Earlier today Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared for an interview with Maria Bartiromo on the status of phase-one for the U.S-China trade deal, Huawei and ZTE national security concerns, and Speaker Pelosi blocking ratification of the USMCA agreement.
Secretary Ross cautions the Chinese deal is contingent on some very particular and important enforcement details. Additionally Ross discusses the potential national security issues with 5G network and AG Bill Barr having strong concerns about Huawei and ZTE.

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Leader Kevin McCarthy just put some specific dates to a sequence we anticipated several months ago.
During a Fox interview with Laura Ingraham (I’ll look for video) McCarthy predicts Speaker Pelosi will bring up the impeachment vote on/around December 16th; then follow-up the impeachment vote with USMCA ratification and the budget passage on/around December 20th allowing the Democrats to go home for the holidays with all three goals accomplished.
This prediction by Leader McCarthy is very likely. Earlier today Speaker Poli-Grip said passing the USMCA was “imminent“.  In essence, she’s holding the USMCA vote as an ace to highlight a bipartisan legislative accomplishment by her party.
We noted last month: Nancy Pelosi will bring the USMCA to a vote timed with the impeachment vote. This plan allows democrats to try and dilute the political nature of the impeachment scheme by referencing the Trump administration USMCA vote as an example of Democrats not being political. This is how they scheme.

…’See, we’re not politically motivated, we’re giving the same president we are impeaching a win; because this trade deal is in the best interest of America.  Just like the impeachment of this corrupt president is in the best interest of America’….

A very strong jobs market, and wage growth for the middle-class at the highest rate in decades, continues to benefit Main Street USA.  As noted within the sales and earnings report from Walmart today, the U.S. middle-class continues to thrive in a MAGA-driven U.S. economy.

(Reuters) […] Consumer spending going in to the crucial holiday season remains healthy, Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. Retailers earn a sizeable chunk of their annual revenue during November and December.
“The consumer remains in pretty good shape, employment situation is good, fuel prices are low … wage growth is pretty good,” he said. (more)

It is easy to forget how two-years-ago the doomsayers and financial pundits were claiming President Trump’s tariff policies were going to create massive price increases.  They were completely wrong in their predictions.  The latest U.S. inflation reports show low inflation at 1.8 percent year-over-year.
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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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National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Fox Business to discuss the latest excellent jobs report and the overall strength of the U.S. economy.
Additional points of interest discussed are the U.S-China trade negotiations, the status of the internal Beijing communist control over their economy and the ongoing issues with the EU.  Lots of good MAGAnomic news.

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White House Trade and Manufacturing Advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business to discuss the purpose and intent of the USMCA and the ongoing China trade discussions.
What Navarro skims upon is the heart of the economic purpose behind the USMCA as requested by President Trump and constructed by USTR Lighthizer. The USMCA establishes an internal North American manufacturing system; this provides the alternative for Asian manufacturing of goods for the U.S. market.
This manufacturing system is why Mexico is “all-in” to support the USMCA. Additionally, the economic benefits within the system as constructed is exactly why Mexican President Lopez-Obrador is willing to pressure House democrats to ratify and also back-up President Trump on other geopolitical issues (immigration controls etc).

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On the Stock Market dynamic. Currently there is a great deal of investment capital waiting to see where the money should be placed. Investment in China has dropped dramatically; investment in Southeast Asia shifted, but new investment is pending this outcome. Multinationals are calculating the TCP (Total Cost of Production), and if the new USMCA is passed there will be a triggering effect of North American investment because the uncertainty will be eliminated.
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White House manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro discusses the lack of action from Speaker Pelosi on ratification of the USMCA.
As CTH has outlined since the July 2019 alliance meeting between Pelosi and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the strongest likelihood is the House will table the ratification vote until after the 2020 election. It is a strategic political decision.

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UPDATE – RESULTS: Everyone Declared Victory.

Justin Trudeau celebrated an overwhelming victory following the results of the Canadian election – SEE RESULTS HERE –  The Liberal party lost 21 seats but remained the majority parliamentary winner albeit without a majority. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a “solid mandate from the election results.”  The Conservative party gained 27 seats and the most national votes, but remain the losing party.  The New Democrat Party lost 15 seats and declared the 2019 election a major success for their agenda.
It’s all weird.
During their post election speeches the Liberals (Trudeau), Conservatives (Sheer), New Democrat Party (Singh) and the Green Party (May), all declared victory.  It seemed like a hot mess of political messaging; but hey, that’s Canada.
Congratulations, I guess.
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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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Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a plan, at least the collective ideology behind her has a plan.  Her recent trip to Jordan and Afghanistan are part of that plan; everything is essentially connected.    Pelosi will do whatever is needed to hamper the U.S. economy in an effort to weaken President Trump’s relection bid.  Blocking the USMCA is part of that aspect.
The visit to Jordan and Afghanistan was purposeful ground work in preparing to seed the narrative that President Trump’s withdrawal from mid-east conflict is evidence of dangerous foreign policy.  Again, just like the USMCA stall, the larger goal is to weaken the President in advance of 2020.  Everything is connected.
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears to be realizing the Democrat’s hatred for ‘America-First’, which weakens their personal financial position, is their driving ideology.

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