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We discuss the Politics & Economics of the Trump Wall in this video. If we build the Mexico Wall, is Canada going to reimburse us for the Canadian Border Wall as well?
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In honor of your New Year’s resolution to lose weight, the broadcast networks are rolling out a whole night’s menu of Television Lite this week, fluffy spinoffs and remakes with minimal caloric intake. It may not be great TV, but it’s arguably the best news for dieters since the FDA backed down from its threat to ban saccharine,
The best of the bunch is probably CBS’ sitcom Superior Donuts, an adaptation of the Tracy Letts stage play about a tattered old donut shop fighting to survive the gentrification of its uptown Chicago neighborhood. Television critic Glenn Garvin explores the show, along with newcomers Powerless and Training Day.
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A computer scientist in London has stumbled upon massive networks of fake Twitter accounts – with the largest consisting of over 350,000 profiles – which may have been used to 'fake' numbers of followers, send spam, and boost interest in trending topics.
On Twitter, bots are accounts that are run remotely by someone who automates the messages they send and activities they carry out.
Some people pay to get bots to follow their account or to dilute chatter about controversial subjects.
As The BBC reports, UK researchers accidentally uncovered the lurking networks while probing Twitter to see how people use it.
The network of 350,000 bots stood out because all the accounts in it shared several subtle characteristics that revealed they were linked. These included:
It was "amazing and surprising" to discover the massive networks, said Dr Shi Zhou, a senior lecturer from UCL who oversaw Mr Echeverria's research.
"Considering all the efforts already there in detecting bots, it is amazing that we can still find so many bots, much more than previous research," Dr Zhou told the BBC.
"It is difficult to assess exactly how many Twitter users are bots," said graduate student Juan Echeverria, a computer scientist at UCL, who uncovered the massive networks.
Mr Echeverria's research began by combing through a sample of 1% of Twitter users in order to get a better understanding of how people use the social network.
However, analysis of the data revealed some strange results that, when probed further, seemed to reveal lots of linked accounts, suggesting one person or group is running the botnet. These accounts did not act like the bots other researchers had found but were clearly not being run by humans.
His research suggests earlier work to find bots has missed these types of networks because they act differently to the most obvious automated accounts.
The researchers are now asking the public via a website and a Twitter account to report bots they spot to help get a better idea of how prevalent they are. Many bots are obvious because they have been created recently, have few followers, have strange user names and little content in the messages.
"Their potential threats are real and scary due to the sheer size of the botnet," he said.
A Twitter spokesman said the social network had clear policy on automation that was "strictly enforced".
Perhaps not…
via http://ift.tt/2jFRepJ Tyler Durden
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
How about moving the power to create money from the apex of the pyramid down to its lowest level?
Let's spend a moment deconstructing the word "capitalism." Note it contains the word Capital. So far so good. Obviously the key concept here is capital.
So what is "capital"? It turns out there are multiple kinds of capital. The most familiar kinds are tangible: cash, orchards, factories, water rights, tools, and so on.
Then there's credit. If you have unlimited credit at very low rates of interest, you can buy all the tangible capital you want, as long as it produces enough income to cover the costs of production and the interest you owe on the borrowed money you used to buy the factories, orchards, etc.
Some types of capital are intangible but essential to the productive use of tangible capital. You can have the credit, land and pile of lumber needed to build a house, but if you don't have the knowledge, experience and skills needed to turn the pile of wood into a productive form of tangible capital, you have nothing but an unproductive pile of lumber.
We call this form of capital human capital (also called knowledge-based capital, intellectual capital, etc.).
If you hire a person with some of these skills, that's a good start, but you need specialists who can complete all the trades needed to build a fully functional house that can be rented or sold, i.e. earn a return on the capital invested.
If the person you hire knows a lot of other trustworthy tradespeople, that's what we call social capital.
If we dig deeper, we find even more forms of capital. The idea of credit is actually pretty bizarre; not all cultures have such a form of capital. We call concepts that enable all sorts of expansion of other types of capital symbolic capital.
If we drop our pile of lumber and builder on a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, with no roads, power lines, etc., that house is going to be a lot harder to build than one with access to transport, electrical power, etc. We call this infrastructure capital. (It's pretty expensive to construct this sort of networked infrastructure capital on your own.)
At the deepest level, we find cultural capital. This is the network of trust and productive values that enable all the other kinds of capital to blossom and work together in a mutually beneficial system.
A tool or factory or plot of land does not come with cultural capital. Tools without any cultural capital are left to rust.
So the first thing we notice about cultural capital is that it resides in people, not credit or tools or even knowledge. Yes, this is a shocking development: people are required for capital to become productive.
We call human effort labor. In the techno-credit fantasy of our current version of capitalism, the dream is that robots make everything and human effort is devoted solely to consuming what the robots produce. Human = consumer, not producer.
The problem is that nobody will invest in a robot unless that robot will produce a profit above and beyond the cost of production and credit/interest. So all these wonderful robots will only perform work that is profitable.
The problem with that is most of human life and activity is unprofitable. How about beautifying your neighborhood? Have you noticed that impoverished neighborhoods tend to be ugly and run-down, and wealthy neighborhoods tend to be attractive and well-maintained? Where's the profit in creating neighborhood beauty?
Is Google making billions of dollars from beautifying neighborhoods? How about McDonalds, or Amazon, or Apple or Netflix? If it was really profitable, wouldn't these global corporations be all over it?
It turns out profits only flow from very specific kinds of things and services. The rest of human life has to be done by people who aren't doing the work to maximize profit, because there is no profit in the work they're performing.
Let's switch gears and look at credit. As noted above, if you give me $1 billion at .01% annual interest, I am instantly wealthy because I can buy assets yielding 3% and keep the 2.99% I earn for myself.
In our credit-cartel-state form of capitalism, money is borrowed into existence at the top of the wealth-power pyramid, in central and private banks. Some modest amount of this new money trickles down the pyramid, but as you can see, not very much trickles down to all the people doing all the work that isn't profitable, or to all the people without access to the nearly-free-money that's available to those at the very top of the pyramid.
So here's a new idea: why not create new money at the bottom of the pyramid when people perform useful work in their communities? How about paying people for being producers, rather than paying them to be consumers?
How about paying people to do work that isn't profitable enough for global corporations to churn out robots to perform the work, but that is useful to the community?
How about moving the power to create money from the apex of the pyramid down to its lowest level? Impossible, you say? Not at all. We now have a new form of symbolic capital called cryptocurrencies–"money" that can easily be created in the accounts of people doing useful work, as opposed to being created in the accounts of the already-obscenely wealthy, as we do now.
Rather than trickle down, money would trickle up the pyramid, if the wealthy actually produced goods and services of value.
So what would a labor-centered economy look like?
1. New money would be created at the bottom of the pyramid, in the accounts of people doing useful work in their communities. (The usual global corporations would continue making billions of dollars in profits from doing whatever highly profitable work was available.)
2. Being productive in terms of creating and sustaining cultural and infrastructure capital would be compensated; consumption of corporate goods and services would take care of itself without subsidies like guaranteed basic income.
3. Labor would be paid for being productive, and capital would serve labor.
Yes, yes, I know all this is "impossible"–but actually, it isn't at all impossible. We simply choose to maintain the doomed, parasitic, exploitive system we now have that gives capital the power (to create money) to dominate the world.
I lay all this out in my book A Radically Beneficial World: Automation, Technology & Creating Jobs for All. Perhaps we should think through some new ideas before declaring all new ideas are "impossible."
Remember: new idea = symbolic capital that enables all the other forms of capital to work together more productively.
Please recall: If We Don't Change the Way Money Is Created and Distributed, We Change Nothing (December 24, 2015)
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School choice is flourishing in America, with millions of kids now using vouchers to attend private schools, going to publicly funded charter schools, benefiting from open-enrollment policies, being schooled at home, and more. President Donald Trump is full-throated in his support of choice, recognizing National School Choice Week in a proclamation:
Because the education of our young people is so important, the parents of every student in America should have a right to a meaningful choice about where their child goes to school.
By expanding school choice and providing more educational opportunities for every American family, we can help make sure that every child has an equal shot at achieving the American Dream. More choices for our students will make our schools better for everybody.
Trump’s pick for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is controversial precisely because she is an activist for charters and other forms of school choice.
What are the forces that are driving the acceptance of choice programs, does choice increase student performance, and are traditional public schools being left behind? These are some of the questions I put to Lisa Snell, the director of education research at Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website. Snell is one of the architects of the reform that’s known as the “weighted student formula,” in which education dollars follow a particular student to whatever school he or she attends (extra dollars are added for students with learning problems and other issues). Not only does the weighted student formula give more control and options to students, it also allows for an end-run around conventional school districts, which often soak up huge amounts of per-pupil funding before it reaches the classrom—or a teacher’s paycheck.
In this lively conversation, Snell explains the growing appeal of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which allow parents to spend money on a wide variety of educational services and hyper-personalize their children’s education.
For a comprehensive list of school choice trends compiled by the sponsors of National School Choice Week, go here.
Produced by Ian Keyser.
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National School Choice Week runs from through January 28. Over 21,000 events involving almost 17,000 schools from all 50 states will take place over the coming days. Go here to get more information about events and data about how increasing school choice—charters, vouchers, educational savings accounts, and more—is one of the best ways to improve education for all Americans.
As a proud media sponsor of National School Choice Week, Reason will be publishing daily articles, podcasts, videos, interviews, and other coverage exploring the ways in which education is being radically altered and made better by letting more people have more choices when it comes to learning. For a constantly updated list of stories, go to Reason’s archive page on “school choice.”
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Over the last 5 years, I have warned that T-Mobile would start turning up the heat in the US dead beat carrier business (see links below). I call them dead beat carriers because they relied on a virtual duopoly of cash cow cash flows and failed toi innovate. They actually allowed Silicon Value to capitalize on thier apathy, and now they are rlelgated to bg dumb utlitiy pipes in lieu of the lifeblood… the synapses of communication and commerce between all people an businesses.
So, as US mobile carriers sat back and allowed Dropbox to dominate THEIR cloud storage opportunities, and Amazon, Microsoft and Google dominate THEIR cloud compute opportunities and Netflix dominate THEIR content delivery opportunities, what did they do? They created ways to overcharge consumers. This was easy to do because they were seeing fatter margins and didn’t look at that truck called technological innovation roaring towards them.
After they’re caught as deer in the headlights, what do they do? They scrambled to join in last year’s opportunity.
John Legere makes valid points, points that I made clearly years ago, reference T-Mobile Threatens Deadbeat Carriers With The Death Of The American Wireless Business Model. Now Verizon wabts to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion after buying AOL for $4.4 Billion. Good use of their shareholder capital? Not! Don’t worry, even flailing Sprint is trying to jump into the make-no-money content gaine…
I’m highly sceptical of carriers ability to find growth prospects as Sprint buys 33% of Jay Z’s streaming service ow.ly/SudT100zim5
In the meantime, Google is quietly building a obal sort of software abstraction layer that will make conventional mobile telephony obsolute. Before I go on, be aware that Google controls the global mobile OS, nearly all of it. It is at over 88% and still rapidly climbing,,,
This is another sea change that I predicted back in 2010, quite contrarian at the time….
These videos show how it happened, and why…
Now, how does Google’s “abstraction layer” affect the deadbeat carriers? Google gives autonomy and freedom to all your texts, phone calls, voicemails, pcitures, data (including data stored on your phone) and texts. This autonomy is available to you irrespective of the carrier you use. You can switch carriers and don’t even have to bother porting your number. All of your handsets, tablets, home phones and computers can share one common cloud-driven number (for free) for what you currently pay the carriers a lot of money for. What are the carriers needed for now? Dumb broadband pipes, and that’s just about it. Whose fault is that? Well don’t call it Verizon Voice, now do we?
This disintermediation will simply get worse because the deadbeat carriers are chasing last years business model. At lease John Legere has a clue. Now all he needs to do is to consult me on how to add high margin, value added services that look forward, and not backwards… and it’s a wrap!
Sprint customers can now seamlessly enable Google Voice on their mobile phones without having to get a new number, or choose to display their Google Voice number when making calls from their mobile phone.
Take advantage of all of the features of Google Voice without changing your phone number with Number Porting.
Make calls from your Google Voice number, get cheap rates for international calling, send free texts to U.S. numbers, and get push notifications when you receive new voicemails and texts. Get the Google Voice iPhone app.
You can now call any phone in the US and Canada for free and at very low rates internationally. And if you have a Google Voice number you can also receive calls from right within Gmail. Learn more about calling in Gmail.
When you call your Google Voice number to listen to voicemail messages or make a call, you’ll be greeted by a new voice. Meet Kiki Baessell, the Googler behind this new voice.
You no longer need an invitation to sign up for Google Voice. Anyone can now sign up at google.com/voice.
Google Voice now allows you to set your account to “Do Not Disturb” for a predetermined length of time. During that time, calls to your Google number will go straight to voicemail.
Check out our brand spanking new YouTube channel, complete with 10 short videos that will help you get the most out of Google Voice.
You can now send a single SMS message to up to 5 recipients. Just click SMS at the top of your inbox and start typing names or numbers. Learn more.
The Google Voice Extension gives you easy access to voicemail, calling, and texting – all from a button on your browser. Plus, get notifications of new voicemails and simply click-to-call when a phone number is published on a website. If you’re not using it already, install Google Chrome first.
You can now use Google Voice with your existing mobile phone number. You won’t get all the functionality that a Google number brings you, but you’ll get Google Voicemail, low priced international calling, and several other useful features. Learn more about Google Voice Lite.
Enable the Google Voice player lab and voicemail notification emails will include an embedded player so that you can listen to messages without leaving your inbox.
With SMS forwarding, you can receive text messages via email. Reply straight to those emails to save on text message fees.
The Google Voice app for Blackberry and Android-powered phones allows you to make outbound calls from your Google number, read transcriptions of your voicemails, make low priced international calls, and send free SMS. Learn more about Google Voice mobile apps.
If you’re not happy with your Google number, you can now switch to a new number for a $10 fee. Your old number will remain active for 3 months so that you have time to update everyone.
Google Voice’s keyboard shortcuts allow you to do common tasks (like make a call or send a text message) with just a few key strokes. Check out the full list of keyboard shortcuts.
T-Mobile Threatens Deadbeat Carriers With The Death Of The American Wireless Business Model (BoomBustBlog)… at Carriers Successfully Launched Wireless WMDs” detailed how T-Mobile will throw the gauntlet down and turn the wireless industry on its head – at great risk not just to margins but entire business mode …Created on 07 May 20142.
The Smallest & Liveliest Of The DeadBeat Carriers Successfully Launched Wireless WMDs (BoomBustBlog) Bloomberg reports: T-Mobile Sales Beat Analysts’ Estimates as Subscribers Surge. So, how did BoomBustBloggers know this would occur? Well, It started last year with the article …Created on 05 November 20133.
As NSA Spreads Disinformation Wooing Hoi Polloi To Shun Innovation, Dead Beat Carriers Represent Biggest Security Threat (BoomBustBlog)About a month and a half ago, I penned the piece NSA’s Greatest Weapon In Surveillance? Outright Ignorance In Tech Consumers. The goal was to attempt to wake up the less than conscious in …Created on 23 October 20134.
Wireless Pricing Clues Us Into The Downfall Of Wintel And The Rise Of Google-tel? (BoomBustBlog)… numbers in your “Deadbeat Carriers Compete” blog posting. First the biggest flaw is that the $70 T-Mobile plan does NOT include unlimited hot spot service. It only includes 500mb of hot spot service. Yo …Created on 06 June 20135.
Death Of The Deadbeat Carrier, part 3 – Home Internet Access Unplugged! (BoomBustBlog)… nd the T-Mobile US Inc., TMUS -2.05% although Verizon Wireless and AT&T have the most extensive networks at the highest speeds. This simply isn’t true, and I demonstrated …Created on 03 June 20136.
Deadbeat Carriers Compete, aka #MarginCompression!!! (BoomBustBlog)… on. As states in yesterday’s post, T-Mobile’s subway experience delivers Verizon FiOS speeds via LTE. Well, T-Mobile must have read that post for they turned LTE on in Brooklyn and that’s what I’m using …Created on 24 May 20137.
Deadbeat Carrier Creative Destruction In The Ongoing Mobile Computing Wars (BoomBustBlog) I have personally tested the T-Mobile LTE service in a NYC subway (the 42nd street station) using what is currently the best (big brand) mobile handset available, the LG Optimus G Pro. …Created on 23 May 20138.
A New Sheriff (Make That Business Model) Is Coming to Town For US Wireless Carriers, And He Won’t Look Pretty! (BoomBustBlog)… on education. You’ll see where I’m coming from once you get to the long graphic below… T-Mobile has had a serious problem competing with the big boys of US wireless carriers. They are the only one …Created on 10 January 20139.
US Celllular Carriers Are At Risk Of Being Marginalized Into Nothingness Unless They Learn To Think Outside The Box… Yesterday (BoomBustBlog)… d it not only to its customers but to Verizon, AT&T and T-mobile customers as well. Making money from all angles, again with that viral marketing slant. Follow me: …Created on 30 April 2012
via http://ift.tt/2k12MF0 Reggie Middleton
Just over a month ago, President-elect Trump and Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, enjoyed what was described by Trump as “a lovely dinner with a wonderful man” at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Many viewed the meeting a start toward thawing relations with Mexico after a hard-fought campaign in which Trump relentlessly hammered our southern neighbor over jobs and illegal immigration. Per the Washington Post:
Trump and Slim’s dinner was designed to open a friendly line of communication rather than delve into policy details, according to people briefed on the discussions.
Slim’s visit to Mar-a-Lago came after Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager who remains a confidant of the president-elect, quietly visited Mexico City on Dec. 9 to meet with Slim.
After the election, Slim connected with Lewandowski — someone he saw as having Trump’s ear but not as a formal member of his staff — and arranged for them to discuss trade, economic and other issues, according to people with knowledge of the session.
Trump even commemorated the dinner with a tweet:
Yes, it is true – Carlos Slim, the great businessman from Mexico, called me about getting together for a meeting. We met, HE IS A GREAT GUY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2016
That said, all may not be well between the two billionaires who butted headed several times during the contentious 2016 Presidential campaign cycle after Slim’s TV station in Mexico referred to Trump as a “racist” and refused to cover his Miss Universe pageant. Trump later released a statement accusing Slim of colluding with the New York Times and Hillary to undermine his campaign: “The New York Times strings are being pulled by Mexico’s Carlos Slim, a billionaire who benefits from Nafta and supports Hillary Clinton’s open border policies.”
Now, just yesterday the relationship between Trump and Mexican President Pena Nieto seemingly soured over Twitter starting with the following tweets…
The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
…which sent the Mexican Peso gyrating all over the place as perplexed traders tried to figure out what the Twitter wars will actually mean from a practical perspective…
…and has culminated with Carlos Slim calling a very rare press conference scheduled for 2PM EST….will he call for an economic truce or take more of a Vicente Fox approach to the “fucking wall”?
via http://ift.tt/2k0XSI3 Tyler Durden
With Donald Trump going on a tear today in announcing his executive orders, the future of immigration policy in this country has assumed a new urgency. To take stock of these orders and also offer President Trump more humane ways to achieve his objectives of national security and economic growth that are consistent with freedom and limited government, Reason is assembling a top-notch roster of immigration experts to weigh in on January 30 in Washington, D.C. Editor-in-Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward will kick off the conference with opening remarks and Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia will discuss the leviathan state President Trump’s harsh enforcement approach will require.
Other speakers:
Stuart Anderson, Executive Director of the National Foundation for American Policy
Theresa Cardinal Brown, Director of Immigration Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center
Linda Chavez, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity
Dan Griswold, Co-Director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Program on the American Economy and Globalization
Tamar Jacoby, President of ImmigrationWorks USA
Tim Kane, Fellow in Immigration Studies at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
Matthew La Corte, Immigration Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center
Liz Mair, President of Mair Strategies
Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst at Cato Institute
Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University
What will they discuss?
Panel discussions on how President-elect Donald Trump can most effectively move ahead with Congress on immigration reform; the best policies to deal with undocumented workers already in America; and how immigration policies will impact economic growth.
When?
The event starts at 9:30 am ET on January 30, 2017. Complimentary lunch will be served. The full schedule is here.
Where?
Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, DC
To get more details and register, RSVP:
Patrick McMahon
Communications Specialist
Reason Foundation, Reason magazine, Reason.tv
patrick.mcmahon@reason.org
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Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Global export of goods (priced in US dollars) has collapsed in Japan, the EU, and emerging markets, since their recovery highs following the great recession.
The US is the best of the lot, but US exports of goods are down substantially as well.
What’s behind the move? Is it protectionism? Currency related? Take a guess before reading further. The answer is coming up.
I got to thinking about the above questions after following a Gavekal Capital tweet that World Trade has Increased by Less Than 1% Annually Since 7/07.
Gavekal Explanation
There are fears that the world is on the precipice of turning back the clock on globalization. In some ways, the case can be made globalization has been retreating since the financial crisis. One of the strongest supporting data points of that argument is world trade data. According to the CPB World Trade Monitor, the value of world exports (volume * price) has increased by less than 1% annually since making a high on 7/31/2007 compared to more than a 5% annualized growth rate since 1991 (beginning of the data series). If we look at just volume data, the story doesn’t improve very much. World export volume has increased at less than 1.5% annually since 7/31/2007. This is about 1/3 of the annual growth rate world export volumes has increased by since 1991. Even with extraordinary global monetary easing in the post financial crisis world, world trade has been unable to find the extra gear it hit during the pre-crisis era.
That explanation sounded quite reasonable when I first read it, but I wanted to see how the US fared vs. the rest of the world.
After I downloaded then plotted the data, I came up with a completely different answer.
Global Exports January 2000 to November 2016
Global exports priced in US dollars has varied directly with the price of oil. Protectionism had not kicked in yet, but it will.
Falling currencies are supposed to lift exports but take a look at sorry Japan. Outside the Mideast (the CPB lumps Africa with the Mideast), Japan is the worst of the lot.
Export Collapse Since Recovery Peak
In the above table, WTIC is the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude.
The Mideast correlated nearly 1-1 to the price of oil because oil is essentially the Mideast’s only export.
Currency Factor
Conventional wisdom says a rising currency is bad for exports and a sinking currency is good for exports. Yet …
Looking Ahead Questions
I believe Trump’s massively protectionist policies will lead to a huge decline in trade. If so, the above chart suggests it will likely be accompanied by another oil bust as well.
via http://ift.tt/2kBP6za Tyler Durden
Is the Mexican president looking to salvage something from yesterday’s dramatic diplomatic devastation?
According to AP, shortly before his meeting with Theresa May, President Donald Trump spent one hour talking on the phone to the president of Mexico, Pena Nieto, amid “rising tensions” over Trump’s proposed wall along the border. Two administration officials confirmed Friday’s call.
According to Reuters, citing the Mexican government, the conversation between the two presidents included discussions on the trade deficit between the US and Mexico, and also discussed the need for both to work together to stop trafficking of drugs and illegal arms. Furthermore, the president agreed not to speak publicly for now on the “controversial” subject of payment for the border wall. During the Theresa May press conference, Trump said that the call was “very good” and “friendly”, and has a “very good relationship” with Nieto, but added that “Mexico has made us look foolish” and the trade deals will be renegotiated.
Trump and Pena Nieto had been expected to meet in Washington next week, but the Mexican president abruptly canceled his visit on Thursday. His decision came after Trump moved forward with plans to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and have Mexico pay for construction. Following the cancellation, Trump’s spokesman said the White House would seek to pay for the border wall by slapping a 20 percent tax on all imports from Mexico, as well as on other countries the U.S. has a trade deficit with. The White House later cast the proposal as just one option to pay for the wall.
The strong reaction from Mexico signaled a remarkable souring of relations between Washington and one of its most important international partners just days into the new administration. The U.S. and Mexico conduct some $1.6 billion a day in cross-border trade, and cooperate on everything from migration to drug enforcement to major environmental issues.
* * *
Following his imminent press conference with Theresa May, later in the day, the president is expected to travel to the Pentagon, where he was expected to sign a trio of executive actions, including one to halve the flow of refugees into the United Sates and stop all entries from some majority-Muslim nations. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump also intended to sign actions related to military readiness and the National Security Council. Details of those directives were not immediately clear.
According to a draft of the refugee order obtained by The Associated Press, Trump would move to indefinitely stop accepting Syrian refugees. The order also calls for a pause in the nation’s broader refugee program for at least 120 days. While at the Pentagon, Trump was expected to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and attend a ceremonial swearing-in for Defense Secretary James Mattis.
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