President Trump will sign a trade-section 232 proclamation today to elevate Steel and Aluminum manufacturing to be of national security status.  The overall trade initiative which stems from the 232 proclamation will be a 25% trade tariff on imported steel and a 10% trade tariff on imported aluminum.  POTUS Trump will control exemptions.

The trade announcement is anticipated at 3:30pm in the White House today.

UPDATE: Video Added

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I have never witnessed an economic policy initiative positioned, framed and delivered with this much success.  A few points must be noted for emphasis.

♦ First, at 3:30pm today President Trump will announce the final end-policy on his Steel and Aluminum tariffs.  It is going to happen; and the final outline will be extraordinarily effective – in part because the opposition to the policy walked directly into the hands of a deal-maker who knows how to position the opponent’s demands to increase his own strength.

After President Trump’s lead trade policy advocate, Peter Navarro, stated yesterday the steel and aluminum tariff announcement would be coming today, the opposition immediately increased their calls for modifications.

While the White House trade lawyers were working through the day and night constructing the legalese, Fox News Ed Henry stated late last night there might be a delay….

But the media again displayed how they don’t understand this President.

When Trump establishes a goal that is a top priority for his personal MAGAnomic agenda – he will not accept roadblocks.  As such, today the announcement is proceeding according to the timeline set by Trump, no-one else.

This trade specific issue, and many more soon to follow, are important to this president.  This is President Trump’s subject area of specific expertise.  These trade policies are the issues he has been discussing for over thirty years.

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Something that now seems ordinary, until you think about it historically – and realize it is actually, stunningly, extraordinary, is the level of transparency President Trump has delivered to his administration. Citizen government by a person who understands the value of the camera and the opportunities of the microphone.

Here President Trump frames a cabinet meeting with the media for over 20 minutes while outlining initiatives and objectives.   No prior president has ever allowed even a small percentage of the deliberative access delivered by President Trump.  POTUS keenly dominates the narrative; outlines the milestones; establishes the expectations and summarizes the issues.

About mid-way through this video is just captivating, really.  Must Watch:

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If you stand back and think about it, what President Trump is doing is remarkable. POTUS has lulled us into seeing this as commonplace, it’s not; it is anything but common.

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There has been a great deal of consternation, directed toward AG Jeff Sessions surrounding the ongoing FISA abuse scandal and the larger issues of unlawful DOJ and FBI conduct in their political investigation of candidate Donald Trump.  It is a matter of great division amid people who follow the details.

That said, AG Jeff Sessions revealed tonight in an interview with Shannon Bream, that he previously appointed a DOJ official to investigate the issues delivered by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (House Judiciary), prior to receiving the request for a Special Counsel from Chairman Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy.  WATCH:

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Transcript @00:15 (emphasis mine) “Well, I have great respect for Mr. Gowdy and Chairman Goodlatte, and we are going to consider seriously their recommendations. I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation.

Also I am well aware we have a responsibility to insure the integrity of the FISA process, we’re not afraid to look at that. The inspector general, some think that our inspector general is not very strong; but he has almost 500 employers, employees, most of which are lawyers and prosecutors; and they are looking at the FISA process. We must make sure that it’s done properly, and we’re going to do that. And I’ll consider their request.”

Well, there you have it.  There is already an appointed person, likely a prosecutor, from “outside of Washington”, in place prior to the recent request for a Special Counsel by Goodlatte and Gowdy.   That was exactly what an objective analysis of the events previously outlined – and we previously noted.

Attorney Jeff Sessions is noting the existence of an outside prosecutor who has been in place for quite a while, exactly as we thought.  All the evidence of this was/is clear if you follow the granular details closely.   Here’s how we figure it out; and also the reason why no-one in Washington DC -including congress and the president- was previously aware.

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Judicial analyst and Fox News host, Shannon Bream, has an exclusive interview airing tonight on Fox News.  Jake Gibson is a Fox News producer and just tweeted this:

It would appear Attorney General Jeff Sessions already has a DOJ prosecutor looking into the issues uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

You might note, as we previously outlined, Chairman Bob Goodlatte -as a specific outcome of his oversight role-  is the congressional leader working closest with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.   I shall resist the urge….

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Important stuff in this ‘straight talk’ interview.  Buckets of ‘breaking’ stuff to unpack.

First, per Trade Adviser Peter Navarro, the Steel and Aluminum tariffs will be announced tomorrow.  Second, Mexico and Canada will be given an exemption from those tariffs while NAFTA is being renegotiated.  WATCH:

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The exemption will give U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer increased leverage in his efforts to close the NAFTA loophole.  Closing the NAFTA “fatal flaw” is the essential “Option 1” that we have discussed previously several times.  It would be against the interests of Canada and Mexico to ever agree to close the loophole.  However, the steel and aluminum tariffs add a bit of financial incentive not previously in the equation.

It is still highly doubtful the amount of money in the steel and aluminum tariff aspect is close to enough to get Canada and Mexico to agree to close the backdoor loophole.  However, any amount is more than was there before…. so the possibility of “option 1” increases a smidge.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross talks about the importance of trade “reciprocity”.  As Wilburine outlines phase-2 MAGAnomics is only just beginning the reciprocity discussion.

Additionally, Secretary Ross talks about the issues with Chinese steel trans-shipment and the reason for Steel and Aluminum tariffs to be global in order to address China’s use of proxy nation states to continue dumping.   In this interview Ross begins to outline the fine points behind the pending 2018 trade negotiations. It is going to take a lot of repeated effort to awaken the larger U.S. electorate to the issues.

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500 high-wage manufacturing jobs might not sound like a big deal, but for the community of Granite City Illinois it is a VERY BIG DEAL. Their blast furnace was shut down in 2016, and today they happily hear the news of its reopening… GREAT NEWS !

ILLINOIS – U.S. Steel announced it will restart a blast furnace and steel-making operations at its Granite City Works plant in southern Illinois near St. Louis as a result of the announced tariffs of 25 percent on all steel imports.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker shuttered parts of the mill in late 2015 and early 2016, largely, it said, as a result of a glut of imports that depressed prices and made steel mills less profitable. U.S. Steel plans to bring 500 steelworkers back to work if President Donald Trump goes forward with plans to act on a Section 232 investigation that concluded a surge in steel imports was eroding the American steel industry and threatening national security.

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Earlier today President Trump delivered a speech to the Latino business coalition legislative summit. President “Patrone’” Trump noted ongoing economic growth, employment success, and the unfortunate intransigence of the Democrat opposition in Washington DC.

[Transcript] 12:03 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you, Hector. I’m thrilled to be here with so many of our incredible leaders in the Latino business community. And you folks are good business people. I know that. I know that for a fact. I’ve had to compete against you for a long time. (Laughter.) In fact, I said, I want to get out of that; I want to be President. It’s easier. (Laughter.)

But I especially want to thank Chairman Hector Barreto for the invitation and for the many years of his leadership on behalf of America’s small businesses. I also want to recognize Secretary Chao who’s joining us today. Elaine? Hi, Elaine. (Applause.) You’re doing a fantastic job, by the way. Thank you very much, Elaine.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Wednesday March 7th, 2018.  Anticipated start time 2:00pm EST:

UPDATE: Video Added

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