Strained Relations
In a move sure to further strain relations, Trump Signs Bill in Support of Hong Kong Protesters.
The legislation, S. 1838, requires annual reviews of Hong Kong’s special trade status under American law — and sanctions against any officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses or undermining the city’s autonomy.
The House cleared the bill 417-1 on Nov. 20 after the Senate passed it without opposition, veto-proof majorities that left Trump with little choice but to acquiesce.
While many members of Congress in both parties have voiced strong support for protesters demanding more autonomy for the city, Trump has stayed largely silent, even as the demonstrations have been met by rising police violence.
“If the U.S. insists on going down this wrong path, China will take strong countermeasures,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing Thursday in Beijing. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned the U.S. ambassador, Terry Branstad, on Monday to express “strong opposition” to what the country’s government considers American interference in the protests, including the legislation, according to statement.
The new U.S. law comes just as Washington and Beijing have shown signs of working toward what the White House calls a “phase-one” deal to ease the trade war. Trump would like the agreement finished in order to ease economic uncertainty for his re-election campaign in 2020, and has floated the possibility of signing the deal in a farm state as an acknowledgment of the constituency that’s borne the brunt of retaliatory Chinese tariffs.
Veto-Proof Majorities
Veto-proof majorities in both houses left Trump no choice.
Retaliation?
China has not announced what it will do.
And the bill demands sanctions if China cracks down on the protesters.
But I suspect both Trump and China will try to sweep this dispute under the rug to get a trade deal passed. But nothing here would surprise me.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
I thought Kabuki theater was Japanese. Silly me.
Good for Trump and Xi.
Trump gets to rile up his captive drones, about how he stands up to those evil human rights abusers who steal from patent trolls; which Xi gets to rile up his about how he is standing up to those interfering imperialists.
Then, with both groups of drones riled up and cheering for their tough Dear Leader, each of them get to continue robbing and harassing theirs unchallenged.
If I ran China, I’d precisely match the terms of our bill with one focused on murder rates in Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore, along with the alcoholism and drug addiction rates on our Indian reservations and offsetting US penalties.
Then, I’d spend the rest of my time convincing the people of China that China needs to open it’s markets and develop a reputation for openly respecting the rule of law in trade disputes.
This ‘ll persuade them chinese commies to get some good old Western values…
Sure, go ahead and sanction China. It’s not like they are a global threat like Iran.
Maybe this bill was more about both parties wanting to undermine the trade deal process. The timing is too perfect, and the votes are nearly unanimous.
Is this why Dow futures are down? This bill is just symbolic, there is really not much the US can do about what goes on in China.
Yes this is why the futures went down
Maybe there might be another reason: Year-over-year Growth:
Durable Goods Orders (minus) -.07%.
DG Ex-Aircraft Orders (minus)- 1.4%
Capital Expenditures (minus) – 0.8%
The market is being supported by the Fed at around $60 Billion per month. Refusing to call it QE, it’s now “REPO liquidity”. That’s 3/4 of $1 Trillion on an annualized basis. Is this $ 3/4 Trillion going into the economy? Building new businesses, expanding current operations, raising wages? No. It’s going to banks to loan to hedge funds and private equity, who use the assets purchased as collateral for the loans. It’s a perpetual money machine, until it stops. Creating “money” out of thin air for one purpose: Keeping the stock market up. This shows up in some of the lowest volatility in history. When the market knows the Fed has its back, there’s no actual price discovery. Just buy SPY.
The Federal deficit is around $1 Trillion, some/much of which the Fed is going to have to fund as well.Most of the Federal deficit does find its way into the overall economy, though much of it is waste fraud and abuse. One man’s waste is another man’s livelihood.
Heh, it’s bots reading the newsfeeds