How the elephant got its Trump

Date: 19-04-2018
Source: The Economist

The president’s takeover of his party won’t soon be undone
It will not easily be undone

“NEVER has a party abandoned, fled its principles and deeply held beliefs so quickly as my party did in the face of the nativist juggernaut,” Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, said in a speech in March. “We have become strangers to ourselves.” There is a lot of truth in this. The speed with which the Republican Party’s establishment accommodated itself to a candidate, and then a president, who spurned all manner of norms and broke many bounds of decency, as well as policy commitments, was indeed without any precedent.

Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, went from refusing to campaign with Donald Trump (after a recording of him boasting about sexual assault became public) to failing quickly to condemn him (when, as president, he spoke of “very fine people on both sides” of confrontations between neo-Nazis and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia). It now appears that Mr Ryan cannot stomach his position—or, alternatively, that he thinks the voters will not provide the Republican House majority he would need to continue in it after this November’s mid-term elections. On April 11th he announced that he will not seek re-election. Like Mr Flake himself, and Bob Corker, a senator who memorably compared Mr Trump’s White House to an “adult day-care centre”, not to mention 40 other House Republicans—a record—he is leaving the field of battle.

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EU Plans to Pitch Trade Bargain to Trump

Date: 19-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Deal would feature lower tariffs on U.S. cars, access to government bidding for Europe, and joint action on China

European officials want a permanent exemption from new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The European Union is drawing up a peace offer it hopes will end trade hostilities with the White House and avoid steel and aluminum tariffs being imposed on the bloc in two weeks’ time, according to European officials.

Its centerpiece: A miniature, simplified version of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership—the controversial EU-U.S. trade agreement that was negotiated but never concluded under the Obama administration.

To complete the offer, the EU is considering joining forces with the U.S. in tackling what both see as China’s unfair trade practices, the officials said.

Don’t Rule Out an EU-U.S. Trade War

Date: 19-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal By Simon Nixon

Europe is demanding the Trump administration permanently exempt it from tariffs. A flashpoint in the dispute comes May 1

The European Union shares U.S concerns about Chinese trade practices but may soon find itself in a trade war of its own with Washington.

So far, the European Union has managed to stay out of the escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Along with other U.S. allies, it negotiated for itself a temporary exemption from the tariffs on imported steel that President Donald Trump announced last month, citing national security concerns. Since then, the U.S. has introduced a further $50 billion of tariffs on an extensive list of Chinese imports in retaliation for what it claims is theft of intellectual property and has threatened a further $100 billion. The EU shares many of the U.S.’s concerns about Chinese trade practices and would like to work with the U.S. to put pressure on China to agree to a reform of global trading rules that would address Chinese overcapacity problems. Yet there is a real risk that the EU and U.S. may soon find themselves embroiled in a trade war of their own.

Automation and American Leadership

Robert Skidelsky, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University and a fellow of the British Academy in history and economics, is a member of the British House of Lords. The author of a three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes, he began his political career in the Labour party, became the Conservative Party’s spokesman for Treasury affairs in the House of Lords, and was eventually forced out of the Conservative Party for his opposition to NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999.

Apr 18, 2018 Robert Skidelsky, Project Syndicate

In an era of rapid technological change, it is widely assumed that disruptions to labor markets are inevitable – and positive – indicators of a country’s international competitiveness. But should policymakers really use the economy to advance national power at the expense of the many people and regions left behind?

LONDON – Not so long ago, there were two competing explanations of unemployment. The first was the Keynesian theory of deficient demand, which holds that workers become unemployed “involuntarily” when their community lacks the money to buy the goods and services they produce. The second was the view often associated with the Chicago School, according to which unemployment is a voluntary choice of leisure over work at whatever the offered wage.

Germany to Push for Exemptions From U.S. Sanctions on Russia

Date: 18-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

German executives say the measures could threaten long-standing joint ventures and cost hundreds of millions

BERLIN—German leaders want the Trump administration to exempt their country’s companies from tough new U.S. sanctions on Russia.

During a visit to Washington this week, Germany’s finance minister will push for special treatment and Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to raise the issue with President Donald Trump when the two meet later this month, German officials said.

In addition to voicing concerns about the sanctions, meant to punish Moscow for meddling in U.S. elections, Ms. Merkel also intends to warn Mr. Trump about the potential economic fallout from U.S. trade policies, an aide to the chancellor said. “It will not be an easy visit,” the official said.

German industry has been lobbying Ms. Merkel’s government to urge the U.S. to soften its stance or come up with arrangements to ensure German companies, many of which do substantial business in Russia, don’t fall victim to deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow.

U.S.-Russia Tensions Catch Up With Metals Tycoon Oleg Deripaska

Date: 17-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Proximity to President Vladimir Putin helped billionaire but is now a liability

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Oleg Deripaska and eight of his companies this month, among other Russian targets.

Last fall, Oleg Deripaska ramped up Russia’s presence in Western markets when he pulled off London’s second-biggest corporate listing of the year. Now the metals billionaire is on a U.S. sanctions list and that firm has lost roughly half its value.

The reversal of fortune reflects the arc of the Kremlin’s efforts to build political and financial relations with the West over the past two decades.

Mr. Deripaska’s proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin helped lure Western financiers seeking to invest in Russian commodity riches. He used wealth and influence to build bridges with Western elites, throwing lavish parties at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and rubbing elbows with senior politicians, including Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and George Osborne, then British member of parliament and a future chancellor of the exchequer.

On April 6, Mr. Deripaska’s ties to Mr. Putin became his biggest liability. The Trump administration levied sanctions against him and more than three dozen other Russian officials, tycoons and companies in response to what it calls Russia’s “malign activity,” including meddling in U.S. elections, which Russia denies. Mr. Deripaska said the reasons for blacklisting him are “groundless, ridiculous and absurd.”

Fifty Shades of Trump

Elizabeth Drew is a contributing editor to The New Republic and the author, most recently, of Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon’s Downfall.

Apr 16, 2018 Elizabeth Drew, Project Syndicate

For all of his many other legal and political problems, is it possible that Donald Trump could be brought down by a porn star? His lawyer’s payment to her to buy her silence about a one-time liaison with the US president may not be the only issue at stake.

WASHINGTON, DC – Last week was a most unusual one for President Donald Trump’s administration. There was no high-level firing: the only dismissal of any note was that of the White House aide in charge of homeland security, who was forced out at the behest of John Bolton, who had just taken over as Trump’s third national security adviser in 15 months. Nonetheless, it may well have been the most turbulent week yet of Trump’s presidency.

Bolton’s appointment was enough to set much of Washington trembling with fear that he would reinforce Trump’s most pugnacious views, for example, that the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement should be scrapped. Still, it has been widely speculated that Bolton, reportedly a bureaucratic whiz, was outmaneuvered by Defense Secretary James Mattis on the question of how far to take the military attack on Syria in retaliation for the latest use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad’s government against its own people. In the end, the attacks by the US, the United Kingdom, and France were restricted to targets believed to be chemical weapons and storage facilities.

Trump, Comey Duel Over Book

Date: 16-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

On Twitter, president writes, ‘I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies.’

President Donald Trump had more to say Sunday about the book penned by James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

WASHINGTON—Friction between President Donald Trump and James Comey resurfaced this weekend after details from the former FBI director’s book reopened the debate over Mr. Comey’s firing.

In an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday night, Mr. Comey said his decision to tell Congress 11 days before the 2016 presidential election that the FBI was again examining Hillary Clinton’s emails was influenced by his belief the Democratic nominee would defeat Mr. Trump.

“I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump, and so I’m sure that it was a factor,” Mr. Comey told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in the exclusive interview, according to excerpts released by the network.

Mr. Comey, who is promoting the book due in stores Tuesday, also called Mr. Trump “morally unfit” to be president.

“A person who sees moral equivalence in Charlottesville, who talks about and treats women like they’re pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the American people believe it, that person’s not fit to be president of the United States, on moral grounds,” Mr. Comey said, according to a transcript of the entire interview released by ABC.

Mr. Comey’s memoir, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” is critical of Mr. Trump, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. He writes that the president is a “deeply flawed person and leader,” compares him to a Mafia boss and characterizes his presidency as a “forest fire.”

Coordination on Syria Strikes Belies Simmering Tensions

Date: 15-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Assault involved careful planning between the U.S., France and the U.K. despite divisions over other issues

The Trump administration’s close coordination with France and the U.K. to plan the strikes on the Syrian regime underscores an alignment between the U.S. and its European allies despite deep divisions over other issues.

The three countries launched airstrikes late Friday against Syrian regime targets in retaliation for a suspected chemical-weapons attack near the capital, Damascus, a week ago that killed at least 43 civilians and injured hundreds more.

The move was aimed at crippling President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical-weapons arsenal, targeting a research center and two production sites. The strikes also targeted a former missile base 15 miles west of the Syrian city of Homs.

U.S. and U.K. submarines armed with missiles moved within strike range of Syria, while a U.S. destroyer and a French frigate were in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Three more American cruisers and destroyers are deployed in the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump emphasized that the strikes on Syrian targets were designed not to escalate tensions with Russia.

The assault capped a week of careful planning between the U.S., French and British militaries, despite tensions that have sowed divisions between the allies in recent months.

French President Emmanuel Macron has slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord, pledged to push Europe to retaliate over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, and staunchly defended the Iranian nuclear deal against U.S. criticism.

Relations between the U.S. and Britain were tested when Mr. Trump called off a planned trip to London earlier this year to attend the official opening of the new U.S. Embassy in London. And in November last year, Prime Minister Theresa May criticized Mr. Trump when he retweeted messages from a British far-right group.

Further, Britain and France are on opposing sides over Brexit, with Mrs. May’s government seeking a clean break from the European Union and Mr. Macron having pursued a deeper union since his election victory last year. With two-year negotiations just past the midway point, critical issues over the U.K.’s divorce remain unsolved.

Mr. Trump was full of praise for the U.S.’s allies on Saturday, tweeting: “Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result.”

At a press conference in Downing Street, Mrs. May said the strikes were aimed at degrading Mr. Assad’s ability to use chemical weapons to attack his own people. A full assessment of the strikes is ongoing, but Mrs. May said the U.K. and its allies are confident they were successful.

“I believe that this action was necessary. I believe it was the right thing for us to do,” Mrs. May said.

What Lessons Can Washington Learn From Europe About Regulation of Tech Firms?

Date: 13-04-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

The EU has advanced dozens of initiatives, including privacy rules that take hold next month

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.

U.S. lawmakers this week set the stage for a possible new era of regulation for big tech companies as they questioned Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s handling of user privacy.

They offered few specifics about what type of oversight they would favor for an industry that has up to now been governed in the U.S. with a light touch. But as they mull how and whether to pursue regulation to address increasing concerns, including about digital privacy, they might look to Europe to seek answers and to avoid some pitfalls.

Across the Atlantic, both Brussels and European Union member states have pushed for a raft of different regulations of the tech industry in recent years—covering issues including privacy, hate speech, taxes and unfair trading practices.

That has led to accusations in the past by U.S. officials and companies that the EU is unfairly targeting American firms, while EU officials have said they are just trying to level the playing field for smaller players. Brussels’ regulation has also been accused of stymieing innovation.

Mr. Zuckerberg told U.S. lawmakers he was open to regulation, but warned against far-reaching rules that could harm innovation.