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    That new trade deal with China looks awfully familiar

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    October 22, 2019

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    Trump said he was ready for a "historic" deal with China as the leaders kicked off their meeting and Xi told him "dialogue" was better than confrontation AFP / Brendan Smialowski

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    The United States has reached a “very substantial phase one deal” with China in the high-stakes trade negotiations between the two economic superpowers, Donald Trump says.


    But don’t look too closely. Like many of the deals announced in the White House, there may be less there than meets the eye.

    Indeed, it looks as if the parties restored if not improved agricultural purchases – which may be too late for many U.S. farmers – that had more or less been in place at the start of this messy split. All the promises about ending China’s forced technology transfers from American companies were left for another day, as were promises to end Chinese currency manipulation and substantial national investments in specific technologies like 5G that Trump has called unfair.

    All the promises about ending China’s forced technology transfers from American companies were left for another day.

    So, the tough talk has merely postponed the tough issues.

    It may even look as if Team Trump blinked first, with Trump agreeing to talk $250 billion of new tariffs off the table in return for soybean purchases that had been the case before the tariff war.

    A very artful deal.

    The Wall Street Journal is reporting that investors are still holding back, that the enthusiasm that Trump is projecting about the deal is illusory. It is even unclear what happens to farmers who have found replacement markets for stalled Chinese purchases.

    After months of escalation, Trump compromised this week and offered a tacit embrace of something he has resisted: A partial deal that might yet grow into something more comprehensive but could take up to three separate phases of negotiations.

    Phase Two

    It is such a good deal that “Phase Two will start almost immediately” after the first phase is signed. To questions, Trump said there was a deal because the numbers on the table were “bigger”; Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said there was a deal because there were signs of U.S. “cooperation.”

    In any event, both were talking optimistically, as did the U.S. financial markets before backing down when they realized that nothing tricky had been solved.

    In typical White House fashion, Trump added the obvious: He only must satisfy himself. “One of the great things about the China Deal is the fact that, for various reasons, we do not have to go through the very long and politically complex Congressional Approval Process. When the deal is fully negotiated, I sign it myself on behalf of our Country. Fast and Clean!” he tweeted, celebrating that there would be no one to actually look at the deal.

    Bloomberg economics writers looked at the deal and asked aloud whether “the new grand bargain that Trump once promised with China is any more than a small step closer to reality, or that a curtain is being drawn on the uncertainty his trade wars have brought to the global economy. It also leaves a gnawing question hanging over Trump and the economic fallout from his assault on China and global supply chains as he prepares to face the electorate in 2020: Has it really all been worth it?”

    The announced increase in Chinese purchases of U.S. farm products is one that was first offered by Beijing more than two years ago.

    We are still supposed to believe that these purchases will be accompanied by unspecified commitments on intellectual property and currency and will go some way to repairing the damage done to U.S. agriculture since tariffs began more than 18 months ago. There, of course, was no announcement about the future of U.S. farm support payments made to offset the ruinous effect of having destroyed China as a reliable foreign market for American farms.

    We can only hope that this economic package will help to calm markets over time and reduce further fears of future recession from the global slowdown that these tariff conflicts have prompted. It will keep in place the U.S. tariffs on some $360 billion in imports that have disrupted global supply chains.

    Trumps Wants the Praise

    Still, even this limited deal has not yet been put on paper or signed. Trump wants trumpets and drums next month when he and China’s Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Chile. Don’t count on it. Officials said it will take three to five weeks to finalize the details. Past negotiations have broken down in less time than that.

    Plus, the announcement comes as Trump has been weakened through impeachment talk, and there are signs of other U.S.-China troubles, ranging from the Chinese furor over an NBA executive’s backing for the growing protests in Hong Kong to the Trump administration’s invocation for the first time this week of human rights to crack down on Chinese tech companies and visas for officials.

    According to Bloomberg, contours of the new deal look very similar to those negotiated by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that were rejected by Trump over the past two years, said Wendy Cutler, a longtime former U.S. trade negotiator who now heads the Asia Society Policy Institute. “It looks more like a ‘light’ deal than a ‘substantial’ deal,” Cutler said, and remains at risk of being weakened further as negotiators put it down on paper in the weeks to come.

    If there was Chinese agreement on intellectual property -- the issue used to justify Trump’s tariffs – no one knows what it is. On the issue of currency manipulation, another longstanding U.S. complaint, Mnuchin said only that there had been new commitments on transparency and that the United States was willing to review its August designation of China as a currency manipulator.

    The deal came with no enforcement mechanism to make sure that Beijing does not renege on its commitments. Trump would offer only that it would be worked out later.

    On Capitol Hill, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said, “After so much has been sacrificed, Americans will settle for nothing less than a full, enforceable and fair deal with China.”

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.


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    Survey: Will Melania leave Trump now that he's out of office ?

    Discord bans subreddit accused of manipulating GameStop stock price to ruin hedge funds: report

    Matthew Chapman
    January 27, 2021

    On Wednesday, The Verge reported that the networking platform Discord has banned the server for r/WallStreetBets, the community on Reddit that has bragged about manipulating the stock market.

    r/WallStreetBets gained national attention this week after a campaign to aggressively buy up shares in GameStop, the nationwide video game retailer, after learning that several large Wall Street hedge funds were short-selling the stock due to the chain's financial struggles. The campaign dramatically drove up the price of GameStop shares, wiping out millions of dollars in value at these hedge funds at a stroke.

    According to Discord, the ban has nothing to do with the efforts to hurt hedge funds, but rather ongoing violations of hate speech policies.

    "The server has been on our Trust & Safety team's radar for some time due to occasional content that violates our Community Guidelines, including hate speech, glorifying violence, and spreading misinformation. Over the past few months, we have issued multiple warnings to the server admin," said Discord in a statement. "To be clear, we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks. Discord welcomes a broad variety of personal finance discussions, from investment clubs and day traders to college students and professional financial advisors."

    Bernie Sanders, with mittens pic, raises $1.8 million for charity

    Agence France-Presse
    January 27, 2021

    The Inauguration Day photograph of a mitten-clad, glamor-defying Bernie Sanders perhaps was not the most flattering image of the US senator, but it has become a remarkably charitable one.

    The 79-year-old lawmaker from the northeastern state of Vermont announced Wednesday he has raised $1.8 million for charity over the past five days through sales of merchandise featuring him wearing knit mittens and a parka at President Joe Biden's January 20 swearing-in.

    The image launched a thousand memes and made the earnest and seemingly cantankerous two-time presidential candidate even more of an internet star than he already was.

    "Jane and I were amazed by all the creativity shown by so many people over the last week, and we're glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need," Sanders said in a statement.

    "But even this amount of money is no substitute for action by Congress," he said, referring to efforts to pass a massive coronavirus pandemic rescue package.

    "I will be doing everything I can in Washington to make sure working people in Vermont and across the country get the relief they need in the middle of the worst crisis we've faced since the Great Depression."

    Sanders's office said the groups receiving charitable funds include the Vermont operations of Meals on Wheels and the Vermont Parent Child Network.

    The initial run of the "Chairman Sanders" merchandise sold out 30 minutes after the items -- including sweatshirts and T-shirts -- were made available online Thursday. There is now a weeks-long backlog of orders.

    The image of a cross-legged Sanders wearing a light blue mask and seated alone at the inauguration was captured by AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski.

    According to Sanders' office, as part of the licensing agreement to put the image on apparel and stickers, Getty Images, the agency that distributes AFP images in the United States, will donate its proceeds from the license to Meals on Wheels America.

    Smialowski has been impressed by the various iterations of his frame online.

    "The internet is like a wild animal, tough to predict and hard to tame," he said.

    "While I never expect or strive for my work to go viral or get memed, it doesn't surprise me in the sense that the internet and social media are unpredictable. Anything is possible."

    Feds indict three Oath Keepers on 'conspiracy to obstruct Congress': report

    Matthew Chapman
    January 27, 2021

    On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced the indictment of three militia figures affiliated with the far-right Oath Keepers group, on charges of conspiracy to obstruct Congress.

    The three defendants are Jessica Marie Watkins and Donovan Ray Crowl of Champaign County, Ohio, and Thomas Caldwell of Clarke County, Virginia. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

    "According to the indictment, the three defendants initiated their communications and coordination in November 2020 and continued through on or about Jan. 19, 2021, when Caldwell was arrested," said the DOJ announcement. "The exchanges vary in topics from a call to action to logistics, including lodging options, coordinating calls to discuss the plan, and joining forces with other Oath Keeper chapters. On Dec. 31, 2020, Caldwell posted, 'THIS IS OUR CALL TO ACTION, FREINDS! SEE YOU ON THE 6TH IN WASHINGTON, D.C. ALONG WITH 2 MILLION OTHER LIKE-MINDED PATRIOTS.' In a subsequent post on Jan. 2, 2021, Caldwell stated, 'It begins for real Jan 5 and 6 on Washington D.C. when we mobilize in the streets. Let them try to certify some crud on capitol hill with a million or more patriots in the streets. This kettle is set to boil…'"

    Allegations about Crowl released by federal officials last week following his arrest suggested he was preparing for "literal war."

    The Oath Keepers are a nationwide paramilitary organization, including many retired and active military and law enforcement, which has broadly been implicated in the assault on the Capitol that left five dead.

     
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