Written by Econintersect
Early Bird Headlines 23 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 stocks sink as trade tensions escalate; Nikkei plunges 4% (CNBC) Asian markets slumped on Friday, tracking sharp falls in U.S. and European stocks, which took a hit on fears of a potential trade war. The dollar index traded down at 89.613. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $65.09 a barrel at 0045 GMT, up $0.79 (1.2%). Brent crude futures were at $69.64 per barrel, up $0.73, or 1.1%. Spot gold climbed 0.7% to $1,337.16 per ounce at 0104 GMT.
U.S.
- Senate approves $1.3 trillion spending bill, sending to Trump (The Hill) The Senate rushed to approve a $1.3 trillion government funding bill early Friday morning, sending the mammoth legislation to President Trump’s desk less than 24 hours before a deadline to avert another government shutdown. Senators voted 65-32 on the measure, well over the simple majority needed to approve it, despite late drama after the bill easily cleared the House on Thursday afternoon. It now goes to the White House where Trump is expected to sign it. The bill will fund the government through the end of September. See also Winners and losers from the $1.3T omnibus.
- Trump replaces McMaster with Bolton as national security adviser (The Hill) President Trump announced Thursday he will replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. The president wrote in a tweet that Bolton, the hawkish former Bush administration official, will take over for McMaster on April 9.
- John Bolton’s Appointment By Trump Confirms Serious Geopolitical Risk (Credit Writedowns) Earlier tonight, Donald Trump tweeted that he has appointed John Bolton as National Security Advisor. Bolton is a neo-conservative thinker who has hawkish views on North Korea and Iran. Bolton’s appointment is a sign of “Trump Unchained”, a change toward a more aggressive ‘America First’ doctrine that carries significant geopolitical risk. Edward harrison writes:
Trump, who is in the process of purging dissonant voices from his administration, will take similar unilateral actions on the geopolitical front as well. Bolton’s appointment means the US – Iran deal that Obama signed in 2015 is history. It also means a unilateral first strike against North Korea is on the table.
Donald Trump believes that the US is the world’s only superpower. And his view is that, as a superpower, it has the ability, the right, to bend international arrangements toward a more favorable position for the US. Trump is willing to negotiate to get what he wants. But if all else fails, he will use force.
P.S. – I believe John Kelly and Jeff Sessions could be next to go.
- EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lone DNC Hacker’ Guccifer 2.0 Slipped Up and Revealed He Was a Russian Intelligence Officer (The Daily Beast) Robert Mueller’s team has taken over the investigation of Guccifer 2.0, who communicated with (and was defended by) longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. Guccifer 2.0, the “lone hacker” who took credit for providing WikiLeaks with stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, was in fact an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU), The Daily Beast has learned. It’s an attribution that resulted from a fleeting but critical slip-up in GRU online security protocol.
- House Judiciary chair subpoenas DOJ for FBI documents (The Hill) The head of the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday to obtain documents related to how the FBI handled its probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server, potential surveillance abuses and the recent decision to fire a top FBI official. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who is leading a joint investigation with Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), issued the subpoena after conservatives on his panel became increasingly frustrated with what they said was the administration’s unacceptably slow move to turn over documents. The lawmakers say they have only received about 3,000 out of the roughly 1.2 million documents they are seeking, despite repeated letters requesting them to be handed over to the committee.
- Trump legal team shakeup clears path for possible Mueller interview (NBC News) John Dowd, the member of Trump’s legal team who most strongly opposed an interview of the president by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and was leading the discussions with Mueller about one, resigned on Thursday. The move clears the path to begin preparations should an interview occur, people familiar with the matter said. Trump said Thursday he wants to testify before Mueller.
- Meet the Mueller team (CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller assembled a team of at least 17 lawyers for his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The investigation has already led to charges against 22 people and entities, including four associates of President Donald Trump. Mueller brought on private-sector attorneys and prosecutors from the Department of Justice. Here are biographies of the 17 lawyers known to be working on Mueller’s team.
- Cops Killed Unarmed Stephon Clark, Then Cut Their Audio. That’s Unusual, Expert Says. (The Daily Beast) After Sacramento police officers shot and killed unarmed man Stephon Clark, they shut off the audio on their body cameras. And it doesn’t look good for the cops, experts and activists say. Clark, a 22-year-old black man, was in his own backyard Sunday night when two police officers shot at him 20 times, believing him to be holding a gun. He was only holding a phone.
Police will have to definitively prove they believed that unarmed black man Stephon Clark, 22, was holding a weapon when they shot and killed him in his own backyard this weekend.
- In rural Northern California, a bid to create the 51st state (Los Angeles Times) Part of California, the so-called Northstate, is looking less and less like the rest of the Golden State. The vast, sparsely populated region is whiter, more rural and poorer than the rest of the state – and residents are more conservative. While California has become the center of the resistance to Trump, a number of Northern Californians are waging a resistance of their own: against California itself. The breakaway state of Jefferson is a decades-old idea, but it has been revived in earnest in recent years by residents who say they are fed up with their voices being drowned out in Sacramento, where outspoken urban Democrats hold a vise grip on the state Legislature. See also next article.
- Jefferson (proposed Pacific state) (Wikipedia) The State of Jefferson is a proposed U.S. state that would span the contiguous, mostly rural area of southern Oregon and northern California, where several attempts to separate from Oregon and California, respectively, have taken place.
EU
- Trump pauses looming metal tariffs for close US allies (CNBC) The EU leads a list of those who will be exempt, at least temporarily, from Trump’s metal tariffs.
- The European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Canada and Mexico will get initial exemptions from looming steel and aluminum tariffs from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump authorized the exemptions late Thursday night.
- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee that the exempted countries are involved in various stages of trade talks with the U.S., and that Trump decided “to pause” the tariffs for them.
Japan
- No Need for Japan’s Abe to Resign Right Now, Party Rival Says (Bloomberg) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should work to restore public trust before thinking about stepping down, a rival in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said, after fresh allegations in a cronyism scandal sent his government’s support rate tumbling. Fumio Kishida, a key factional leader in the ruling LDP, said in an interview in Hong Kong on Wednesday:
“If prime ministers resign every time their support rates go down, nothing will be resolved fundamentally. First of all, Prime Minister Abe himself and everyone involved in Japanese politics must work to restore trust. Then, he must make a decision on his own fate.”
China
- Security dialogues between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India aimed at upholding regional stability in Asia Pacific will not sit well with China, experts say.
- If cooperation between the four countries grows, it could potentially push Beijing to further strengthen its military capabilities in the region.
- China Hits Back at Trump Tariffs as Trade War Finally Arrives (Bloomberg) China said it doesn’t fear a trade war with the U.S. and announced plans for reciprocal tariffs on $3 billion of imports from the U.S. in the first response to President Donald Trump’s ordering of levies on Chinese metal exports. China plans tariffs on imports of U.S. pork imports, recycled aluminum, steel pipes, fruit and wine, according to a Commerce Ministry statement on Friday. China will also pursue legal action against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization in response to the U.S. planned tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the statement said, and called for dialog to resolve the dispute. The first announced response byChina was the announcement of a 25% tariff on pork. Agricultural exports from the U.S. are considered to be the most sensitive point of attack for China. See also China strikes back at up to $60 billion in US tariffs with only $3 billion of its own (CNBC) and China responds to Trump tariffs with proposed list of 128 US products to target.
