U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss announced today [joint statement] the beginning of a series of fast-tracked trade negotiations toward a new free trade agreement. [USTR Release]

In the foreground is a trade agreement between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. However, in the more strategic background context these negotiations create leverage for the U.K. in their post-Brexit negotiations with the European Union. First from today:

LIGHTHIZER – […] The US negotiating team will be led by Dan Mullaney, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East; and the UK negotiating team will be led by Oliver Griffiths, Director for US Negotiations at the Department for International Trade. Over 200 staff from U.S. and UK government agencies and departments are expected to take part in the negotiations.

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It doesn’t come as a shock but it is ridiculous in the extreme. A Dallas County Texas salon owner has been sentenced to a week in jail for defying the order to keep her business closed.  “I couldn’t feed my family and my stylists couldn’t feed their families” Ms. Shelly Luther testified.  The court didn’t care.

The stakes are escalating daily as economic desperation takes over and the oppressive hand of the authoritarian government officials refuse to loosen their grip on their new found power over the population.  Confrontation is likely to get much worse quickly.

TEXAS – A Dallas salon owner will spend a week in jail after she was found in contempt of court Tuesday for violating a court order to close her salon during the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to the jail time, Shelley Luther was fined at least $3,500 for continuing to operate her business, Salon à la Mode, in violation of a temporary restraining order issued against the business.

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Today President Donald Trump tours the Honeywell manufacturing facility and delivers remarks about mask production in Arizona. Honeywell’s facility is making millions of N95 masks for the U.S. government.  Anticipated start time 4:30pm ET

UPDATE: Video Added

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Joint Base Andrews pressers are not as good as Chopper pressers, but they’re close. President Trump impromptu remarks departing Andews AFB. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I’m going to Arizona. We’re going to see Honeywell. They’ve done a fantastic job on many different fronts on the pandemic, and we’re going to pay our respects and also see the great people of Arizona.

Okay. Go ahead.

Q Mr. President, with these new projections, a lot of people do want the country to reopen quickly. Are you willing to accept these new projections that show that many more people will die and — with interaction?

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Senator Tom Cotton appears on Fox News to discuss the latest revelations that COVID-19 came out of a laboratory in Wuhan, China.  Martha MacCallum attempts to push the Beijing propaganda of wounded panda as a victim; Senator Cotton outlines the importance of accepting that China is a communist totalitarian state.

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White House Manufacturing Policy Advisor and lead on execution of the Defense Production Act, Peter Navarro, appears on Fox News to discuss the ongoing initiatives to secure, produce and/or manufacture critical healthcare products in the U.S.

There are multiple reports in media today about the White House assembling a variety of new policies and regulations to go full wolverine on ‘America-First’.  USTR Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are leading the effort.

Additionally, Navarro notes FEMA, HHS and DoD will soon have rules requiring USA manufactured purchases for their government contracts.

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Wall Street’s U.S. multinationals moved the majority of U.S. apparel manufacturing to southeast Asia for the past several decades; as a result they virtually wiped out major apparel hubs in the United States.  Now those same multinationals are claiming their production shift to making masks and PPE in China means the tariffs on imports should be lifted; and they are sending their corporate lobbyists into DC to pitch that message.

Nonsense.

There are no tariffs on U.S. healthcare products made in the USA.  If the apparel industry wants to avoid tariffs, then bring the manufacturing back home.  Critical manufacturing in the United States is what U.S. consumers of those and other goods want.

President Trump should not lower tariffs on imported PPE, he should actually raise those tariffs as high as needed to shift that manufacturing back to the U.S.

The time is now to wage battle against the Wall Street manufacturers & K-St lobbyists.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is “turbocharging” an initiative to remove global industrial supply chains from China as it weighs new tariffs to punish Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to officials familiar with U.S. planning.

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears for a wide-ranging interview with Maria Bartiromo. Topics include international travel, the Paycheck Protection Program progress, small business relief, and overall rebuilding of the U.S. economy amid COVID-19 mitigation.

The first few minutes of the interview are weird because Bartiromo doesn’t seem to recognize the PPP program is essentially a grant to small business to keep their employees on payroll. Ms. Bartiromo appears to want the PPP grants to be shifted to free money to replace business revenue, and she’s pushing hard for her Wall St buddies.

Secretary Mnuchin tries to remind Bartiromo that businesses can apply for bridge loans, but the PPP is actually a grant. Bartiromo argues that all businesses should have free money bailouts to replace revenues; an impossible suggestion.

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis discusses his plans to reopen the economy on a county-by-county basis starting tomorrow, May 4th. Broward and Dade counties will remain in their current status, but restrictions will be removed for other counties based on the status of their current healthcare system.

Florida has a high population of elderly residents and Governor DeSantis walks through the testing protocols he will use as part of the ongoing reopening process.

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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss what growth the relaunch of the economy can create.

Additionally, Kudlow is questioned about a phase-4 legislative package containing bailouts for state and local governments.  Kudlow remarks the president has not made up his mind on whether to support any state bailouts.

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