Earlier today French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a joint session of congress.

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As expected, China is starting to realize they underestimated the severity of President Trump’s three-decade-long perspective on trade.

Against the backdrop of $150 billion in looming U.S. trade tariffs, Beijing sends an economic emissary to Europe attempting to restructure international trade agreements.

(Reuters) China’s international trade representative held a series of meetings with the ambassadors from major European nations last week to ask them to stand together with Beijing against U.S. protectionism, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

Some of the western diplomats involved in the meetings with Fu Ziying, who is also a vice-commerce minister, have viewed the approaches as a sign of how anxious Beijing is getting about the expanding conflict with Washington, the sources said.

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U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley appears on Face the Nation for an interview with Margaret Brennan about the U.S., U.K. and French coordinated military strikes against Syria.

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Earlier today the Pentagon conducted a press conference to debrief media and outline the outcome of a coordinated U.S., U.K. and French military mission against elements within Syria who used chemical weapons.   U.S. General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. gives the specifics on the targets and the outcomes therein.

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Liberalism has consequences.  This is not a spoof – Link To Tweet:

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After three days of discussions between U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo they were not able to develop any consensus on the major issues within the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.

The likely outcome of the upcoming Mexican national election on July 1st brought the principals together for non-scheduled talks, as U.S. President Trump instructed Ambassador Lighthizer to explore whether the three nations could find common ground on the ‘big picture’ issues behind the largest schism.  The auto sector and rules of origin is the epicenter of the biggest difference between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The U.S. auto-sector NAFTA position is that North American content of vehicles made in NAFTA countries be increased to 85 percent from 62.5 percent.  The Canadian and Mexican position is for lower North American content.

Canada is not arguing for higher Canadian content.  Mexico is not arguing for higher Mexican content… Instead both Canada and Mexico are arguing for higher imported content (China and Asia).  Honestly, I cannot fathom why more people don’t see the inherent ridiculousness of NAFTA against the reality of Canada and Mexico arguing for more Chinese imports.

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An unknown man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city center of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing at least two of them before shooting himself dead.

According to the AP: “A leading German newspaper is reporting that authorities believe there is no terrorist motive behind the deadly van crash in Muenster and the driver is believed to be a middle-aged German man who had psychological issues.”

Via Reuters – […] The vehicle ploughed into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists.

“At 15:27 (1327 GMT), a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant … three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured,” a police spokesman said, adding: “The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle.”

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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

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox Business News for an extensive interview with Maria Bartiromo.  The interview covers a wide spectrum of important topics attached to the U.S. economy and ongoing trade deals.  Two great video segments for the interview will get you up to speed on ongoing initiatives:

♦Segment #1 outlines the upcoming announcement of KORUS, the South Korea and U.S. trade deal.  Additionally, Secretary Ross discusses the steel and aluminum tariffs and how they enmesh in the larger objective of the ongoing trade negotiations with China:

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♦Segment #2 outlines more on the aluminum and steel tariffs; ongoing trade talks with Europe; efforts to renegotiate NAFTA, and the possibility of a deal being reached; Saudi Arabian investment in the U.S. and the Commerce Department plans to bring back a citizenship question in the 2020 Census.

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Earlier today President Donald Trump led the largest ever coalition response in response to Russia’s alleged use of a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy living in the United Kingdom. In total, 21 countries simultaneously expelled Russian diplomats.

The Trump administration ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the US identified as intelligence agents, and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle. 48 of the intelligence agents worked at the Russian embassy in Washington DC and 12 were posted at the United Nations in New York.

President Trump was joined by simultaneous action from: France, Albania, Australia, Canada, Norway, Ukraine, Sweden, Spain, Romania, Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Croatia, Czech Republic and the U.K.

London – It’s the biggest collective expulsion of alleged Russian intelligence officers in history, according to British Prime Minister Theresa May.

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