Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discuss the ongoing trade and economic discussions amid the G7 summit in France. The G7 was originally formed to address economic issues amid the top industrial economies. President Trump has been trying to return to that focus.
Secretary Mnuchin did a good job knocking back the narrative gnats.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan announced the terms of a new U.S-Japan trade agreement have been reached. This part of the trade agreement was visible for some time; confirmed today. U.S Ambassador Lighthizer and Japanese Minister Motegi have worked this for a while. [Video and Transcript]
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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: So, thank you very much. We’ve been working on a deal with Japan for a long time. It involves agricultural and it involves e-commerce and many other things. It’s a very big transaction, and we’ve agreed in principle. It’s billions and billions of dollars. Tremendous for the farmers.
And one of the things that Prime Minister Abe has also agreed to is we have excess corn in various parts of our country, with our farmers, because China did not do what they said they were going to do. And Prime Minister Abe, on behalf of Japan, they’re going to be buying all of that corn. And that’s a very big transaction. They’re going to be buying it from our farmers. (more…)
President Trump and Justin from Canada hold a bilateral discussion on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. No-one is exactly sure why Justin from Canada is there; both leaders talked about the USMCA, again; and the media did not have any questions for anyone about Canada. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU: Well, it’s always a pleasure to sit down with President Trump. We’ve had some good conversations already, particularly on the global economy. The Canadian and American economy are doing well, partially because of the trading relationship we have and the great work we did. (more…)
President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold bilateral discussions on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. The U.S. and Japan have agreed to the terms of a trade deal. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be here. We’re having some very good discussions, maybe even great discussions. And I will say that our relationship with Prime Minister Abe and Japan has been, I think, the best it’s ever been. I don’t know, I’ll let you speak to that. But I think it’s the best it’s ever been. (more…)
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a working breakfast prior to the Sunday session of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France. The primary topics include Brexit and trade. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody. We’re having a very good meeting — a very good series of meetings. Last night, we had dinner. It worked out. I think it was fantastic.
PRIME MINISTER JOHNSON: It was fantastic. We covered — well, we covered three subjects, actually. We were going to cover 10 subjects, but in the end, we did three. (more…)
An interesting line-up of scheduled meetings (bilats) for U.S. President Donald Trump as the first official full day of the G7 Summit agenda takes place.
French President Macron has scheduled summit priorities around gender studies, global inequities, climate issues and planetary justice. However, the majority of international media focus will likely be on President Trump and Boris Johnson’s economic discussions.
♦ 2:15am EST / 8:15am CEST – THE PRESIDENT participates in a working breakfast with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Biarritz, France
♦ 3:20am EST / 9:20am CEST – THE PRESIDENT departs Hotel du Palais en route to Centre de Congrès Bellevue, Biarritz, France
♦ 3:25am EST / 9:25am CEST – THE PRESIDENT arrives at Centre de Congrès Bellevue, Biarritz, France, the primary venue for the G7 Summit. (more…)
An announcement from China on Saturday, pledging a full economic war against the United States, will likely not come as a surprise for most CTH readers. However, it does serve as emphasis for our 2017 statement: “prepare your affairs accordingly“…
When we followed up a few months later with the warning:
“There is no upper limit to the level of economic pain Team U.S.A. (America First) is willing to inflict upon China. There is no ending perimeter of action too far for President Trump to travel. Trump will battle his adversary far beyond traditional horizons and will follow them in retreat if that’s what it takes to ensure the safety of the our economic nation.”
Those words were not written lightly. We accept Trump’s history; we accept three decades of his expressed intent on these issues; and we also accept the historic and cultural position of China which takes us into this conflict. From Beijing today:
China on Saturday said it would continue fighting the trade war with the US “until the end” after the two sides slapped further tariffs on each other’s goods.
The commerce ministry issued a statement calling on Washington not to “misjudge the situation and underestimate the determination of Chinese people” after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese imports. “The US should immediately stop its wrong action, or it will have to bear all consequences,” the statement said.
The stakes are high at this G7 Summit in Biarritz France. Against the rising tide of populist nationalism -pushing against the globalist/corporatist world order- perhaps these stakes are the highest in the modern political era.
(Where are the spouses?)
Italian President Giuseppe Conte’ is a lame duck summit participant having just quit his job due to economic and immigration backlash from his Italian population. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has steered her export dependent economy into a recession; and has announced she won’t seek reelection while simultaneously putting the EU central bank into a 28 nation economic quagmire filled with unsustainable IOU’s….
French President Emmanuel Macron, the host for this year’s summit, has spent the better part of the last year trying to violently block the rising yellow vest populist movement, and he is desperate for any distraction away from his own economic reality.
Meanwhile EU President Donald Tusk is locked in an economic death match with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the terms of the U.K. Brexit from the union; while simultaneously dealing with a lack of tax receipts from the aforementioned banks of Germany and France…
The EU’s only North American ideological ally, Justin from Canada, is essentially useless. Trudeau has used his political self-identification to hurt his own citizens economically; Canada is experiencing a continued loss in private-sector employment amid the malaise Justin coordinates; and his tenuous (at best) re-election is scheduled for October 21st… (more…)
Against the backdrop of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arriving for the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, EU President Donald Tusk holds a press conference to announce the EU will work to block Britains’ exit from the collective, and will not accept terms.
The hubris and arrogance within this declaration, in advance of Johnson’s arrival, is exhibit ‘A’ for exactly the reason British citizens want out of this nonsense. Watch:
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The likelihood of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump forming an alliance against this insufferable EU collective is beginning to show in the relationships. (more…)
After President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania arrived at Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, France, the insufferable French President Emmanuel Macron attempts one of his more dubious -albeit predictable now- power schemes (games). Macron is in trouble domestically and needs the world to see him pontificate for domestic political value.
Weasel Macron traveled to Hotel du Palais to ambush President Trump upon arrival with a request for an unscheduled meeting. The French prig requested a garden lunch, with pre-positioned media, so he could pontificate to the world his high-brow positions on gender-justice, the values of a global world order, and the importance of climate change.
Graciously, albeit with visible eye-roll, President Trump took the unscheduled meeting and allowed Macron the photo-op to pontificate his agenda for domestic political consumption. The entire event makes ¹Macron look even smaller. WATCH:
[¹If you’ve got to tell the world how important you are, you ain’t.]
[Transcript] PRESIDENT MACRON: In a few words, in order to (inaudible) — Mr. President, first of all, I do welcome Mr. President and his wife, and we are very proud and happy to have you here in Biarritz, in this place, for the G7 and once again very happy to (inaudible). You are a very special guest for us, and now, at this occasion, (inaudible) are very important. (more…)
