Yesterday the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against two Chinese shipping firms for violating ongoing sanctions against North Korea [TREASURY HERE].
With USTR Robert Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin set to travel this weekend to Beijing for ongoing trade discussion, the sanction timing complicates the dance with the dragon. Subsequently President Trump sends the following tweet:

Slamming China with sanctions (over DPRK dragon activity) while Beijing is showing the Panda mask (during Beijing trade negotiations) is not wise. If the Panda mask drops during trade negotiations to reveal the Dragon face, then ok. However, the majority of the West, driven by a misunderstanding of the China-DPRK relationship, does not know how directly a manipulative Beijing controls Pyongyang.
Taking aggressive sanction action against China could backfire with Beijing ordering those around Chairman Kim to test a missile.
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Shortly before the president signed an executive order on affirming first amendment rights on college campuses yesterday, President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with Maria Bartiromo.
The interview covers a wide range of topics with a primary focus on the U.S. economy, ongoing trade discussions and issues that impact the U.S. workforce. One of the granular issues that surfaces is a subject we discuss frequently, the value of the ‘chicken tax‘; the 25% tariff on imported trucks and SUV’s.   WATCH:

President Donald Trump is THE disruptor.  The global financial, trade and economic system was challenged and is being reset within Trump’s “America First” national economic policy.  There are trillions at stake…

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.” ~Machiavelli

These realities are some of the reasons why international leadership are predictably aligning behind any challenger who would promise to restore the globalist alliance.
Additionally, if you stand back and contemplate the scale of what President Trump is doing, this multinational reality is also a reason for the global world-order to support a seasoned political ally such as Joe Biden to return the former status-quo.
There are trillions of dollars at stake; and there is an unlimited amount of financial support from abroad; and a myriad of ways they can skirt campaign finance rules and regulations on foreign donations (see Tom Donohue); and all of it would be overlooked by a compliant administrative state, to fuel any challenger.

WASHINGTON – […] Citing Biden’s long foreign policy track record and longtime commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance, some of the leaders — echoing views from across the continent — told Biden that his return to the White House would be a sure way to restore western alliances that President Donald Trump has dramatically fractured.

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In the past several days the 2020 Democrat candidates have been assembling a rather odd set of 2020 platform issues.  President Trump notes it all seems rather “strange”:

In addition to promoting infanticide; eliminating borders and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and banning guns; the Democrats have all signed on to The Green New Deal, which advocates for: raising taxes, paying people not to work, eliminating air travel, banning cows and rebuilding every structure in America to run on ‘sustainable energy’.
The platform is now expanding to: lowering the voting age to 16; eliminating the electoral college; placing term limits on federal judges; and adding more Justices to the Supreme Court to advance the aforementioned progressive values.
Presidential historian Doug Wead weighed-in with Trish Regan.
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LOL, an interesting albeit typically lighthearted discussion with CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett on the budget proposal and status of U.S.T.R trade talks with China.

President Jair Bolsonaro arrived in Washington DC this past weekend.  Bolsonaro is scheduled  to meet with President Trump tomorrow, Tuesday March 19th.  The bilateral discussion between President Trump and President Bolsonaro could be one of the more consequential geopolitical meetings of the year.  The visit is below the radar of almost all media.
President Bolsonaro made a surprise visit to CIA headquarters earlier this morning.  A visit that was not on the official schedule.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters on Monday, an unusual move for a foreign head of state that was not on the public agenda for his first official trip to Washington.
The visit underscored Bolsonaro’s embrace of U.S. influence in Latin America to confront what he calls a communist threat against democracy — a theme he remarked on during a dinner on Sunday evening with his ministers and right-wing thinkers.

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (U-DC) was one of the Tea Party backed senators who came in during the 2010 election and later aligned with the UniParty Decepticon caucus funded by the Chamber of Commerce and Tom Donohue.
Senator Johnson wants to reform the National Emergencies Act to remove executive branch power and avoid the pesky problem when a President subverts the will of Wall Street and those who actually write legislation, The U.S. CoC and Business Roundtable.
On matters where the Multinationals, “world economy”, can benefit from MAGA policy, Johnson is a supporter of the President.  On matters where the Multinationals do not benefit from MAGA policy, Johnson is not a supporter of the President.

While the MSM financial/wage reporting is two days apart from the BLS “JOLTS” release on job openings, the relationship is direct and connected.
CNBC is noticing the upward wage pressure is focused heavily on the middle-class workers and lower end of the labor market; another KPI (Key Performance Indicator) the economy is stronger than most financial pundits are admitting:

CNBC – The recent jump in paychecks has come with an unusual characteristic, as workers at the lower end of the pay scale are getting the greater benefit.
Average hourly earnings rose 3.4 percent in February from the same period a year ago, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report last week. That’s the biggest gain since April 2009 and seventh month in a row that compensation has been 3 percent or better.

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Toyota made a huge announcement today [SEE HERE] that’s a direct outcome of the NAFTA replacement USMCA trade deal; and the new 75% rule of origin within the Auto sector.

The Toyota announcement is a total of $13 billion investment and includes expanded component part production in: Alabama ($288 million), Kentucky ($238 million), Missouri ($62 million), Tennessee ($50 million) and West Virginia ($111 million).   Additionally, Toyota will open a new assembly plant in Huntsville, Alabama ($1.5 billion) and serious investments in several other areas. [Details Here]
The guiding decision here relates specifically to the construct of the USMCA (NAFTA replacement).   Toyota was previously focused on multi-billion-dollar investments in Canada as they exploited the NAFTA loophole and procured component parts from Asia for North American assembly and shipment into the U.S. Market.  However, when they renegotiated NAFTA and created the USMCA President Trump and USTR Lighthizer closed closed the loophole.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released some important data today surrounding the state of the U.S. economy. The first release shows the current CPI (consumer price index) or rate of inflation:

(BLS Release) […] The all items index increased 1.5 percent for the 12 months ending February, a smaller increase than the 1.6-percent rise for the 12-months ending January. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.1 percent over the last 12 months, a slightly smaller figure than the 2.2-percent increase for the period ending January. The food index rose 2.0 percent over the past year, its largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 2015. In contrast, the energy index declined 5.0 percent over the last 12 months. (read more)

As noted above, energy prices are 5.0% lower year-over-year; this is a significant reason for the current low inflationary rate.  Also energy prices (fuel, gas, oil) disproportionately impact the middle-class as an unavoidable cost.  Lower gas prices (currently down 9.1%) help middle-America, and also have a downstream impact of lowering product transportation costs.
An overall annual rate of inflation at 1.5 percent is exactly on target.  CTH has been predicting this energy-based outcome for more than three years:
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