WEST WING MHI Daily Brief ;

Vice President Pence: George H.W. Bush ‘Never Failed to Answer the Call to Serve His Country’ As former President George H. W. Bush lay in state at the United States Capitol last night, Vice President Mike Pence offered condolences on behalf of the Nation to the Bush family and honored the 41st President’s extraordinary life. “While he was known as the ‘quiet man,’ it was not for lack of nerve or daring,” the Vice President said of the 41st commander in chief, with former President George W. Bush and other Bush family members in attendance. “Today, on behalf of the First Family, and my family, and the American people, we offer our deepest sympathies and respects to your family. And we thank you for sharing this special man with our nation and the world.”Pence discussed Bush’s life and how he enlisted to fight in World War II on his 18th birthday and became the nation’s youngest naval aviator. During his service, Bush was nearly killed after his aircraft was hit and caught on fire. Bush managed to hit his target and was later rescued by American forces. He went on to fly 58 combat missions. Later in his speech, Pence talked about Bush serving as former President Ronald Reagan’s vice president, before serving as president for one term. “But as history records, during those years he set the standard as a sound counselor and loyal adviser to an outsider who came to Washington, D.C. to shake things up, to cut taxes, rebuild the military. And together, they did just that,” Pence said. “And then, in 1988, he made history again when George Herbert Walker Bush was elected in a landslide as the 41st president of the United States of America, becoming the first sitting vice president to win the presidency in more than 150 years of our history.” “He [Bush] served during an uncertain time in the world, made momentous by his leadership. President Bush oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union, the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, and under his leadership, America won the Cold War,” Pence continued. “He took our nation to war to repel aggression in the Persian Gulf and, through his leadership as commander in chief and the brilliance of our armed forces, the United States won a decisive victory.” Pence then praised Bush’s leadership and dedication to his family and friends. “When President George Herbert Walker Bush left office, he left America and the world more peaceful, prosperous, and secure,” Pence said. “President Bush was a great leader who made a great difference in the life of this nation. But he was also just a good man who was devoted to his wife, his family, and his friends.” Later in his speech, Pence reflected on Bush sending his son, Michael Pence, a first lieutenant in the Marines, a package that included a signed picture of the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush flight deck and a letter after the younger Pence made his first tailhook landing on the aircraft carrier named after the 41st president. “Though we have not met, I share the pride your father has for you during this momentous occasion,” Bush wrote. “And I wish you many CAVU days ahead.” CAVU stands for Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited, an acronym used by Navy pilots dating back to World War II to describe the ideal weather for flying.

President Trump, first lady visit George H.W. Bush’s casket at US Capitol after emotional ceremony “Hours after the body of former President George H.W. Bush arrived at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to the 41st president of the United States. Trump visited the late president’s flag-draped casket in the building’s rotunda, where Bush will lie in state until Wednesday morning before being transported to the National Cathedral for a private state funeral, which Trump is scheduled to attend,” Nicole Darrah writes in Fox News. The pair stood in front of the casket with their eyes closed for a few moments on Monday night. The 45th president saluted the casket, before he and the first lady left the rotunda. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GEORGE H.W. BUSH’S FUNERAL AND MEMORIAL SERVICES Trump didn’t attend an earlier ceremony that was held to honor Bush at the Capitol. Vice President Mike Pence and other top lawmakers spoke and reflected on Bush’s military record and service. Bush, Pence said, “never failed to answer the call to serve his country.” The current vice president remembered when the elder Bush sent his son — who recently became a Naval aviator, just like Bush once was — a hand-written letter in August, shortly after Pence was told Bush had stopped his practice of signing autographs. “But little to my surprise, just in time for my son’s winging, there not only came a signed photograph but, of course, a letter,” Pence said. Bush was often known for sending handwritten letters to loved ones, friends and politicians, among others. Pence said that within the letter, Bush told his son, “Though we have not met, I share the pride your father has for you during this momentous occasion, and I wish you many CAVU days ahead. All the best, G. Bush.” CAVU is an acronym Navy pilots have used, meaning “ceiling and visibility unlimited.” Bush, according to Military.com, used the term on his 80th birthday. “In the Navy, we young pilots all prayed for CAVU — Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited. But, you see, that is where my life is now,” Bush said. “Thanks to my family and my friends, my life is CAVU.” In addition to serving as president, Bush also served as a vice president for two terms under President Ronald Reagan. Pence said Bush joked that there was “nothing substantive to do at all” going into that job, but that he was “a sound counselor and loyal adviser to an outsider who came to Washington, D.C., to shake things up, cut taxes, rebuild the military, and together they did just that.” Bush’s casket, along with members of the Bush family, arrived on Capitol Hill just before 5 p.m. ET as part of the nation’s formal farewell. A military honor guard marched Bush’s casket into the rotunda. Former presidents or prominent politicians customarily lie in state. Gerald Ford, who died at the end of 2006, was the last president to do so in late 2006 through early 2007. GEORGE H.W. BUSH REMEMBERED BY 3 FORMER PRESIDENTS AS ‘ONE OF THE BEST PREPARED’ IN HISTORY Once Bush lies in state, his casket will be transported by motorcade on Wednesday morning to the National Cathedral, where an invitation-only state funeral will be held. President Donald Trump, who ordered federal offices closed on Wednesday for a national day of mourning, is scheduled to attend with first lady Melania Trump. Bush’s body will then return to Houston, where a public viewing of his casket will be held before a private funeral service on Thursday. He will be buried in a family plot at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station. Earlier Monday, Bush, his family, and the late president’s former service dog, Sully, arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., around 3:30 p.m. ET. The casket was flown in from Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, a Texas Air National Guard base, aboard an aircraft that often serves as Air Force One. Upon their arrival, the former first family was greeted with ceremonial music and a 21-gun salute before Bush’s casket was placed inside of a hearse.

Liz Peek: Trump scores big wins at the G-20 “President Trump scored major successes at the G-20 summit that concluded over the weekend in Argentina. Specifically, the community of nations agreed in their official communique to ‘necessary reform’ of the World Trade Organization, a top White House priority,” financial expert Liz Peek writes in Fox News. “In addition, the Chinese promised to up their purchases of U.S.- made goods and to discuss other demands in exchange for postponing an expected hike in tariffs.” These are not new allegations. In 2013, the National Bureau of Asian Research published the IP Commission Report, which detailed China’s misbehavior – cheating which led them to agree with the “assessment by the Commander of the United States Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander, that the ongoing theft of IP is “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.”  Millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in valuable intellectual property were vanishing into China each year. The relentless quest for technology that allowed China to climb the value chain, to rise from manufacturing t-shirts to fighter jets, has been aided and abetted by our biggest businesses, and by the World Trade Organziation. Multinational corporations have put up with Beijing’s cheating because they wanted access to China’s growing consumer market. Only recently have they become more outspoken about China’s abusive practices. The WTO has put up with it because no one demanded a change. Until now. President Trump is not intent on overthrowing the rules-based order, as critics charge; he wants to make it better. The recent G-20 gathering was a step in the right direction. It could not have happened without the clear threat of punitive tariffs on Chinese exports. The trade skirmish has slowed China’s growth to the weakest level in a decade, damaged their currency, and rocked their stock market. Leading indicators for China’s economy are dropping, with manufacturing and exports weakening. Pressure on President Xi as he traveled to the G-20 was extreme; his leadership has recently been publicly criticized, a rare and unwelcome slap at his increasingly autocratic rule. China cannot be trusted to follow through on its promises. But, Americans can celebrate the determination of the Trump White House to keep the pressure on. In 90 days, if Beijing prevaricates, tariffs will increase. Of that there is no doubt. President Trump will get no credit from the liberal press for the progress being made in our trade relations. But open-minded Americans should consider this: it would have been very easy in the lead-up to the midterm elections for the White House to have announced some sort of deal with Beijing, aimed at pleasing Trump-supporting farmers who have suffered from the trade battles or business leaders who fear for their bottom lines. Such an announcement would have buoyed stock prices and helped GOP candidates tout the strong economy. The Trump White House has instead committed itself to exposing and correcting a serious problem that has hurt American workers and businesses and should be applauded by all; I’m not holding my breath.

Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households “A majority of ‘non-citizens,’ including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans, a Census Bureau finding that bolsters President Trump’s concern about immigrants costing the nation,” Paul Bedard reports for the Washington Examiner. “In a new analysis of the latest numbers, from 2014, 63 percent of non-citizens are using a welfare program, and it grows to 70 percent for those here 10 years or more, confirming another concern that once immigrants tap into welfare, they don’t get off it.” The Center for Immigration Studies said in its report that the numbers give support for Trump’s plan to cut non-citizens off welfare from the “public charge” if they want a green card that allows them to legally work in the United States. “The Trump administration has proposed new ‘public charge’ rules making it harder for prospective immigrants to qualify for lawful permanent residence — green cards — if they use or are likely to use U.S. welfare programs,” said CIS. “Concern over immigrant welfare use is justified, as households headed by non-citizens use means-tested welfare at high rates. Non-citizens in the data include illegal immigrants, long-term temporary visitors like guest workers, and permanent residents who have not naturalized. While barriers to welfare use exist for these groups, it has not prevented them from making extensive use of the welfare system, often receiving benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children,” added the Washington-based immigration think tank. The numbers are huge. The report said that there are 4,684,784 million non-citizen households receiving welfare. And nearly all, 4,370,385, have at least one worker in the house.. In their report, Steven A. Camarota, the director of research, and Karen Zeigler, a demographer at the Center, said that in census data, about half of those are in the United States illegally. Their key findings in the analysis: In 2014, 63 percent of households headed by a non-citizen reported that they used at least one welfare program, compared to 35 percent of native-headed households. Welfare use drops to 58 percent for non-citizen households and 30 percent for native households if cash payments from the Earned Income Tax Credit are not counted as welfare. EITC recipients pay no federal income tax. Like other welfare, the EITC is a means-tested, anti-poverty program, but unlike other programs one has to work to receive it. Compared to native households, non-citizen households have much higher use of food programs (45 percent vs. 21 percent for natives) and Medicaid (50 percent vs. 23 percent for natives). Including the EITC, 31 percent of non-citizen-headed households receive cash welfare, compared to 19 percent of native households. If the EITC is not included, then cash receipt by non-citizen households is slightly lower than natives (6 percent vs. 8 percent). While most new legal immigrants (green card holders) are barred from most welfare programs, as are illegal immigrants and temporary visitors, these provisions have only a modest impact on non-citizen household use rates because: 1) most legal immigrants have been in the country long enough to qualify; 2) the bar does not apply to all programs, nor does it always apply to non-citizen children; 3) some states provide welfare to new immigrants on their own; and, most importantly, 4) non-citizens (including illegal immigrants) can receive benefits on behalf of their U.S.-born children who are awarded U.S. citizenship and full welfare eligibility at birth.

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Fareed’s MHI Global Briefing ;

Macron’s Tipping Point

Emmanuel Macron’s presidency reached a “tipping point” this weekend, after anti-government protests that were “more virulent than anything we’ve seen in France since 1968,” writes Jérôme Fenoglio in Le Monde, according to a translation by CNN. Macron faces “a deeply rooted crisis for which he bears very partial responsibility,” Fenoglio writes. The “failure of successive governments has allowed anger to prosper,” as feelings of “fiscal and social injustice” fester. “All the principles that made candidate Macron’s campaign successful have boomeranged and made apparent the fragility of the president,” Fenoglio argues. “The commando operation of back then is now a man on his own, with only a handful of loyalists placed in key positions. The blank slate on which reforms were to be written has become a deserted scene that the presidential party is unable to fill.” Permanent instability First, a crisis with deep roots, of which it is only partially accountable: a questioning of thirty years of the system and political representation, to which is added a powerlessness of ten years to really respond to the consequences of the 2008 crisis. Among the “yellow vests”, composed of representatives of the middle and popular classes living mainly in rural and medium-sized cities, this bankruptcy of successive governments has allowed anger to flourish on the most powerful ferments, the feeling unfairness, both territorial, fiscal and social. Then, the instantaneity of the exchanges on the social networks: it is this short time, on Facebook mainly, which built the mobilization of the “yellow vests” in a form of completely new engagement on this scale. But he is also at the origin of this Brownian movement which creates a permanent instability among the protesters, where the claims accumulate and end up being annihilated by being contradictory, where the spokespersons are delegitimized to the second. where they appear, where the permanent discussion does not allow to get along with each other nor to listen to what the rulers might propose. A major handicap It’s even more complicated in the face of an executive power that can not get out of the multiple disruptions it has theorized to build its new world. In fact, in the light of the current crisis, all the principles that made the success of Macron candidate’s campaign turned to show the fragility of the president. A Victory in the New Opium War Although Trump is touting the “incredible deal” on trade that he struck with Xi Jinping this weekend, it’s unclear if the vague deal represents a true breakthrough. Yet Trump does appear to have won a concrete victory on drugs – getting China to classify fentanyl as a “controlled substance,” which should lead to a crackdown on exports. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are now responsible for 41% of overdose deaths in the US, and American officials believe China is the leading source.In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said China has “decided to schedule the entire category of fentanyl-type substances as controlled substances, and start the process of revising relevant laws and regulations.” China and the United States have “agreed to take active measures to strengthen cooperation on law enforcement and narcotics control,” including the control of fentanyl-type substances, it said. The new designation for the synthetic opioid drug means people in China who sell fentanyl to the US “will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law,” according to a statement from the White House. Fentanyl’s new designation is one result from their meeting. The US also agreed to maintain the 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, instead of raising them to 25%, the White House said. Fentanyl, an extremely powerful drug, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,500 people died of synthetic opioid overdoses in 2014, most of them related to fentanyl. That’s an 80% increase over the number of deaths reported in 2013. Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a national alert stating that “drug incidents and overdoses related to fentanyl are occurring at an alarming rate.” In 2013, the Drug Enforcement Administration made 942 fentanyl seizures; in 2014, it made 3,344.“Beijing has been tardy in acting on its role in the fentanyl crisis,” writes Shuli Ren for Bloomberg. “But if it now moves quickly, President Xi Jinping will have plucked some very low-hanging fruit in his bid to improve relations with Washington.” Trump last year declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in the United States and brought up the issue with Xi when the two leaders met in Beijing in November 2017. “America now has its own opium war, and China is coming to its rescue.” Perhaps it’s that Chinese people have been living behind the Great Firewall for too long, oblivious to what’s happening in the rest of the world? The country has been very publicly blamed for the epidemic in the U.S. as well as in Canada, with President Donald Trump fuming in an August tweet that this “poison” is “pouring into the U.S. Postal System from China.” While China’s National Narcotics Control Commission has already placed more than two dozen fentanyl variants on its controlled substances list, it’s still very easy to buy opioids on Chinese websites as long as you can pay and provide a shipping address. Equally likely, fentanyl is simply not a problem in China yet. Anesthetics are used sparingly there. According to the Pain and Policy Studies Group, per capita consumption of opioid anesthetics is only 7.05 milligrams, a tiny fraction compared to the U.S. Of analgesics applied in China’s hospitals, the main variant of fentanyl has a tiny 6.3 percent market share. Humanwell Healthcare Group Co., the largest producer there, only sells fentanyl in liquid injection form. What’s Fentanyl? Whereas the U.S. has a fentanyl crisis, this painkiller is still new to most Chinese. The main form is not commonly used in hospitals and its sales growth dropped in 2017 Source: CICC Research As a result, whereas antibiotics abuse, substandard vaccines for infants, or gene-edited babies are hot topics in China, the middle class hasn’t bothered to engage in a conversation as to when opioids become poison instead of medicine. There’s no public outcry, and bureaucrats aren’t eager to act. Meanwhile, China’s health care regulators have been too busy with internal shake-ups to bother with America’s narcotics problem. In March, Beijing restructured its various ministries, and created three healthcare-related regulators. In July, the bureaucrats’ jostling for power only intensified after Changsheng Bio-technology Co., one of China’s biggest vaccine makers, was found to have falsified production data on rabies vaccines for babies. Six top officials, including the head of the National Medicinal Product Administration (one of the three newly formed entities mainly responsible for drug reviews and approval) were fired. China’s propaganda machine was quick to highlight its bargaining chip. America now has its own opium war, and China is coming to its rescue, China Fund – a financial media outlet overseen by the People’s Daily – quipped on Monday. Beijing has been tardy in acting on its role in the fentanyl crisis. But if it now moves quickly, President Xi Jinping will have plucked some very low-hanging fruit in his bid to improve relations with Washington. Pac-Man bin Pac-Man An exclusive CNN report sheds new light on Riyadh’s possible motivation in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A former court insider, Khashoggi had come to believe that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a dangerous, power-hungry leader. “He is like a beast ‘pac man,’” Khashoggi wrote to Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist living in exile. “[T]he more victims he eats, the more he wants.” CNN has been granted exclusive access to the correspondence between Khashoggi and Montreal-based activist Omar Abdulaziz. The messages shared by Abdulaziz, which include voice recordings, photos and videos, paint a picture of a man deeply troubled by what he regarded as the petulance of his kingdom’s powerful young prince.”The more victims he eats, the more he wants,” says Khashoggi in one message sent in May, just after a group of Saudi activists had been rounded up. “I will not be surprised if the oppression will reach even those who are cheering him on.” The exchanges reveal a progression from talk to action — the pair had begun planning an online youth movement that would hold the Saudi state to account. “[Jamal] believed that MBS is the issue, is the problem and he said this kid should be stopped,” Abdulaziz said in an interview with CNN.But in August, when he believed their conversations may have been intercepted by Saudi authorities, a sense of foreboding descends over Khashoggi. “God help us,” he wrote. Two months later, he was dead. ,Abdulaziz on Sunday launched a lawsuit against an Israeli company that invented the software he believes was used to hack his phone.”The hacking of my phone played a major role in what happened to Jamal, I am really sorry to say,” Abdelaziz told CNN. “The guilt is killing me.” SIM cards and financial support Abdulaziz began speaking out against the Saudi regime as a college student in Canada. His pointed criticisms of government policies drew the attention of the Saudi state, which canceled his university scholarship. Canada granted him asylum in 2014 and made him a permanent resident three years later.Researchers at the University of Toronto believe the Saudi government was spying on conversations between the activists, which contained much more than insults. “Khashoggi and Abdulaziz conceived plans to form an electronic army to engage young Saudis back home and debunk state propaganda on social media, leveraging Khashoggi’s establishment profile and the 27-year-old Abdulaziz’s 340,000-strong Twitter following,” CNN reports. “The pair’s scheme involved two key elements that Saudi Arabia might well have viewed as hostile acts. The first involved sending foreign SIM cards to dissidents back home so they could tweet without being traced. The second was money.” According to Abdulaziz, Khashoggi pledged an initial $30,000 and promised to drum up support from rich donors under the radar.In one exchange, dated May this year, Abdulaziz writes to Khashoggi. “I sent you some ideas about the electronic army. By email.””Brilliant report,” Khashoggi replies. “I will try to sort out the money. We have to do something.” In almost daily exchanges between October 2017 and August 2018, Khashoggi and Abdulaziz conceived plans to form an electronic army to engage young Saudis back home and debunk state propaganda on social media, leveraging Khashoggi’s establishment profile and the 27-year-old Abdulaziz’s 340,000-strong Twitter following. The digital offensive, dubbed the “cyber bees,” had emerged from earlier discussions about creating a portal for documenting human rights abuses in their homeland as well an initiative to produce short films for mobile distribution. “We have no parliament; we just have Twitter,” said Abdulaziz, adding that Twitter is also the Saudi government’s strongest weapon. “Twitter is the only tool they’re using to fight and to spread their rumors. We’ve been attacked, we’ve been insulted, we’d been threatened so many times, and we decided to do something.” The pair’s scheme involved two key elements that Saudi Arabia might well have viewed as hostile acts. The first involved sending foreign SIM cards to dissidents back home so they could tweet without being traced. The second was money. According to Abdulaziz, Khashoggi pledged an initial $30,000 and promised to drum up support from rich donors under the radar.In one exchange, dated May this year, Abdulaziz writes to Khashoggi. “I sent you some ideas about the electronic army. By email.” A month later, another message sent by Abdulaziz confirms the first $5,000 transfer has arrived. Khashoggi replies with a thumbs up.But in early August, he says he received word from Saudi Arabia that government officials were aware of the pair’s online project. He passed the news to Khashoggi. “How did they know?” asks Khashoggi in a message. “There must have been a gap,” says Abdulaziz. Three minutes pass before Khashoggi writes back: “God help us.” The ‘hack’ Abdulaziz first spoke publicly about his contact with Khashoggi last month after researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reported his phone had been hacked by military-grade spyware. According to Bill Marczak, a research fellow at the Citizen Lab, the software was the invention of an Israeli firm named NSO Group, and deployed at the behest of the Saudi Arabian government. ‘Tyranny has no logic’ The fact Abdulaziz’s phone contained spyware means Saudi officials would have been able to see the same 400 messages Abdulaziz exchanged with Khashoggi over the period. The messages portray Khashoggi, a Saudi former establishment figure, becoming increasingly fearful for his country’s fate as bin Salman consolidates his power. “He loves force, oppression and needs to show them off,” Khashoggi says of bin Salman, “but tyranny has no logic.” Such discussions could be considered treasonous in Saudi Arabia, a country with one of the world’s worst records for free speech. In a sign Khashoggi and Abdulaziz were mindful of their security in exile, they flitted back and forth between phone calls, voice messages and chats on WhatsApp and other encrypted platforms like Telegram and Signal.As Khashoggi speculated about bin Salman’s future, Abdulaziz was already in the crown prince’s sights and was about to receive a visit with a message right from the top. ‘Message from MBS’ Last May, Abdulaziz said two Saudi government emissaries asked to meet with him in Montreal. He agreed and says he secretly recorded 10 hours of their conversations over the course of their five-day stay. He shared them with CNN. Speaking in Arabic, the men, referred to only as Abdullah and Malek, tell Abdulaziz they have been sent on the orders of bin Salman himself, bypassing the usual channels like the Security Ministry. Bin Salman watches him on his Twitter feed, they say, and wants to offer him a job.”We have come to you with a message from Mohammed bin Salman and his assurance to you,” one of them says. Abdelaziz’s recorded messages are telling because Saudi Arabia has always claimed its crown prince had nothing to do with plots like the one leading to Khashoggi’s death, blaming that incident on a failed rendition attempt, masterminded by advisers and subordinates from the security staff. Dear Prudence “As the world order shifted dramatically, George H. W. Bush steered the ship of state with experience, expertise, and—though it launched a million gibes—prudence,” writes Richard Fontaine in The Atlantic. “Bush aimed not to force into existence a better world, but to adapt to and shape circumstances for America’s advantage. He sought not to roll geopolitical dice but rather to consider fully the consequences of both action and inaction. He seemingly wished to be judged not only on the victories accrued—Panama, Iraq, NAFTA, Germany, the Cold War—but also tragedies avoided: the wars not commenced, the chaos not unleashed, the blood and treasure saved rather than squandered.” “Bush-style caution isn’t right for every era… [b]ut with the world in dramatic transformation, and with the geopolitical stakes at their very height, George H. W. Bush’s prudence was just what America needed. And the country could use a dose of it today.” Fareed’s MHI

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President Trump Signs NAFTA Replacement Deal with Mexico, Canada Earlier this morning, President Donald J. Trump signed a three-way trade deal with Mexico and Canada that will replace the outdated NAFTA if it is approved by Congress. “Trump signed the U.S. Mexico Canada trade agreement in Argentina on the side of the G-20 summit,” Pete Kasperowicz reports in the Washington Examiner. “This is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever, and this is an agreement that first and foremost benefits working people, something of great importance to all three of us here today,” the President said.”Thank you for your close partnership throughout this process,” he said to Mexican Prime Minister Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin praised the deal as one that would rebalance trade in North America.”Today’s signing marks a critical step in modernizing and rebalancing North American trade,” he said. “The new agreement secures strong outcomes for farmers, ranchers, businesses, and workers across North America, including in areas such as auto manufacturing and intellectual property.” Among other things, the deal encourages more manufacturing in North America, a step Trump has said would help retain and create jobs in America. Vice President Mike Pence also praised it as a campaign promise kept. The deal won’t be finalized, however, until the legislatures of each country approves the deal. It’s not yet clear that the Democratic-led House will accept the deal when it convenes next year. But Trump said he was confident the deal would go through.”I look forward to working with members of Congress and the USMCA partners, and I have to say, it’s been so well-reviewed, I don’t expect to have very much of a problem, to ensure the complete implementation of our agreement,” he said.

The Trump Administration Is Taking Bold Action To Combat The Evil Of Human Trafficking “The International Labor Organization estimates that worldwide, nearly 25 million children and adults of all ages and backgrounds are victims of human trafficking, including forced labor and sex trafficking. Every government in the world has a moral obligation to do all in its power to stop these heinous crimes within its borders,” Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump writes in The Washington Post. “That is why President Trump took strong action on Thursday to hold accountable those governments that have persistently failed to meet the minimum standards for combating human trafficking in their countries.” Specifically, the president will limit the number of national-interest waivers and restrict certain types of foreign assistance for nearly two dozen governments of countries identified as “Tier 3” by the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. The report, the world’s most comprehensive resource for governmental anti-trafficking efforts, places each country in tiers to highlight best practices and urge greater action to combat human trafficking. Tier 3 countries are those that have neither met the minimum standards nor made a significant effort to adequately identify and protect trafficking victims, punish the traffickers or prevent human trafficking. The United States is an extraordinarily generous nation, but this administration will no longer use taxpayer dollars to support governments that consistently fail to address trafficking. The most urgent types of assistance to these countries will continue, including humanitarian aid and lifesaving global health programs such as HIV treatment and Ebola preparedness and response. But the new restrictions will hold these governments accountable while providing further incentive for them to live up to their responsibility to end this scourge. The United States will encourage Tier 3 countries to step up efforts to eliminate human trafficking, including the establishment of new laws and national action plans. The president’s directive is the latest in an administration-wide push — including diplomatic, financial, educational, intelligence and law enforcement efforts — to confront this evil. In his first month in office, the president said he was “prepared to bring the full force and weight of our government” to end human trafficking, and he signed an executive order directing federal law enforcement to prioritize dismantling the criminal organizations behind forced labor, sex trafficking, involuntary servitude and child exploitation. Following the president’s directive, the Justice Department secured a record 499 human trafficking convictions in fiscal 2017, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The director of national intelligence elevated human trafficking to a top priority for the U.S. intelligence community. Despite a deeply polarized political climate, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act-Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act championed by the White House gained strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill this year, and in April, the president signed into law this landmark legislation to fight online sex trafficking. Finally, the Trump administration, in collaboration with the resilient survivors who serve on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking , is prioritizing efforts to ensure law enforcement, immigration authorities and customs officials have the training and resources to identify victims of trafficking at U.S. ports of entry and in local communities. President Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist movement gave America a unique inheritance: a principled commitment to fight slavery in all its pernicious forms. This administration is continuing the fight to end modern slavery and using every tool at its disposal to achieve that critical goal.

Jared Kushner receives Mexico’s highest honor awarded to non-Mexicans “Son-in-law and senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner received Mexico’s highest honor awarded to foreigners on Friday. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto bestowed the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle to Kushner in a ceremony that President Trump made an unscheduled stop at Friday morning,” Katelyn Caralle reports in the Washington Examiner.“Through your direction and leadership we were able to accomplish a lot of great things,” Kushner said to Trump, who was in the first row at the ceremony. “While there has been a lot of tough talk, I have seen the genuine respect and care that President Trump has for Mexico and the Mexican people, and I do believe we have been able to put that in the right light.” Kushner said Nieto represented Mexico well during trade talks, and thanked his wife, Ivanka Trump, for her understanding trade negotiators would arrive at their residence late into the night. “I believe we are at a historic place in the relationship between our two countries,” Mr. Kushner said during the ceremony. After the ceremony, Trump went to meet with Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who all spoke publicly before signing the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, on the side of the G-20 summit in Argentina.

Border Patrol Arrests MS-13 Member Who Traveled with Caravan “U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested a member of the infamous Salvadoran MS-13 gang who admitted to authorities that he traveled with a caravan of Central American migrants who were hoping to qualify for asylum in America,” Mairead McArdle reports for National Review. “During questioning at the El Centro station, the Honduran citizen confessed that he is an active member of MS-13 and had intended to enter the country illegally after traveling to the U.S. with the caravan of thousands of other migrants. He is in custody pending his deportation back to Honduras.” President Trump has made MS-13 a priority in his crackdown on illegal immigration and said last month that the latest caravan, estimated to consist of as many as 7,000 people, contained MS-13 members. “You’re going to find MS-13, you’re going to find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything,” he said of the caravan travelers. The gang was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s and has a large presence in El Salvador and other Central American countries, where it terrorizes locals. Several crimes perpetrated by its members have made national headlines in the U.S., including the September 2016 murder on Long Island of two young girls, ages 15 and 16. In April, another MS-13 member, Herberth Geovani Argueta-Chavez, 18, was apprehended after illegally entering the U.S. with a group suspected to be part of the caravan that headed for the border last spring. He posed as an unaccompanied minor before police discovered his identity as an adult gang member. The president on Monday threatened to close the border permanently if Mexico does not help contain the wave of asylum seekers. Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2018

New Numbers: 91 Percent of Central American Asylum Seekers Have Bogus Claims “New numbers from the Department of Homeland Security show that just 9 percent of asylum claims made by individuals from Central America turn out to be legitimate,” Katie Pavlich reports for Townhall. “The fact that only 9 percent of those who initially claim asylum are found eligible, indicates that we are expending most of our limited resources – detention space, court space and the time of our asylum officers and immigration judges – denying frivolous or illegitimate claims of asylum from the 9 out of 10 who are found ineligible,” “The low statutory requirements and legal loopholes in our laws encourage aliens to claim credible fear at our Southern border knowing they will be promptly released into the interior with work permits pending the determination of their full claim. In recent years, data shows that more than 65 percent of asylum seekers at our border are from Central America – of those 89 percent pass their initial credible-fear interview,” DHS said in a statement. Current U.S. immigration law requires illegal aliens traveling from Central America as a family unit, specifically with children, to be released into the interior of the United States after 20 days of federal detention. “Where are those 91 percent today? While some are properly removed from the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), many of those who are released on a promise to appear in court disappear into the country’s interior to live and work illegally. In FY17, only 1 percent of the 226,119 removals conducted by ICE were on Alternatives to Detention,” Waldman said. Meanwhile, thousands of caravan members are still camped out in Tijuana with thousands more along the way. Reporters on the ground, in addition to Border Patrol agents, have repeatedly pointed out the majority of individuals in the caravan are young men who are not legitimately seeking asylum.

WEST WING MHI