Senator Tom Cotton appears on Fox News to discuss the latest on the troubling issues with the Coronavirus.  China has approximately 70 million people in quarantine during their effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Senator Cotton has been a leading voice in the U.S. warning about the potential risks from Coronavirus spread.  Interestingly Mr. Cotton explains the origination of the virus did not come from the food market initially blamed. However there is a level-4 bio-lab within a few miles of the Wuhan market. Occam’s razor? Interesting information.

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U.S. President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi form a trilateral group within President Trump’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy.  Essentially a geopolitical alliance based on economic interests.
PM Abe and PM Modi have visited the U.S. several times since the alliance was formed. President Trump has also visited Japan several times but not visited India. (There has been a sticky issue with Modi’s protectionist trade tariffs.) However, today the White House announced President Trump & First Lady Melania will be traveling to India:

[White House] – President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will visit India on February 24 – 25, 2020. The President and The First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat and played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi’s life and leadership of the Indian independence movement.

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President Trump traveled overnight to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.  [Livestream Links and Daily Schedule Below] I found it very interesting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not on the Dec. delegation list.
The U.S. Delegation includes: Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin; Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross; Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia; Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao; U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer; Under Secretary for Growth, Energy and Environment (DoS), Keith Krach; Asst to the President, Ivanka Trump; Asst. to the President, Jared Kushner; and Asst. to the President / Deputy for Policy Coordination, Christopher Liddell.
The 2020 Davos economic conference will be a little more important to watch this year (as it was in 2017) due to the completed U.S. Trade Agreements (S Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and China) and the predicted focus for the Trump administration to pivot from Asia to the EU and U.K. for the next critical phase of the ‘America-First’ global trade reset.
There will likely be a great deal of attention upon the opening remarks by President Trump scheduled to be delivered at 5:30am ET / 11:30am Switzerland.
UPDATE: Video Added

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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox News to discuss two key economic and trade issues: (1) the current status of U.S-China trade discussions “round one”; and (2) the status of USMCA ratification (Pelosi’s delay).
Nothing in the China trade discussion is solid, until everything in the China trade discussion is settled; this is one of the key aspects to President Trump’s directive to USTR Robert Lighthizer.  No deal is a more favorable outcome than the construct of a trade deal that cannot be enforced.
On the USMCA ratification, again it all falls upon the politics of Pelosi.  The agreement would pass tomorrow if it were put up to a vote; there is no controversy.  Speaker Pelosi is holding back the ratification vote for pure political purposes.

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USMCA ratification is the first domino in long-chain of ‘America First’ economic benefits. As soon as USMCA passes a wave of North American investment will surge. The downstream consequences includes leverage for U.S-China, U.S-Europe, U.S-India and U.S-U.K trade agreements.
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Funny stuff amid headlines discussing the likelihood of President Trump postponing a 25% tariff on European autos.  What the pundits are missing is how President Trump has positioned a myriad of trade dynamics that make EU action unavoidable.   This is the fun stuff, so let’s enjoy the details.
The current headlines surround President Trump “postponing” a 25% tariff on EU automobiles as an outcome of the major EU manufacturers (mostly Germany) promising increased investment in their U.S. operations.  By itself this would be considered a win for President Trump, but that’s not the whole picture, not even close.

What the more broad trade and manufacturing dynamic includes will explain what EU economists are only just now starting to realize.  Yes, the major European auto-makers will put more investment into the United States (thereby lessening the EU industrial economy); however, the auto decision is not because they are presenting a magnanimous benefit of sorts, but rather it is a foregone conclusion; an unavoidable reality due to a previous trade agreement construct.
Within the USMCA agreement President Trump negotiated a win-win-win for Mexico, Canada and the U.S. through a requirement that 75 percent of North American auto content must originate from manufacturing within North America.  Failure to reach that threshold means the auto company will be subject to a 25 percent tariff to bring the product to the U.S. market.
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Leftists love to trot out Christine Lagarde as the pontificating elite to defend their multinational interests.  Recently the former IMF leader was elected to take control of the European Central Bank.   As a direct result, Ms. Lagarde is now taking an adverse position toward a strong U.S. economy and decrying the ‘America-First’ policies of President Trump that have removed the tentacles of global financial control.
If you follow trade, finance and the interests of the multinationals, this is actually quite funny.  In this first brief interview segment Ms. Lagarde, has the elitist audacity to warn President Trump that lowering U.S. interest rates defeats the agenda of the EU.  She doesn’t put it in those terms, but watch and we’ll explain:

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Notice how Lagarde magnanimously claims that lowering interest rates when the U.S. economy is strong, and the U.S. unemployment rate is at historic lows, could lead to rising prices inside the U.S.  Too damned funny; how very kind of the EU to be worried about U.S. consumers… (pro tip: they ain’t).
What she’s really worried about is the dynamic that President Trump has created that is crushing the globalists. Let’s expand.
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Commerce Secretary delivered a speech to the Federalist Society today as he explained U.S. trade policy under President Trump and the long-term goals and objectives.

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Today at 3:30pm ET, President Trump will sign the U.S-Japan trade agreement and U.S-Japan digital trade agreement.  This represents “stage-one” (agriculture, industrial tariffs, digital trade) of a complex U.S-Japan trade agreement negotiated by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi. (Details)
[Update – Video and Transcript Added]

[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much everybody. I want to start by wishing my very good friend, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, a very happy birthday. He’s 39 years old today. (Laughter.) So please extend my wishes to the Prime Minister. He’s a great gentleman and we have had tremendous success.
As you know, in addition to what we’re talking about today, they’re building — Japan — many car plants in the United States, which they weren’t doing for a long time. And they’re building in Michigan, Ohio, lots of different states. And we just appreciate it very much. Been a tremendous investment.
But we’re here to talk about a little bit of a different purchase, and that’s good as far as we’re concerned. And I want to thank you very much. Very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
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In the bigger picture… Within the trade team, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is positioned with primary responsibility toward the EU and India. Ross clear-cuts through the politics, explains Trump’s objectives amid the trade proposals, and paves a path for U.S. Trade Rep Bob Lighthizer to engage his counterparts.
India has always been a key strategic nation within the global trade-realignment taking place by the Trump administration.  Under all of the banter, the “Indo-Pacific” strategy is structurally the decoupling of the U.S. from China. As a part of the strategy President Trump has positioned the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as benefactors in manufacturing & trade as an outcome of the U.S. decoupling from China.

However, India has genuine concerns about the global dynamic. Specifically, India is worried about allowing the multinationals to have influence over their economy and social structure. In this regard India is not wrong; their concerns are not unfounded.
We can all see, heck we’ve lived through, massive multinational corporations quickly gaining too much influence; including -eventually- corporate influence over the politics of a nation. That inherently leads to corruption.
When Americans see it in other nations we call it “bribery and corruption”, but when it happens in Washington, DC, we call it “lobbying”; the process is exactly the same.
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President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan sign “stage-one” of a U.S-Japan trade agreement negotiated by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Foreign Minister Motegi; both are very strong negotiators.
The agreement has been in the works for several years as President Trump and PM Abe both held firm to positions that benefit both.  [Video and Transcript Below] Japan is the fulcrum for Trump’s Indo-Pacific trade reset; PM Abe recognizes the importance of positioning Japan to benefit from the decoupling between the U.S. and China.  Trade can be boring at times, but this jousting is actually a lot of fun; don’t miss it.

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much everybody for being here. I’m honored to be alongside my great friend, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, to formally announce our first stage of a phenomenal new trade agreement with our close ally. They’ve been a great friend, and the Prime Minister has been my great friend.
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