'Trade Wars Are Good.' Business Is Scared of Trump for the First Time.

By Jonathan Chait
@jonathanchait

March 2, 2018
8:27 am

Since Donald Trump took office, the moneyed interests of the Republican Party have held firm control of Donald Trump’s policy agenda, if not his mouth or his Twitter thumbs. And so, the wild populist promises he offered in a given moment might trigger some momentary panic among his backers, but would predictably vaporize. Now Trump is imposing, or at least threatening to impose, tariffs on steel and aluminum. And he now insists not only that the tariffs will help, but that the ensuing trade war he has been warned about will also help:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/969525362580484098

Markets have responded to this outburst with genuine fear. That Trump is seized with such a terrifyingly simplistic and obviously wrong mental model of international trade is hardly surprising. But there are several reasons to believe it is at least plausible that the president will follow through on his threats.

First, Trump has a long-standing belief that trade is a zero-sum proposition. He has been expressing versions of this idea since the 1980s, when Japan, not China or Mexico, was the target of his protectionist ire. It may be the only thing he has maintained with complete consistency throughout his career. And he has reportedly demanded tariff proposals from his advisers since the early stages of his presidency. “Tariffs. I want tariffs … China is laughing at us. Laughing,” Trump raged last August in a staff meeting. “Yes sir, I understand, you want tariffs,” replied Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Second, the White House staff has evolved in such a way as to enable rather than stymie this impulse. Departed staff secretary Rob Porter had the duty of managing Trump’s paper flow, a key mechanism by which Establishment figures controlled the agenda. Porter left last month after reports of his serial domestic abuse. Trump has promoted Peter Navarro, a protectionist whom Kelly has sidelined in the past. Gary Cohn, who has stayed in his job mainly to prevent the tariffs, is reportedly planning to depart. And Kelly himself, a key figure in derailing the tariffs, has lost significant favor with Trump. A loose coalition of original Trump loyalists, ranging from Jared Kushner to Anthony Scaramucci, is waging a feud to discredit Kelly, and Trump is openly shopping for a new chief of staff.

Third, Trump actually has the power to do something on tariffs. This makes the issue very unlike other episodes when he has wandered off the party reservation, like DACA and gun control. In those cases, Trump held televised meetings with members of both parties, and alarmed his supporters (and excited Democrats) by repudiating his own positions repeatedly. Both times he quickly reeled it back.

more
https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/trade-wars-are-good-business-is-finally-scared-of-trump.html

Scott Walker calls on Trump to 'reconsider' tariffs

Source: The Hill




BY JOHN BOWDEN - 03/02/18 02:55 PM EST

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) urged President Trump to "reconsider" the tariffs on aluminum and steel that he announced Thursday, saying in a statement that the proposed policies would have a "negative impact" on American companies and workers.

In his statement, Walker said that the effect of the proposed tariffs would be more U.S. companies sending jobs overseas.

"As I described to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross last year, there is not a market in America that can support the demand for ultra-thin aluminum for employers here in Wisconsin and across the country," Walker said. "Ironically, the American companies who will feel the negative impact of tariffs can actually move their operations to another country, such as Canada."

"This scenario would lead to the exact opposite outcome of the administration's stated objective, which is to protect American jobs," he added.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/376481-walker-trump-should-reconsider-planned-tariffs-on-aluminum

Worst of bad US flu season finally over as illnesses decline

Source: Associated Press



By MIKE STOBBE
1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the nation’s nasty flu season is finally over.

The season apparently peaked in early February and has been fading since, health officials said Friday. The number of people going to the doctor with symptoms of the flu has continued to decline. Deaths from the flu or pneumonia are going down, too.

While the peak may have passed, the season isn’t finished yet. Reports of flu remained widespread in 45 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

“The season’s not over but we’re definitely on the downward trend right now,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s acting director.


Read more: https://apnews.com/a7e9bc6b4de945199de570c6cf817715/Worst-of-bad-US-flu-season-finally-over-as-illnesses-decline

APNewsBreak: Questions surround Trump's 1st wall contract

Source: Associated Press




By MARGERY A. BECK
6 minutes ago

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A tiny Nebraska startup awarded the first border wall construction project under President Donald Trump is the offshoot of a construction firm that was sued repeatedly for failing to pay subcontractors and accused in a 2016 government audit of shady billing practices.

SWF Constructors, which lists just one employee in its Omaha office, won the $11 million federal contract in November as part of a project to replace a little more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of a current fence with post-style barriers 30 feet (9.1 meters) high in Calexico, California. The project represents a sliver of the president’s plan that was central to his presidential campaign promise for a wall at the border with Mexico.

It remains unclear why SWF was listed on the bid for the wall contract instead of Edgewood, New York-based Coastal Environmental Group, which online government documents list as its owner.

Thomas Anderson, an Omaha lawyer who initially represented a subcontractor that sued Coastal in 2011, said he wouldn’t be surprised if it was an attempt to dodge scrutiny of past legal problems. He says such a practice is relatively common in construction projects.

Read more: https://apnews.com/0fc0013326ef4d2492b9db868992f5ac?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Trump administration sued for release of documents on anti-LGBT actions

Source: LGBTQ Nation




By Jeff Taylor · Friday, March 2, 2018

People For the American Way (PFAW) has filed suit against the Trump administration to demand the release of documents over its anti-LGBTQ policies and actions.

PFAW filed the suit yesterday, in federal court, against both the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, after previous attempts to gain information through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests went ignored.

Right Wing Watch, a project of PFAW, made FOIA requests last year with both the DOJ and HUD, requesting documents related to actions removing mentions of LGBTQ people from federal programs.

The actions were being done without public notice, leading to questions regarding what agencies and officials were directing the moves, why it was being done, the scope of the decisions being made, and why it was all being done with secrecy.


Read more: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/03/trump-administration-sued-release-documents-anti-lgbt-actions/

Peter King defends Hope Hicks' 'white lies': 'That shows how honest she was being'

Wilbur Ross snuck industry execs into White House to manipulate 'unglued' Trump into tariff decision

TRAVIS GETTYS
02 MAR 2018 AT 14:01 ET



Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross steered an angry President Donald Trump into backing an aluminum and steel tariff over the objections of other senior White House officials.

Trump was furious Wednesday evening over Hope Hicks’ testimony before lawmakers, his ongoing feud with attorney general Jeff Sessions and what he perceives as unfair treatment of son-in-law Jared Kushner by White House chief of staff John Kelly, reported NBC News.

“The president became ‘unglued,’ in the words of one official familiar with the president’s state of mind,” the network reported. That’s when Ross and Peter Navarro, the White House director for trade, pushed Trump to launch a trade war with the tariff.

Ross had already set up a White House meeting with steel and aluminum executives for 11 a.m. Thursday, but a source told NBC News the commerce secretary hadn’t told other White House officials who was coming.

That left the White House unable to conduct background checks on the executives to ensure the president should meet with them, and they were not able to be cleared for entry by the Secret Service.

more
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/wilbur-ross-snuck-industry-execs-white-house-manipulate-unglued-trump-tariff-decision-report/

EXCLUSIVE. Mueller team asking if Kushner foreign business ties influenced Trump policy

Source: NBC News



MAR 2 2018, 1:54 PM ET

by CAROL E. LEE, JULIA AINSLEY and ROBERT WINDREM

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether any of Jared Kushner's business discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition later shaped White House policies in ways designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with, according to witnesses and other people familiar with the investigation.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has asked witnesses about Kushner's efforts to secure financing for his family's real estate properties, focusing specifically on his discussions during the transition with individuals from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, according to witnesses who have been interviewed as part of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 election.

As part of the scrutiny of Kushner's discussions with Turks, federal investigators have reached out to Turkish nationals for information on Kushner through the FBI's legal attache office in Ankara, according to two people familiar with the matter. Separately, Qatari government officials visiting the U.S. in late January and early February considered turning over to Mueller what they believe is evidence of efforts by their country's Persian Gulf neighbors in coordination with Kushner to hurt their country, four people familiar with the matter said. The Qatari officials decided against cooperating with Mueller for now out of fear it would further strain the country's relations with the White House, these people said.

Kushner's family real estate business, Kushner Companies, approached Qatar multiple times, including last spring, about investing in the company's troubled flagship property at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York, but the government-run sovereign wealth fund declined, according to two people familiar with the discussion. Another discussion of interest to Mueller's team is a meeting Kushner held at Trump Tower during the transition in December 2016 with a former prime minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, or HBJ, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/mueller-team-asking-if-kushner-foreign-business-ties-influenced-trump-n852681

U.S. makes staff cuts permanent at embassy in Cuba

Source: USA Today




Doug Stanglin and Jessica Durando, USA TODAY Published 1:22 p.m. ET March 2, 2018 | Updated 1:58 p.m. ET March 2, 2018

he U.S. is making permanent its decision last year to withdraw 60% of its diplomats from Cuba.

The severely reduced staffing at the U.S. Embassy is because of unexplained "health attacks" on some employees, the U.S. State Department said Friday. The State Department said the embassy "will operate as an unaccompanied post, defined as a post at which no family members are permitted to reside."

The move stems from late 2016 when a series of U.S. diplomats in Havana began suffering unexplained losses of hearing and the beginnings of neurological symptoms.

The statement said the department still does not have "definitive answers" on the source or cause of the attacks and that an investigation continues.


Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/03/02/u-s-makes-staff-cuts-embassy-cuba-permanent/389532002/

The number of Delta Air Lines passengers who bought tickets with NRA discount: 13

Source: USA Today



Bart Jansen, USA TODAY Published 10:39 a.m. ET March 2, 2018 | Updated 1:22 p.m. ET March 2, 2018

How many airline passengers does it take to kill a $40 million tax break for Delta Air Lines? 13.

The Georgia legislature removed a jet-fuel tax break from a larger tax package Thursday. Lawmakers were upset that Delta, which is headquartered in Atlanta, dropped the National Rifle Association from a discount-fare program in an effort to appear neutral on gun policy.

After the firestorm, Delta will review all its marketing programs to avoid those that might become political, CEO Ed Bastian announced Friday.

But the airline said only 13 passengers ever bought tickets with an NRA discount. That translates into each discount costing the airline about $3 million in tax breaks.



Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/02/delta-reviews-all-fare-discount-programs-after-nra-dispute-costs-georgia-tax-break/388587002/