“One of Russia’s principal foreign-policy goals for decades has been to split the United States from is allies. Whether by accident or by design, President Trump appears intent on bringing that dream to fruition.” More …
Month: June 2018
Web of elite Russians met with NRA execs during 2016 campaign
“Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source.” More …
Trump hit Mexico with steel tariffs: Mexico is hitting back
“Overall, the new penalties will affect about $3 Billion worth of US goods. The tax rates vary depending on the product, but most of them are high: There’s a 20 percent tariff on US pork shoulder and legs, and some bourbons and cheeses will be hit with 20 to 25 percent tariffs… Those kinds of taxes will make US goods a lot more expensive in the Mexican market and can dampen demand for them over time. That, in turn, would deal a blow to the US businesses that export them, forcing them to downsize operations and lay off workers.” More …
Trump flouts national security advice in bid to save Chinese tech company ZTE
“The Pentagon was so concerned about the “unacceptable risk” posed by the Chinese tech giant ZTE in April that it banned sales of its cellphones on military bases. The same month, British officials cautioned that using ZTE equipment was so problematic that national security concerns ‘cannot be mitigated.’ … Yet the Trump administration’s willingness to reverse a Commerce Department ban forbidding American companies from selling to ZTE doesn’t protect U.S. customers from surveillance, hacking or digital espionage, say experts and lawmakers.” More …
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats: Russia is Attempting to Influence US Midterms, Divide Transatlantic Alliance
“Coats said Russia had already undertaken an “unprecedented influence campaign to interfere in the US electoral and political process” in 2016. Russia, Coats pointed out, has also meddled in France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Ukraine. “It is 2018, and we continue to see Russian targeting of American society in ways that could affect our midterm elections,” he said.” More …
Trump administration is shutting down practice-guidelines clearinghouse for doctors
“Diagnostic and treatment guidelines aren’t sexy, but they play a vital role in the practice of medicine. Physician societies, government agencies, and others issue detailed recommendations for everything from who should receive cardiac stents to which antibiotics patients should get to avoid infections after knee surgery… After roughly a decade of budget cuts, however, the government’s Agency for Health Care Research has defunded the repository, effective July 16, 2018.” More …
TransCanada’s New ‘Best-In-Class’ Gas Pipeline Explodes in West Virginia, Causing Fiery Blast
“In November, the Keystone pipeline spilled roughly 210,000 gallons of bitumin from tar sands in northeast South Dakota, a spill that came on the heels of other spills on that same line in 2016 and 2011. Separately, in October, an accident at a TransCanada meter station in Ohio killed a maintenance worker following a leak of pressurized gas that did not ignite.” More …
Mexico pork tariff threats push Iowa producer losses to $560 million
“Iowa pork producers already dealing with a 25 percent tariff on U.S. pork exports to China could face another trade hit, with Mexico considering a 20 percent tariff on hams and pork shoulders… Growing trade worries have cut pork prices in recent weeks, costing Iowa producers about $560 million … ” More …
‘Trade Discussion’ or ‘Trade War’? The Estimated Impacts of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum
“We find the tariffs would result in a net loss of over 400,000 jobs after accounting for positive impacts on U.S. steel and aluminum producers. Overall, sixteen jobs would be lost for every steel/aluminum job gained.” More …
Wisconsin reeling from tariffs coming from Mexico, Canada, Europe
“Since June 1, companies that buy steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union have felt the sting of a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The tariffs also have triggered countermeasures from U.S. trading partners on a plethora of Wisconsin goods, including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, cheese, yogurt, pork, cranberries, sweetcorn, ginseng, wood, boats, paper and shoes.” More …