- June 30: Update added on US Diplomats Leaving their Posts -
On June 26 USA Today published an evaluation of US president Trump's Trade Wars written by an opinion contributor. Here an excerpt from the original text:
An obscure provision in the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, intended to be used to address specific national security concerns, has been invoked by the White House to push through sweeping import taxes on American consumers. Given how these powers have been abused, it’s time for Congress to look at ways that it can restore some oversight powers to the Constitutional powers it delegated away.
Congress has delegated too much power to the President in recent decades. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act gives the President the power to impose restrictions on foreign trade should the Department of Commerce determine that imports pose a threat to national security. Section 232, unlike other discretionary trade powers, requires only a report by the Secretary of Commerce, which the President can choose to agree with or ignore. This can be used to bypass the normal safeguards Congress set up when delegating away its power to regulate trade.
The situation on the stock markets is none better as a brandnew article is suggesting and which has been published on June 27 by the New York Post. Here an excerpt from that article in order to hint at the driving force that is behind the current rollercoaster behaviour of equity markets:
Reading the tea leaves on President Trump’s ever-changing views on trade with China has proven to be a major headache for US equity markets.
Look no further than the wild ride the Dow Jones industrial average took Wednesday.
The blue-chip index soared 285.91 points in early trading on news that the Trump administration’s restrictions on Chinese investment in US firms wouldn’t be as tough as initially feared. But by midday the Dow reversed course sharply to end the day down 165.52 points at 24,117.59.
“Investors don’t think that this trade war tension is over, and they’re concerned that something is going to come and bite them later on,” Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, told The Post.
The schizophrenic nature of the equity markets can be attributed to differing headlines coming out of the White House.
US visitors to "blueprint news" coming from New Jersey and Virginia.
US Diplomats That Recently Resigned :
The US ambassador to Estonia is resigning, reportedly in frustration at remarks made by US president Donald Trump about America's European allies. He wishes to retire from the Foreign Service effective July 29 after 33 years of public service.
James D Melville had held senior diplomatic posts in several European countries before he was nominated ambassador to Estonia by former US President Barack Obama. He speaks Russian, German and French according to his biography on the US State Department website.
Mr Melville revealed in a Facebook post that Mr Trump's comments had brought forward his decision to retire, Foreign Policy magazine reported.
In the private Facebook post seen by Foreign Policy, Mr Melville reportedly told friends: "For the president to say the EU was 'set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank', or that 'Nato is as bad as Nafta [the North American Free Trade Agreement]' is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it's time to go."
Other US diplomats have also left their posts early in recent months.
In January, US ambassador to Panama John Feeley resigned saying he was no longer able to serve under President Trump.
A month earlier, Elizabeth Shackelford resigned from her post in Nairobi where she worked for the US mission to Somalia.
In her letter of resignation to then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, she said she was quitting because the US had abandoned human rights as a priority, Foreign Policy reported.
[BBC on June 30, 2018]
