A big day for geopolitical moves.

Earlier today President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean Minister Kim Yong Chol held a 90 minute meeting at the White House discussing ongoing talks and negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea.

Following the meeting the White House announced there would be a second summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un:

“President Donald J. Trump met with Kim Yong Chol for an hour and half, to discuss denuclearization and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February. The President looks forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at a place to be announced at a later date.”  (link)

(Via Fox News) […] The face-to-face came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Yong-chol, North Korea’s lead negotiator, in the nation’s capital early Friday morning to negotiate terms that could lead to a second nuclear summit between Trump and Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un.

(more…)

The official, albeit preliminary, U.S.T.R. delegation from the United States is on the ground in China to begin initial discussions of “technical details” surrounding the ongoing trade dispute.  The preliminary talks are today (Jan 7th) through Wed (Jan 9th).

The prior notice from USTR announced the delegation: •Ambassador Jeffrey Gerrish, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (pictured above – center); •Ambassador Gregg Doud, USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator; •Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, U.S. Department of Agriculture; •Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Gilbert B. Kaplan, U.S. Department of Commerce; •Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steven Winberg, U.S. Department of Energy; and •Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The delegation will be accompanied by senior officials from the White House, USTR, and the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, State, and Treasury. (link)

Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for World Trade Organization Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing is quoted as saying Beijing’s first phase will be focused on technical details before more important voices “make hard political decisions.”
(more…)

In the realm of everything geopolitical in consequence, a recent article from an interview with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro highlights the globalists’ worst nightmare. And the comments from the WTO reflects the global influence of President Donald J Trump.

Before getting to two key points, rather stunningly delicious points, it’s worth remembering that Brazil is the “B” in the ‘BRICS alliance’.  Before U.S. President Donald Trump took center stage in the world of international influence, the former governments of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) had formed a coalition.  Each nation represented an enlarged -and growing- regional trade/economic influence.
Shortly after taking office; and with hindsight – prior to the China confrontation; President Trump began a systematic process of challenging various economic influencers.  This is the origin of the Trump Doctrine .
By expanding U.S. energy development, strategically engaging with OPEC (Gulf Cooperation Council) States, and simultaneously engaging with Baltic States at the Three Seas Summit in Warsaw Poland, President Trump established the groundwork for downward pressure on oil prices.  This comprehensive and geopolitical energy strategy diminished the ability of Russia to maintain a consistent external financial influence.
(more…)

I apologize in advance for my shortcomings in trying to de-wonk multinational economics and the financial constructs that impact, at the core, the U.S. worker and consumer.  It’s a big issue to tackle in digestible portions.  However, that said some inflationary statistics are presenting an opportunity for expanded discussion.
Reuters has an article out today highlighting inflationary data as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [DATA HERE]. The overall summary is the Consumer Price Index is stable or flat reflecting low inflation on measured goods; however, that’s not the part that bears emphasis.   Instead I would direct attention to this:

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core PCE price index excluding food and energy, increased 1.8 percent year-on-year in October, the smallest gain since February, after rising 1.9 percent the prior month. It hit the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target in March for the first time since April 2012.

At the heart of the controlled monetary system; at the epicenter of the multinational global control mechanisms; inside the offices of the global economic elites; there is a system of financial manipulation with tentacles that reach into your pocket.  This system seems hard to understand, but it is critical to do so… so we need to try and understand it.
(more…)

Early this morning China transmitted and interesting tweet position that was/is a transparent display of their panda mask. In essence the panda play was a call for team USA to drop the zero-sum outlook and seek a win/win. Given the historic nature of Chinese negotiations the tweet was rather funny. However, it does highlight the dance.
Additionally, a few hours later President Trump tweeted about ongoing U.S-China trade discussions and something to watch for:
Moments ago we received the first indications of Chairman Xi’s panda play:

(Via Wall Street Journal) China agreed to reduce tariffs on U.S. autos to 15%, down from 40% currently, during a phone call with U.S. officials that opened the latest round of trade talks aimed at settling a trade dispute festering between the world’s two largest economic powers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

(more…)

One of the less discussed aspects to President Trump’s economic cabinet is the careful selection of specific members who operate above the financial influence of ‘The Big Club’. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are two key positions able to focus on economic nationalism without worrying about undue influence from the globalist lobbying pressure of Tom Donohue and the U.S. CoC.
The baseline of financial independence, and disconnect from self-interest, is unique in our lifetime; and allows the resulting execution of economic policy to focus, very deliberately, on America First objectives.  Secretary Mnuchin discusses the China confrontation:

(more…)

A lengthy interview (recently released) between Greta Van Susteren and President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina.  The topics include: the USMCA trade agreement; the conflict between Russia and Ukraine; overall global trade; issues within the global climate change economy; Brexit, China, the U.S. economy and immigration.
As most CTH readers are aware MAGAnomic policy, economic nationalism, is the largest focus of President Trump.  Beyond all other issues, this is the POTUS priority. Within this interview the president walks through the geopolitical issues and interests for the U.S. economy.  Well worth watching:

(more…)

An important trilateral meeting between President Trump, Prime Minister Abe and Prime Minister Modi which forms an important economic alliance for President Trump’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy.  This larger geopolitical strategy is the counterweight to China’s One-Belt/One-Road (red dragon) maneuver.

.
[Transcript] Buenos Aires, Argentina – 2:39 P.M. AST – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with Prime Minister Modi of India, and, as you know, Prime Minister Abe of Japan. And we just had a great meeting, and we’re having now what we call a “trilat.”
(more…)

At the White House today President Trump participated in the Diwali Ceremonial Lighting of the Diya, the Hindu festival of lights.  Anyone paying close attention to the Trump administration over the past two years will note the warmness expressed toward India and Hindu.
We should all pay close attention because you might not see it now, but this will have a direct impact in your household.  While the action by the President is an open and genuine expression of cultural respect and warmth, there is also a stunningly not subtle geopolitical aspect via President Trump’s background diplomacy/strategy to use India (remember: “indo-pacific) as leverage in the larger Red Dragon confrontation.
India is key part of Trump’s counter-strategy that deconstructs Chairman Xi’s One-Belt/One-Road approach toward global economic conquest. Keep watching:

.
[Transcript] Roosevelt Room – 2:04 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: I am thrilled to be here for the celebration of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, and I am honored to host this beautiful ceremony at the White House. Very, very special people.
(more…)

President Trump represents an existential geopolitical threat to decades of advanced leftist policy (political globalists); predicated on the proposition that all national sovereignty should be erased in favor of an open-border society.  A one world order with a central planning authority vis-a-vis The U.N, World Bank, World Trade Organization etc.
The Trump Doctrine, that is to say: applied economic leverage to achieve national security objectives and independent U.S. sovereignty, is the policy that creates the risk.
There are trillions at stake.
In the big picture President Trump is deconstructing decades of globalist policy.
From the perspective of Trump’s political opposition, attempts to stop him on a national scale are failing; therefore the second approach is to stop what he is doing on the global scale.  Now we enter the geopolitical world behind the death of Jamal Kashoogi.
As an outcome of the Trump Doctrine, the U.S. economy is thriving as each of the multinational tentacles is removed.  Each renegotiated trade deal removes an economic control valve on American wealth and essentially stops the ‘wealth spreading’.  America is independently thriving.  However, as an outcome, the global economy is beginning to retract with the advancement of an independent U.S. economy and the creation of internal economic policies which remove the influence of multinationals.  In essence, U.S. wealth is independent again.
The Trump Doctrine is succeeding and the multinationals are necessarily suffering as a result.  Therefore the institutional global engineers now need to target the ability of the U.S. economic system to thrive independently.  Remember, there are trillions at stake. It appears the selected multinational targeting weapon has been chosen; global energy.
The death of Jamal Khashoogi has the hallmarks of a tool for advanced use by all of the familiar institutional elements to achieve disruption to the Trump Doctrine.
(more…)