Tag: Trump foreign policy

Foreign policy setbacks cloud Trump 2020 pitch

The Hill logoA slate of recent setbacks to some of President Trump’s key foreign policy goals is threatening to muddy his reelection message.

Reports show ISIS is regaining strength in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, North Korea has conducted half a dozen missile tests over the last few weeks, a pace not seen since before Trump sat down with Kim Jong Un.

Defeating ISIS and negotiating with North Korea are two areas Trump holds up as major accomplishments at campaign rallies and on Twitter, and backsliding on progress could undercut his message and give fodder to his Democratic rivals.

View the complete August 29 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

Trump finds himself on his heels and fumbling at G-7

Washington Post logoPresident Trump is used to going to gatherings of world leaders and throwing his weight around — even if to no other end than making his counterparts squirm and cater to him.

But on Sunday, he found himself on his heels and fumbling throughout much of the first day of the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France.

While his trade war with China isn’t the subject of the meeting, it’s clearly one of the major subplots. With the implications for the global economy clear and increasingly ominous, the summit is not exactly the friendliest venue for Trump.

View the complete August 25 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Del Monte Foods plans to close southern Minn. plant, affecting more than 360 workers

Del Monte Foods has told state officials it plans to close its peas and corn packing plant in Sleepy Eye, Minn.

The California-based company says layoffs of more than 360 employees will begin around Oct. 21 after the current packing season and last through the first half of 2020.

Del Monte says the action will affect 69 full-time and 294 seasonal employees. The Sleepy Eye facility was established in 1930.

View the complete August 20 article by the MPR News Staff and Nina Moini on the MPR News website here.

‘A heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass’: Mike Pompeo torn to shreds by ex-US officials in brutal New Yorker profile

The New Yorker has published a profile of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week and it features some very unflattering quotes about him from former colleagues.

The piece discusses how Pompeo has gone from being a Trump critic during the 2016 presidential election to being one of his most loyal defenders. One former White House official tells the publication that “there will never be any daylight publicly between [Pompeo] and Trump” and described the secretary of state as “among the most sycophantic and obsequious people around Trump.”

One former American ambassador, meanwhile, went even further and described Pompeo as “a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.”

View the complete August 19 article by Brad Reed on the Raw Story website here.

Trump Blunders His Way Into The Kashmir Crisis

He Helps Heat Up the Long-Simmering India-Pakistan Dispute Over Shangri-La

While Americans parse conspiracy theories about billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s demise in a Manhattan jail cell, Trump’s sinister role in helping light a fuse in one of the most dangerous areas of the world has gone virtually unnoticed – by the U.S. that is.

India’s abrupt takeover on Aug. 5 of the Muslim-majority Kashmir state was a double whammy for the seven million inhabitants of this once-storied Himalayan kingdom nominally ruled by India and bordered by arch-enemy Pakistan as well as China, both of which claim territory in the region. All three countries have nuclear weapons.

Often referred to as “India’s Switzerland” for its striking mountains, lakes and valleys, Kashmir inspired the fabled Shangri-La in the 1933 novel, “Lost Horizon.”

View the complete August 20 article by Dana Kennedy on the DC Report website here.

‘Absolute amateur hour’: Trump’s own officials are blasting his latest botched handling of foreign affairs

AlterNet logoOfficials within Donald Trump’s administration are expressing frustration and anger at the president’s inability to focus on how to handle Iran and vented about what one called “absolute amateur hour” at the White House to The Daily Beast.

According to the report, “The Trump administration keeps sending conflicting and contradictory messages to Iran about its terms for new negotiations,” adding that “For several months, the United States has been actively attempting to pass messages, via allies, to the Iranians in an effort to move closer to beginning formal diplomatic talks with Tehran. ”

The report notes that internal squabbles about what to do — with National Security Adviser John Bolton on one side uring military solutions and Trump on the other side not wanting to enter into a military conflict — is sending mixed messages to allies and intermediaries alike.

View the complete August 14 article by Tom Boggioni from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Waning of American Power? Trump Struggles With an Asia in Crisis

New York Times logoThe Trump administration has taken a hands-off approach to conflicts — from Kashmir to Hong Kong to the rivalry between Japan and South Korea — as Asian officials escalate the battles.

WASHINGTON — For two and a half years, President Trump has said he is finally doing in Asia what he asserts his predecessor, Barack Obama, failed to achieve with a strategic pivot: strengthen American influence and rally partners to push back against China.

But as violence escalates and old animosities are rekindled across Asia, Washington has chosen inaction, and governments are ignoring the Trump administration’s mild admonitions and calls for calm. Whether it is the internal battles in India and Hong Kong or the rivalry between two American allies, Japan and South Korea, Mr. Trump and his advisers are staying on the sidelines.

The inability or unwillingness of Washington to help defuse the flash points is one of the clearest signs yet of the erosion of American power and global influence under Mr. Trump, who has stuck to his “America First” idea of disengagement, analysts say.

View the complete August 13 article by Edward Wong on The New York Times website here.

Trump finally acknowledges his tariffs could hit consumers

Washington Post logo‘We are doing this for the Christmas season,’ Trump said as he announced a delay on his latest import taxes

President Trump has repeated the same mantra for months: The Chinese are paying the full price of his tariffs. It’s a line that the overwhelming majority of economists and business owners say is false, but Trump kept saying it — until Aug. 13.

The White House announced Tuesday that the president’s latest tariffs on China would be delayed on many popular items like cellphones, laptops and strollers. The 10 percent tax would not go into effect until Dec. 15, effectively ensuring retailers can import goods for the holidays before the tariffs take effect.

Trump himself told reporters the delay is to ensure consumers don’t face higher costs this Christmas. Here are his full remarks:

View the complete August 13 article by Heather Long on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s old disturbing comments about protests in China are haunting as the regime clashes with Hong Kong

AlterNet logoTensions continue to rise in Hong Kong as massive groups of pro-democracy protesters shut down an airport on Tuesday. The protesters have clashed with police while demonstrating against the Chinese government’s attempt to exert greater control over the quasi-independent region through an extradition law. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is saber-rattling over the protests and gathering military forces nearby in an apparent threat to extend greater authoritarian force.

It’s a fraught, complex and volatile situation demanding the world’s attention and, one might hope, the deft and strategic moral leadership of the United States government. Instead, of course, we have President Donald Trump.

Asked a few weeks ago if he supported the rights of protesters in Hong Kong, he gave a vague an unimpressive answer: “Well they are [protesting]. I don’t think China’s stopped them. China could stop them if they wanted. I’m not involved in it very much. I think President Xi of China has acted responsibly, very responsibly. They’ve been out there protesting for a long time. I’ve never seen protests like it where you have that many people, it looks like 2 million people. Those are big protests. But I hope that President Xi will do the right thing, but it has been going on for a long time there’s no question.”

View the complete August 13 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

Stocks sink as odds of U.S.-China trade deal appear to wane

Washington Post logoBond yields plunge, signaling investor flight to safety as they worry that a record stock run may be nearing its end.

Stocks continued their August swoon Monday on fears that Hong Kong protests, falling worldwide bond yields and the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute could lead to a global recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 462 points before the blue chips clawed some of that back to finish down about 390 points at 25,898, about a 1.5 percent drop. Financial services was among the hardest-hit Dow sectors, with Goldman Sachs Group off 2.6 percent. Pfizer, United Technologies and Caterpillar were also big drags. Only drug giant Merck stayed slightly above water.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index finished down 36 points at 2,882, a 1.2 percent drop. The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index fell about 95 points on the day to close at 7,863, or 1.2 percent.

View the complete August 12 article by Thomas Heath on The Washington Post website here.