Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 09 March 2018
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, published Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
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​Global
- Asian shares gain after Trump accepts invitation to meet North Korea’s Kim; yen falls (CNBC) Asian stocks advanced on Friday following news that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The move higher also tracked moderate gains seen on Wall Street following the implementation of U.S. metals tariffs. The dollar index extended gains to trade at 90.207 by 12:58 p.m. HK/SIN. Oil prices edged up after sliding more than one percent overnight. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures tacked on 0.25% to trade at $60.27 per barrel. Brent crude futures added 0.31% to trade at $63.81. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,317.41 per ounce at 0405 GMT and was on track to post its third weekly decline.
- Revived TPP Shows Trade Will Go On Without U.S. (Bloomberg) A pact without the U.S. proves that American leadership is not essential to the march of progress.
That multilateral accords can happen without the U.S. is significant enough. At least as important is who took the lead: Japan. Kudos to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He did two huge things. First, he demolished the outmoded portrait of Japan as a protectionist fortress. Secondly, Abe showed that Japan can lead in the Asia-Pacific region without the U.S., often seen as Japan’s protector and sponsor.
U.S.
- Trump agrees to meet with Kim (The Hill) See also next article. President Trump has said he is willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by May in an effort to see North Korea abandon its nuclear ambitions, South Korea’s national security adviser said Thursday night.
Chung Eui-yong made the announcement during a news conference outside the White House after meeting with Trump administration officials. Chung said the North Korean leader has expressed his “eagerness to meet with President Trump as soon as possible.”
Chung led a South Korean delegation earlier in the week on a historic trip to Pyongyang. During the trip, the envoys became the first South Korean officials to meet with Kim since he took power in 2011.
- Trump’s Historic Bet on Kim Summit Shatters Decades of Orthodoxy (Bloomberg) Donald Trump took the biggest gamble of his presidency on Thursday, breaking decades of U.S. diplomatic orthodoxy by accepting an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The bet is that Trump’s campaign to apply maximum economic pressure on Kim’s regime has forced him to consider what was previously unthinkable: surrendering the illicit nuclear weapons program begun by his father. If the president is right, the U.S. would avert what appeared at times last year to be a steady march toward a second Korean War.
It was classic Trump, showing an unerring confidence to get the better end of any negotiation. But it was also Trump in another way: high risk and high reward, with little regard for those in the foreign policy establishment who worry it’s too much, too soon.
- Defying GOP, Trump orders steel and aluminum tariffs (The Hill) President Trump on Thursday officially announced steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, defying his own party and delivering on a campaign promise to fight what he sees as unfair practices by U.S. trading partners. Trump signed paperwork enacting tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum during a hastily arranged event at the White House.
- Dems: Uranium One informant provided ‘no evidence’ of Clinton ‘quid pro quo’ (The Hill) A confidential informant billed by House Republicans as having “explosive” information about the 2010 Uranium One deal approved during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of State provided “no evidence of a quid pro quo” involving Clinton, Democratic staff said in a summary of the informant’s closed-door testimony obtained by The Hill on Thursday. In February, staff from three panels – the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Intelligence Committee – interviewed William Douglas Campbell, a confidential informant to the FBI during its investigation and prosecution of former Russian official Vadim Mikerin.
Mikerin was the head of U.S. operations for Tenex, a unit of the same Russian state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, that purchased Uranium One. He was charged with taking bribes from a shipping company in exchange for contracts to transport Russian uranium into the U.S. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison in 2015.
- U.S. Equity Outflows Continue (The Daily Shot)
EU
- EU Will Lose Much in a Trade War (The Daily Shot) The EU, especially the Eurozone, has more to lose from a trade war than the US.
UK
- Sergei Skripal: Who, and what, could be behind ‘poison’ attack? (Sky News) Theories are swirling about how and why an ex-Russian spy and his daughter were attacked with a nerve agent in Salisbury and remain in hospital in comas. Mystery surrounds how they came into contact with a nerve agent and who could have administered it, as well as what their motive would have been. Police are treating the attack as attempted murder, and are investigating several sites – with the ex-spy’s home among the major crime scenes. See also Russian spy poisoning: 21 people have been treated.
Turkey
- Erdogan lashes out at US over support for Syrian Kurdish fighters (Al-Monitor) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of failing to deliver on promises to rein in Kurdish militants in Syria, breaking a brief rhetorical truce that followed a visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month to ease strained ties between the NATO allies.
Erdogan’s anger may have been reignited by reports this week that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is sending 1,700 fighters to the province of Afrin to fight the Turkish military, which invaded the border region in January to thwart Kurdish territorial gains along its border.
Syria
- Kurdish fighters join Turkey’s Afrin operation (Al-Monitor) Rival Kurdish groups are fighting on opposite sides in Northern Syria. The YPG (People’s Protection Units), which has been active against the central government in Turkey, is trying to hold the area they have occupied around Afrin, while several Kurdish factions affiliated with the FSA (Free Syrian Army) have joined forces with Turkish troops fighting the YPG.
Iran
- Assassinations mount as Iranian Kurdish militants clash with Tehran (Al-Monitor) Iran continues to face obstacles in silencing its armed opponents in Iraqi Kurdistan, where authorities recently offered Tehran assurances to prevent Iranian Kurdish militants from causing tension with Tehran. Nonetheless, recent bombing attacks against Kurdish leaders may be linked to the central government in Tehran
Russia
- Russian newsreader: Traitors die young (Sky News) A Russian news presenter has warned that anyone considering becoming a double agent will not live to old age.
Japan
- Foreigners could ease Japan’s labor shortage, but Tokyo prefers robots (CNBC) Japan has a shrinking population but is resisting immigration.
- The world’s third-largest economy must cope with an acute labor shortage and a declining population.
- But the government remains resistant to reforming immigration, beyond accepting skilled professionals, amid fears of disruptions to social order.
- The country received nearly 20,000 applications from asylum seekers last year but accepted only 20.
North Korea
- The last two times North Korea said it was giving up nukes, it was lying (CNBC) Two major diplomatic initiatives – in 1994 and the early 2000s – provide examples of how Pyongyang has repeatedly backtracked on its nuclear commitments.
