Trump delivering remarks to the media aboard Air Force One on the flight back to the U.S.
(Via Associated Press) President Donald Trump says he will shortly be providing formal notice to Congress that he will terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement, giving lawmakers six months to approve the replacement he recently signed.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington from Argentina, Trump says: “I will be formally terminating NAFTA shortly.”
Seeking to gain leverage with skeptical lawmakers to approve the revised trade pact, Trump says Congress “will have a choice” as it considers the agreement he signed with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Friday during the Group of 20 summit.
He says they can choose between the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or “pre-NAFTA, which works very well.”
Trump has made renegotiating NAFTA a centerpiece of his presidency. (link)
The USMCA is structurally more beneficial to the U.S. and Mexico than Canada.
Factually, it was the U.S. and Mexico who wrote the agreement, and Canada joined in only to mitigate their losses after the majority growth architecture was constructed. There is almost nothing inside the USMCA agreement which structurally expands the Canadian economy; it is a very weird trade-dynamic.
It was the exploitative nature of the NAFTA construct that benefited Canada and Mexico to the detriment of the United States. As a result, President Trump is OK with the final USMCA result which removes the majority of the parasitic benefits; and he is ok with no USMCA and no NAFTA, and a return to pre-NAFTA trade structures.
Like NAFTA the USMCA is a “trade agreement”, with various opt-out initiatives for any party; it is not a trade “treaty” – and therefore only requires a simple majority vote.
President Trump and USTR Lighthizer really have created a Win/Win.
…”He says [congress] can choose between the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or “pre-NAFTA, which works very well.””..
Damnedest thing ever.
You could hope it passes; or hope it fails – the end result is similar.
“The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and President Xi Jinping of China, have just concluded what both have said was a “highly successful meeting” between themselves and their most senior representatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Very importantly, President Xi, in a wonderful humanitarian gesture, has agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law.
On Trade, President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time. China will agree to purchase a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately.
President Trump and President Xi have agreed to immediately begin negotiations on structural changes with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. Both parties agree that they will endeavor to have this transaction completed within the next 90 days. If at the end of this period of time, the parties are unable to reach an agreement, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%.
It was also agreed that great progress has been made with respect to North Korea and that President Trump, together with President Xi, will strive, along with Chairman Kim Jong Un, to see a nuclear free Korean Peninsula. President Trump expressed his friendship and respect for Chairman Kim.
President Xi also stated that he is open to approving the previously unapproved Qualcomm-NXP deal should it again be presented to him.
President Trump stated:
“This was an amazing and productive meeting with unlimited possibilities for both the United States and China. It is my great honor to be working with President Xi.” (Link)
The U.S. delegation headed by President Trump and the Chinese delegation headed by Chairman Xi Jinping attended a much anticipated bilateral dinner at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Argentina. The dinner lasted for two and a half hours:
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Immediately following the dinner the U.S. delegation went straight to Airforce-One for the flight home.
(Reuters) […] With the United States and China locked in an economic dispute that has unnerved global financial markets and weighed on the world economy, Trump and Xi sat down with their aides for a working dinner at the conclusion of a two-day gathering of world leaders in Buenos Aires.
Trump told Xi at the start of the meeting he hoped they would achieve “something great” on trade for both countries. The leaders finished their talks after about 2-1/2 hours and Trump departed for his scheduled flight back to Washington.
While neither side issued any immediate statements on the outcome, White House chief economist Larry Kudlow told reporters as he boarded Air Force One that the talks went “very well.” He offered no specifics.
The editor of a major Chinese state-run newspaper also said the talks went well.
“Based on information I received, talks between Xi and Trump went well and consensus was reached,” Hu Xijin, the editor of the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, wrote on Twitter, without giving details. (Read More)
It is likely the tariffs will continue until reciprocity improves.
The Big Club will go bananas next week.
There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China. President Trump takes strategic messaging toward the people of China very importantly. President Trump has, very publicly, complimented the friendship he feels toward President Xi Jinping; and praises Chairman Xi for his character, strength and purposeful leadership. Trump knows how to play their panda/dragon games.
Each time China takes aggressive action (red dragon) China projects a panda face through silence and non-response to opinion of that action;…. and then the action continues. The red dragon has a tendency to say one necessary thing publicly, while manipulating another necessary thing privately. The Art of War.
President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask. Chairman Xi and President Trump are scheduled for a dinner on Saturday night; their first face-to-face meeting in a year.
The entire planet is focused on the dynamic of Chairman Xi and President Trump. Billions waged on the position of an eyebrow, or the hint of a smile. Epic stuff. In the multinational finance world this is bigger than the moon landing, world cup and Olympics combined. Every nuance and inference to be reviewed in slow-mo replay by hedge-fund managers looking for any indication of hope.
The funniest thing is Donald Trump doesn’t care about all that. He has the desired ‘America First’ outcome gamed out; POTUS is only looking to see which direction Xi is leaning. From there Trump puts the instructions to the team (Mnuchin, Pompeo, Ross, Lighthizer and Navarro); yet even they don’t know the full plan, no-one does except President Trump… for a reason.
The Wall Street global financial crowd is on pins-and-needles hoping desperately the confrontation between China and the U.S. doesn’t escalate.
Meanwhile, blue-collar Main Street USA is hoping ‘bull-in-a-china-shop-Trump‘ punches Xi in the nose; diplomatically of course.
The protests, turned riots, are named ‘Yellow Vest’ after the high-vis jackets that are required in all French automobiles. The protestors wear the vests amid their fury over rising fuel prices; However, the protests have now evolved into a direct confrontation to the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
According to media reports over 5,000 police were deployed as angry protestors began breaking stuff, smashing store windows and battling with government riot squads.
Despite the show of force by police the crowd overwhelmed their positions and set up barricades to block any effort by the French government to break up their protests. Check points along the Champs Eleysees and Arc de Triomphe were taken over by the scale of the crowd. However, it’s not just Paris – disruptive protests are happening throughout France.
Katie Hopkins
✔@KTHopkins
Macron. En Marche? No, son. No one is listening to you. Not the Saudis. Not the French. Not Trump.
People from the White House are scheduled to talk to Merkel’s bosses on Tuesday December 4th, so it’s likely Chancellor Merkel wants to know what the conversation will be about.
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[Transcript] Buenos Aires, Argentina – 1:41 P.M. AST – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much everybody. It’s a great honor to be with Chancellor Merkel, who is my friend. We have a great relationship and a great working relationship, I think very important. And we are talking trade. We’re talking defense. We’re talking about many things.
We have a tremendous trade imbalance, but we’re going to get that straightened out. It’ll be better and better, I think, as time goes by. Our military relationship is very good. I think we all understand each other.
And it’s an honor to be with the Chancellor. She’s done an incredible job. Highly respected by everybody, including me. So I just want to say it’s a great honor, Angela. Thank you very much.
CHANCELLOR MERKEL: You’re welcome.
(As interpreted.) Well, let me say I’m very glad we have the opportunity for this bilateral meeting. We shall address issues related to trade, multilateral issues, and also fair trade and the World Trade Organization. We will also talk about bilateral relations, Ukraine, Syria, and the violations of the INF treaty by Russia.
So there’s quite a lot to do, quite a lot on our plate for this relatively short time.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good. Thank you very much. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, have you spoken to President George W. Bush?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I have. And Jeb also. And I expressed deepest sympathies. Angela and I were just talking about it. He was a wonderful man. And you may want to just explain your little meeting with him. I found it very interesting.
CHANCELLOR MERKEL: Yes. I was in (inaudible), in the White House, visiting George Bush. And he’s the father, or one of the fathers, of the German unification, and we will never forget that.
THE PRESIDENT: I found that very interesting.
So we extended our best wishes. And he was — he was a very fine man. I met him on numerous occasions. He was just a high-quality man who truly loved his family. One thing that came through loud and clear, he was very proud of his family and very much loved his family. So he was a terrific guy and he’ll be missed. And he led a full life, and a very exemplary life too, I will say.
And we’ve decided — as you know, we were going to have a big press conference today, which I actually looked forward to because we’ve made tremendous progress at the G20 with many nations. And we were going to have a very big press conference, and out of respect for President Bush, we’ve cancelled it here and we’ll have it back in Washington at some time in the near future. Sometime after the funeral service. Okay?
Q Do you regret any of your comments about Bush or his family in the past?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, are you still planning to meet with President Xi today?
THE PRESIDENT: We will be meeting with President Xi tonight. I will be, and my group — small group. And he will have a small group of representatives and we’ll be talking about a thing called trade, and probably other things also. But primarily trade.
And it’s a very important meeting. But again, the fact that we lost a President who truly was a wonderful person, a wonderful man, a great man, it really puts a damper on it, to be honest with you.
So we’re going to have the meeting tonight, and then I’ll be going back to Washington. And we can all meet sometime during the week or shortly thereafter.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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
ANSWER: Just for the record, I was a friend of 
Centinel2012 