…When you plant your trees in another man’s orchard, don’t be surprised when you pay for your own apples…

President Trump has instructed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to execute Round Two of tariffs on Chinese imports. The first round applied to $50 billion in products. The current round applies a 10% tariff to $200 billion (effective Sept. 24, 2018), until January 1st, 2019, when the tariff increases to 25%.
The list of products is particularly focused, and happily we note it includes almost all Chinese processed food imports.
Chinese food processing is sketchy, and China has refused to comply with most international food safety programs. However, President Trump spared smart watches from Apple and Fitbit and other consumer products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.
In a statement announcing the Round-Two tariffs, President Trump warned China if they take retaliatory action against U.S. farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”  That would hit Apple and all consumer good imports. Here’s the announcement and the list of products:

Washington, DC – As part of the United States’ continuing response to China’s theft of American intellectual property and forced transfer of American technology, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released a list of approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that will be subject to additional tariffs.
In accordance with the direction of President Trump, the additional tariffs will be effective starting September 24, 2018, and initially will be in the amount of 10 percent. Starting January 1, 2019, the level of the additional tariffs will increase to 25 percent.

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump hosted a meeting with the key administration officials executing the workforce initiatives programs.  The programs include expanded vocational training, private-public partnerships for education, and expanded investment in skills training for a modern American workforce.
The National Council for the American Worker is the executive agency tasked with execution of the policies and working with various state and local officials to help increase the skills training for U.S. workers.  With a MAGAnomic expanding economy; and with all of the subsequent jobs growth; and with a revitalization of U.S. manufacturing; the workforce initiatives are keys to sustaining successful growth for American workers.

Following opening remarks during a jobs and workforce initiatives meeting: White House National Council for the American Worker [full video of that meeting coming later], President Trump made some announcements on trade, and answered some questions from the media.
The questions surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh begin at 05:25:

A year ago it seemed almost impossible to see a trade agreement with Mexico that would facilitate the interests of both countries. However, with the successful election of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), a remarkable populist shift dramatically changed the landscape within the Mexican economic outlook and policy.

President Trump’s tweet today hints toward a much bigger picture we have recently been discussing.  Against the likelihood Canada will not join the U.S-Mexico trade agreement. The Mexican government is affirming their intent to go forward with a bilateral trade deal if needed because the U.S-Mexico joint agreement is in their best interests.  According to Mexico’s Chief Negotiator, Kenneth Smith-Ramos:

“We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S … the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement …”

Outgoing Mexican President Peña Nieto, structured his economic policy around accepting multinational corporate investment, facilitating the requests of Wall Street investment banks, and the predictable parasitic outcomes that follow. Exfiltration of wealth and exploitation of resources/labor are an outcropping of predatory multinational trade exploitation, ie. “globalism”.
Retention of the multinational schemes generally leads to massive corruption. In the U.S. this corruption is known as “lobbying”, in Mexico the process is called ‘bribery’; however, the activity is the same.
(more…)

According to a CBC article citing a “Senior Canadian Official”, the Trudeau government is completely “comfortable” missing an October 1st deadline to join the U.S-Mexico trade alliance:

…”The source who spoke to CBC News on background, due to the sensitivity of the talks, said the external political pressure “is not a good enough reason,” for Canada to be forced into a fast finish.”… (more)

This statement follows a series of actions by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau which highlights their intent to resist any trade agreement while counting on domestic politics to deliver electoral forgiveness.  Indeed for all intents and purposes it would appear Justin and Chrystia are willing to damage their economy for political benefit.
Meanwhile the Mexican government is affirming their intent to go forward with a bilateral trade deal if needed because the U.S-Mexico joint agreement is in their best interests.  According to Mexico’s Chief Negotiator, Kenneth Smith-Ramos:

“We hope the U.S. and Canada will conclude their bilateral negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with the U.S … the agreement in principle that we closed with the U.S. is positive for Mexico because it preserves free trade and modernizes our trade agreement …”

A year ago it seemed almost impossible to see an agreement with Mexico that would facilitate the interests of both countries.  However, with the successful election of Mexican President Lopez-Obrador, a remarkable populist shift dramatically changed the landscape within the Mexican economic outlook and policy.
(more…)

Bloomberg reported earlier today that President Trump was likely to pull the trigger on round #2 of tariffs against $200 billion in Chinese imported goods. Duh. Surprise fail. President Trump has not bluffed on a single tariff initiative since he started executing new U.S. trade policies to reset all trade relationships.
According to Jennifer Jacobs reporting (one of the few reliable) Secretary Ross, Secretary Mnuchin and Ambassador Lighthizer met Thursday to review the current status of ongoing trade deals. This is a good nugget, because it’s likely that same meeting contained the forward instructions toward Lighthizer for the Canada discussions.
According to the report, President Trump, Ross and Lighthizer are adjusting the specifics of the $200 billion Chinese products targeted based on the two-weeks of domestic feedback they received. I would actually anticipate a combination of increased tariffs on the Round #1 sector (25% on $50 billion), and the application of new sectors within the $200 billion Round #2 target.

• Reuters Article Here
• Bloomberg Article Here
• USTR Prior Notification Here

(more…)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference today reacting to how Obama administration officials were intentionally undermining current U.S. policy.  Those actions include former Secretary of State John Kerry traveling to various hostile nations, specifically Iran, and telling our adversaries to “wait out the Trump administration”.
There’s a bigger, biggger picture here, that few are paying attention to.  We shall outline that in greater detail.  However, for now here’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responding to John Kerry’s intervention(s).  WATCH:

John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2018

This is in keeping with a pattern.  Obama instructed Trudeau (Canada) to oppose Trump on trade and wait-out the mid-terms.  Obama officials have instructed China to oppose Trump on trade and wait-out the mid-terms.  Now John Kerry is not only instructing Iran to wait-out mid-terms, he is instructing Europe to rebuke U.S. sanctions on Iran and wait out the mid-terms.  Hopefully, everyone can see what is happening here.
(more…)

The MAGAnomic Tri-fecta: Jobs growing; wages growing; inflation stable.
When President Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced tariffs on Steel and Aluminum, in combination with Round #1 tariffs on imported Chinese products, the Wall Street financial media went bananas with dire predictions of inflation.
Today the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the August measure of inflation in consumer goods.  Despite the doom-and-gloom predictions from the self-interested multinationals, the inflation rate is a low 0.2% the same result as July. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food components, increased 0.1%.

As John Carney notes:

[…]  “Compared with a year ago, prices were up 2.7 percent, lower than the 2.9 percent gain in July and June. Core inflation was up 2.2 percent from a year earlier, down from 2.4 percent in July. This means the pace of inflation has slowed.”

(more…)

A column written by journalist John Ivison yesterday reflected how Justin and Chrystia from Canada appeared to be intentionally politicizing their trade negotiations in an effort to gain favor from domestic left-wing supporters.  In essence, Justin made a decision to advance his political interests even if it means destroying the Canadian economy.
Providing a stark example as evidence toward that motive Ivison wrote: “How else to explain [Freeland’s] appearance at Monday’s Women in the World summit in Toronto, on a panel entitled Taking on the Tyrant?”  Today Ezra Levant and Manny Montenegrino discuss the exact same example:

Secretary Wilbur Ross is in North Carolina today touring the NOAA facility and listening to projections of how long Hurricane Florence may disrupt rail, road and shipping transport.  Mr. Ross then calculates the economic impact.