U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on CNBC earlier today to talk specifically about U.S-China trade resets, confrontation and negotiations. Secretary Ross cuts right through the chaff and countermeasures and gets right to the primary issues.
When questioned about the myriad of downstream issues, Secretary Ross stays focused on the big picture. GREAT INTERVIEW (there are multiple segments where it’s almost impossible not to laugh during Wilburine’s gnat-swatting):
I don’t know how many people are connecting the dots of President Trump’s border security proposals, and the increased urgency therein, to the upcoming -almost guaranteed- outcome of the Mexican election… but the connection is too brutally obvious to be ignored by the intellectually honest.
With a commanding -and growing- 18 point lead, it is almost a certainty our closest Southern neighbor is going to be run by a far-left Marxist ideologue, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It is against this backdrop, and the certain conflict with the U.S. economy, where we see a renewed sense of urgency from President Trump today:
WASHINGTON DC – President Trump on Tuesday said that the U.S. will secure the southern border with the military until a wall can be built, calling the move a “big step.”
Trump made the remarks during a meeting with Baltic leaders, where he said he had discussed the matter with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” he said. “That’s a big step, we really haven’t done that before, or certainly not very much before.”
You might remember in July of 2017 when President Trump attended the “Three Seas Initiative” in Warsaw Poland. The bigger goals and objectives were/are building relationships with Baltic nations aligned with the same freedom outlook. President Trump committed his administration to free, fair and equitable trade with the Baltic partners.
2017 – “Let me be clear about one crucial point. The United States will never use energy to coerce your nations, and we cannot allow others to do so,” President Trump said at a press conference flanked by European leaders. “You don’t want to have a monopoly or a monopolistic situation.” (NBC article link)
Today President Trump is hosting many of the same leaders at the White House. There will be a press conference at approximately 1:30pm EST.
UPDATE: Video Added
With the migrant march from South America, mostly Hondurans, gaining more media attention, it is also important to revisit last year’s threats -from Mexican officials- which preceded their current year complicity.
♦ In August of 2017 President Trump and Commerce Secretary Ross were discussing their trade efforts within NAFTA and renegotiation with Mexico/Canada on a trilateral basis. However, the U.S. administration said if it doesn’t work, they’d scrap the 3-way NAFTA deal and go one-on-one with individual bilateral agreements. In response, Mexican Economic Minister Ildefonso Guajardo threatened to flood the U.S. with South American illegal aliens, criminals and gang members as leverage:
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico could pull back on cooperation in migration and security matters if the United States walks away from talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexican economy minister said in a newspaper report published on Thursday.
“If they do not treat [us] well commercially, they should not expect us to treat them well by containing the migration that comes from other regions of the world and crosses Mexico,” Guajardo said. “Or they should not expect to be treated well in collaboration with security issues in the region.” (LINK)
However, Mexican Minister Ildefonso Guarjardo’s threat was mild compared to a threat in January 2017, when another Mexican official promised to flood the U.S. with South American drugs and gang violence:
CTH takes a little flak for pointing out the obvious; that’s ok, it doesn’t change the reality: When you confront the manipulated multinational trade system – the multinational Wall Street entities who have historically benefited from that system will lose.
It is impossible for Wall Street corporations invested overseas not to lose some financial position. This is reality, and this is also necessary. Meanwhile U.S-centered corporations will gain valuation in direct proportion to the amount of investment they hold inside the U.S…
White House Trade Director Peter Navarro discusses the ongoing trade initiatives, China, Wall Street and NAFTA. President Trump has indicated a strong preference for U.S.T.R. Lighthizer to make a determination about NAFTA as soon as possible. WATCH:
If the news from the first round of Mexican election polling was any better we’d have to be twins to enjoy it. Andres Obrado, a well-known Marxist who intends a government take-over of the Mexican energy sector, is holding a commanding 18-point lead.
This is excellent news for border wall enthusiasts and those who want the Trump administration to pull out of NAFTA.
Mr Obrador is the modern Mexican version of Hugo Chávez (or Nicolàs Maduro/Bernie Sanders) with a similar ideological outlook. His resulting territorial economic policies are certain to deliver the Venezuela outcome to the Mexican people.
For American companies doing business in Mexico, an Obrador win would be the worst possible outcome. They will lose hundreds of billions from their current Mexican investments, as President Obrador swoops in to skim (tax) corporate profits for his state-run enterprises and care for ‘his people’. However, the good news is – those U.S. multinationals will likely all return to the U.S. asap. Lucky day, lucky day.
Funnily enough, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross must have held some insider information about this likelihood when he sheepishly hinted toward this possibility a few weeks ago. Oh, the poor multinational critters in Wall Street are gonna have a heart attack when they see this. Wait, wha… they did already?
MONTERREY (Reuters) – Mexican left-wing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has an 18-point lead ahead of the July 1 election, according to a poll published on Monday that showed him with a growing advantage at the start of formal campaigning.
In retaliation for $50 billion in U.S. trade tariffs against Chinese imports, China laughably hits back with $3 their own billion tariffs against the U.S. According to most reporting Beijing has selected U.S. pork and scrap aluminum as targets for a 25% tariff, along with wine and fruit tariffs around 15%.
It should be emphasized the approach by China is rather ridiculous considering the Chinese government purchased the largest U.S. pork manufacturer Smithfield in 2013 for $5 billion; at the time the purchase price was 30% more than the company was worth. Smithfield, now a Chinese company, represents 25% of all U.S. pork products.
Do you really think China is going to not import it’s own pork products… or subject them to a domestic tax? Think about it. It’s ridiculous. China knows they have ZERO leverage in a trade-dispute with the U.S., they cannot afford to lose access to the U.S. market.
The example of Smithfield foods is exactly what we have outlined in how China cannot sustain itself and needs to control the assets of foreign countries. Hence, their one-road/one-belt program for securing products and raw materials. China is a dependent economy, they need to exploit global trade to survive. China cannot feed itself. This is the inherent flaw within their short-sighted authoritarian government-controlled economic model.
Again, for emphasis, the Chinese government underwrote the purchase of Smithfield foods in 2013. They paid 30% more than the company was worth because they were securing access to food just like they would any other raw material (uranium, minerals, etc). China also purchases U.S. politicians to retain their ability in this regard.
Now look at the cartoon from the unofficial Chinese state-run media today:
Earlier today President Trump tweeted concern about the politicization of border security and the unwillingness of Mexico to confront their side of the equation. [the three tweets from POTUS Trump follow the video snippet]
Before attending Easter Mass today, President Donald Trump briefly paused and responded to a question about his calling out Mexico for not helping the U.S. secure the border. WATCH:
Today President Trump is traveling to Richfield, Ohio, to visit a union technical training facility for welding and heavy equipment. While there the President will deliver a speech about rebuilding infrastructure in America. Anticipated start time 2:00pm EST.
UPDATE: Video Added
The final quantification of the Bureau of Economic Analysis fourth quarter GDP growth rate was released today, reflecting an anticipated increase from the prior two estimations. The last revised estimation of GDP growth (February) was +2.5%, the final revised estimate is +2.9% growth.
A massive increase in consumer spending (+4%) around the October through December 31st time-frame (Q4) was offset by those dollars purchasing a large portion of imported products. The GDP growth deduction from import purchases was 1.99%. [See table #2, line 50 pdf here]
In short, American consumers spent significantly more than usual in the holiday season; however, many of those purchases were foreign goods.
From the BEA Report – Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 (table 1), according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.2 percent.