14 May
2018
Saving Jobs in China, and Raising Wages in Mexico
- Good morning! It’s rarely a surprise when President Trump brags about how many jobs he has brought back. But he nevertheless puzzled many observers on Sunday, when he tweeted that he was working to bring jobs back to a big phone maker that announced last week it was shutting down. What’s so unusual about that? The phone manufacturer, ZTE, is a Chinese company, and Trump said he was working with Chinese President Xi to prevent the collapse of the firm. “Too many jobs in China lost,” Trump tweeted. “Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” Oddly enough, ZTE’s troubles began with the imposition of sanctions against the company by the Commerce Department last month.
- Trade with China will also be the topic of three days of hearings at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office beginning Tuesday. The Trump Administration is expected to come under heavy criticism both from American companies over how proposed tariffs on Chinese imports will affect U.S. manufacturing and from American exporters, including farmers and manufacturers, that stand to suffer if China imposes retaliatory tariffs.
- And that’s not all on trade. Congress set a Thursday deadline to be notified of a rewritten version of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Legislators said they need an answer by mid-May if they are to bring a revamped NAFTA agreement to a vote this year. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is leading the negotiations, which include American demands that Mexican auto makers raise wages there to $16 an hour, roughly double the current wage.
- To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel, the United States is scheduled on Monday to open the relocated American Embassy in Jerusalem. Though most Israeli government offices, as well as its parliament, the Knesset, are located in Jerusalem, the international community doesn’t recognize that disputed city as Israel capital. The move by the Trump Administration, which is fulfilling a campaign promise, has been sharply criticized by European and Arab officials, who say the move undermines further peace negotiations. At least 16 Palestinians were killed Monday in protests at the fence dividing the Gaza strip and Israel.
- North Korea has invited the world to watch the closure of its nuclear test sitebeginning May 23, according to the country’s foreign ministry – a precursor to the summit planned for June 12 between Kim Jong Un and President Trump in Singapore. But is North Korea really giving up anything? The explosion of its largest-ever nuclear weapon last year is believed to have caused the mountain over the main site to collapse, rendering it unsafe for further use as a testing site. On Monday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace will host a seminar titled “How to Talk to North Korea.”
- President Trump, as expected, said last week that the U.S. would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. But within 24 hours of the announcement, a technology security firm noticed a surge in Iranian cyberactivity, including emails containing malware and attempts to infiltrate the computer systems of U.S. telecom companies and Western-leaning foreign ministries. In the wake of the Iran deal pullout, several think-tank events this week will discuss the decision and its probable consequences.
- Two Iran-related events get things underway on Monday, when the Bipartisan Policy Center hosts “U.S. Policy Toward Iran: Strategic Options,” and the Atlantic Council offers “The Fallout from Trump’s Decision on the Iran Deal.” On Tuesday, the Atlantic Council is back with a look at “Europe and the US After the JCPOA,” (that’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran Deal). On Thursday, Brookings chimes in with “The Fallout of President Trump’s JCPOA Decision,” while on Friday it’s the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace with “What’s Next After the Iran Deal?”
- Voters go to the polls on Tuesday in four states – Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon and Pennsylvania – to select candidates for the congressional races in November. Most of the primaries are likely to be low-key affairs, except for that in Pennsylvania, where a court-ordered redistricting has messed with the familiar borders of the state’s 18 Congressional districts.
- Though her department denied it, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was reported last week to have drafted a resignation letter after being berated by President Trump in a recent cabinet meeting over the failure of her department to secure the nation’s borders. Secretary Nielsen will have a chance to explain just where the nation’s attempt to watch over the borders stands when she testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday in a hearing about “Authorities and Resources Needed to Protect and Secure the United States.”
- How prepared is the United States for a massive outbreak of illness or disease? Two programs this week look at that discomfiting scenario. On Monday, the Congressional Biodefense Caucus hosts “America’s Preparedness to Infectious Diseases and Biothreats.” And on Thursday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies conducts a meeting on “Pandemic Preparedness: Policy and Practice in the 21st Century.” Hazmat suits optional.