Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears for an interview with Trish Regan immediately after President Trump signed the Presidential Proclamation to advance Steel and Aluminum tariffs to protect and expand American industry. [DEEP DIVE]

Ms. Regan is one of the financial business analysts who have slowly evolved away from the insufferable Wall Street/U.S. Chamber of Commerce ‘globalist’ viewpoints, which was/is entirely built upon a false premise.  Thankfully Ms. Regan joins the ranks of economic patriots Charles Payne and Lou Dobbs.  We’ll keep working on Maria Bartiromo.

In this interview Secretary Ross elevates the discussion beyond just Steel and Aluminum and begins to expand -and emphasize- the perimeter of an entirely new American approach toward trade, “reciprocity“.  Indeed for the very first time in this interview Secretary Ross gives a preview into what will follow and how ‘reciprocity’ will be applied.

“President Trump is taking action today to protect both our national security and industries critical to our economy. The President’s decision regarding the steel and aluminum Section 232 reports are the result of a long and well-thought-out process led by the Commerce Department. Once again, President Trump is keeping his promises and standing up for American families, American businesses, and American workers.”  ~ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

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There has been a great deal of consternation, directed toward AG Jeff Sessions surrounding the ongoing FISA abuse scandal and the larger issues of unlawful DOJ and FBI conduct in their political investigation of candidate Donald Trump.  It is a matter of great division amid people who follow the details.

That said, AG Jeff Sessions revealed tonight in an interview with Shannon Bream, that he previously appointed a DOJ official to investigate the issues delivered by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (House Judiciary), prior to receiving the request for a Special Counsel from Chairman Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy.  WATCH:

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Transcript @00:15 (emphasis mine) “Well, I have great respect for Mr. Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte, and we are going to consider seriously their recommendations. I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation.

Also I am well aware we have a responsibility to insure the integrity of the FISA process, we’re not afraid to look at that. The inspector general, some think that our inspector general is not very strong; but he has almost 500 employers, employees, most of which are lawyers and prosecutors; and they are looking at the FISA process. We must make sure that it’s done properly, and we’re going to do that. And I’ll consider their request.”

Well, there you have it.  There is already an appointed person, likely a prosecutor, from “outside of Washington”, in place prior to the recent request for a Special Counsel by Goodlatte and Gowdy.   That was exactly what an objective analysis of the events previously outlined – and we previously noted.

Attorney Jeff Sessions is noting the existence of an outside prosecutor who has been in place for quite a while, exactly as we thought.  All the evidence of this was/is clear if you follow the granular details closely.   Here’s how we figure it out; and also the reason why no-one in Washington DC -including congress and the president- was previously aware.

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Judicial analyst and Fox News host, Shannon Bream, has an exclusive interview airing tonight on Fox News.  Jake Gibson is a Fox News producer and just tweeted this:

It would appear Attorney General Jeff Sessions already has a DOJ prosecutor looking into the issues uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

You might note, as we previously outlined, Chairman Bob Goodlatte -as a specific outcome of his oversight role-  is the congressional leader working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.   I shall resist the urge….

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Important stuff in this ‘straight talk’ interview.  Buckets of ‘breaking’ stuff to unpack.

First, per Trade Adviser Peter Navarro, the Steel and Aluminum tariffs will be announced tomorrow.  Second, Mexico and Canada will be given an exemption from those tariffs while NAFTA is being renegotiated.  WATCH:

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The exemption will give U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer increased leverage in his efforts to close the NAFTA loophole.  Closing the NAFTA “fatal flaw” is the essential “Option 1” that we have discussed previously several times.  It would be against the interests of Canada and Mexico to ever agree to close the loophole.  However, the steel and aluminum tariffs add a bit of financial incentive not previously in the equation.

It is still highly doubtful the amount of money in the steel and aluminum tariff aspect is close to enough to get Canada and Mexico to agree to close the backdoor loophole.  However, any amount is more than was there before…. so the possibility of “option 1” increases a smidge.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross talks about the importance of trade “reciprocity”.  As Wilburine outlines phase-2 MAGAnomics is only just beginning the reciprocity discussion.

Additionally, Secretary Ross talks about the issues with Chinese steel trans-shipment and the reason for Steel and Aluminum tariffs to be global in order to address China’s use of proxy nation states to continue dumping.   In this interview Ross begins to outline the fine points behind the pending 2018 trade negotiations. It is going to take a lot of repeated effort to awaken the larger U.S. electorate to the issues.

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500 high-wage manufacturing jobs might not sound like a big deal, but for the community of Granite City Illinois it is a VERY BIG DEAL. Their blast furnace was shut down in 2016, and today they happily hear the news of its reopening… GREAT NEWS !

ILLINOIS – U.S. Steel announced it will restart a blast furnace and steel-making operations at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois near St. Louis as a result of the announced tariffs of 25 percent on all steel imports.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker shuttered parts of the mill in late 2015 and early 2016, largely, it said, as a result of a glut of imports that depressed prices and made steel mills less profitable. U.S. Steel plans to bring 500 steelworkers back to work if President Donald Trump goes forward with plans to act on a Section 232 investigation that concluded a surge in steel imports was eroding the American steel industry and threatening national security.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the U.S. Department of Justice is filing an injunction to block enforcement of three California immigration laws, each enacted within the past year.

Summary of California Laws Being Challenged:

(Encapsulated from Fox News coverage)  ♦ One law offers additional worker protections against federal immigration enforcement actions. Senior Justice Department officials have said it’s prevented companies from voluntarily cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

Employers are mandated under the law to demand ICE agents present a warrant or subpoena before entering certain areas of the premises, or when accessing some employee records. Some companies have complained they’ve felt torn between trying to comply with seemingly contradictory state and federal statutes, since penalties for non-compliance can be steep from both entities.

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*ahem* As if on cue…

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DEEP-DIVE FULL BACKSTORY

The Eagle, The Panda and The Red Dragon

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Very cautious optimism because Red Dragon has history of using the Panda Mask to cloud intents as a strategy.   North Korea is a proxy state to their enabler, China.  DPRK Kim Jong-un is little stompy-feet panda to the big panda/red dragon, Chairman Xi Jinping.

The one constant in an ever-changing universe is the gravity of China; it only goes one-way.  China allows and directs what is in China’s best interests.  Period.

Chinese Chairman-for-life Xi Jinping (all he represents) view smiling panda economics as modern intercontinental nuclear weapons.

Chairman Xi and President Trump have been deep inside a geopolitical smiling contest for over a year.  Xi and Trump are playing grandmaster level geopolitical economics.  Their most consequential moves are well beyond the horizon; far away from the gaze of the crowd; the media is oblivious to them.

•Japan (Shinzo Abe) has stated they have “great confidence” in President Trump’s Asian national security approach. •South Korea (President Moon Jae-in) stated they are “confident there will not be war again on the Korean peninsula“; •and they are willing to send a special envoy to North Korea to begin talks. •In addition, China quietly removed the 71-year-old veteran diplomat, Wu Dawei, from the position of negotiator toward the DPRK, and replaced him with 58-year-old Kong Xuanyou. Kong is a long time Chinese diplomat in charge of Asian affairs and he speaks Korean.

All of this was generally under-reported and took place months before President Trump arrived in Asia last year.  The U.S. media was busy pushing racism and Charlottesville narratives.  More importantly this quiet activity took place while President Trump directed US Trade Rep Robert Lighthizer to begin a section 301 trade investigation (Intellectual Property theft) into China.

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There will obviously be another media cycle decrying crisis at the White House with the announcement that National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn is departing.

However, for those who follow the administration closely, this was a foregone conclusion; the MAGAnomic “America First” policy has a specifically timed exit ramp for just this purpose.

We have previously outlined the relationship between President Trump and Gary Cohn HERE – Along with what each of them brings to the perspectives of the other.  In addition, the larger Trump economic policy always held two distinct aspects:

1. The financial aspects – taxes and monetary policy stability; or perhaps more succinctly the Wall Street aspect.
2. The trade, jobs and manufacturing aspects – trade policy; or perhaps more succinctly the Main Street aspect.

The implementation of Trump’s economic policy involves those two elements: Taxes and Trade. Inside the Trump administration there are economic policy advocates who agree on the tax element, but disagree on the trade element. Economic adviser Gary Cohn is an example.

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