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US Customs vows to block imports of seafood and goods from North Korea workers POSTED 10:11 AM, OCTOBER 6, 2017, BY WQAD DIGITAL TEAM U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is ready to block U.S. imports of seafood — as well as any other goods — produced by North Korean laborers who work in China. An Associated Press investigation tracked salmon, squid and cod processed by North Koreans working at Chinese factories and shipped to American stores, including Walmart and ALDI. The North Korean workers found in Chinese factories aren’t allowed to leave, and receive only a fraction of...

In order to stop the threat of ISIS in Southeast Asia, the US government must take measures to cut off ISIS’ access to firearms from the United States. A few days ago, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is preparing legislation that would make it easier for American gun manufacturers to sell weapons abroad. Aides are supposedly preparing to shift oversight of non-military firearms from the State Department to the Commerce Department. This development is worrying, because at present ISIS – and other terror groups – rely on US made weapons. A major portion of ISIS’ growth in recent years...

It’s easy to think that South Korea doesn’t stand a chance of ever surpassing Japan. After all, the Korean economy is now barely over 1/4th its size. That’s despite strong growth over the past few decades. Japan was Asia’s most important regional power for centuries – at least until China caught up in 2010. However, Korea is a slightly poorer country and has just 50 million people compared to 120 million in Japan. You’d be correct in saying Korea probably won’t catch up to its larger, more populous neighbor in the short to mid-term. But there are several reasons why...

Predator C Avenger Drone (Image: General Atomics) India has plans to buy 100 jet propelled Avenger predator drones from the US costing an estimated $8 billion for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Besides joint projects under the bilateral Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), in her first major engagement with a foreign counterpart, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman talks on September 26 with the US officials will focus on India-US defence cooperation, maritime security, avenger predator drones, counter-terrorism and other major issues of mutual concern, the sources added. Issues related to American defence companies seeking guarantees of retaining control of propriety...

Comedian and talk show host Chelsea Handler praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s warning letter to President Donald Trump this week, writing on her social media account that the threatening letter sounded “a little bit more sane” than Trump — and suggesting the two countries trade leaders. “Uhhhh. Kim Jung’s letter to @realDonaldTrump is a little bit more sane than @realDonaldTrump. Maybe we trade?” the host of Netflix’s Chelsea wrote in a tweet late Thursday night. In a letter to Trump this week, Kim called Trump a “gangster fond of playing with fire” and said the president’s speech at the...

President Trump is ready to shift rules to allow American gun makers more leeway in selling arms and ammunition to foreign buyers. This would mean expanded markets for AR-15s and American made 5.56 and .223 ammunition. According to Reuters, aides to President Trump are finalizing “a plan to shift oversight of international non-military firearms sales from the State Department to the Commerce Department.” And the shift in rules governing sales to foreign buyers can be accomplished without Congressional approval. Moving oversight from the State Dept. to Commerce places things in the hands of a department more interested in upping trade...

China is expected shortly to launch a crude oil futures contract priced in yuan and convertible into gold in what analysts say could be a game-changer for the industry. The contract could become the most important Asia-based crude oil benchmark, given that China is the world's biggest oil importer. Crude oil is usually priced in relation to Brent or West Texas Intermediate futures, both denominated in U.S. dollars. China's move will allow exporters such as Russia and Iran to circumvent U.S. sanctions by trading in yuan. To further entice trade, China says the yuan will be fully convertible into gold...

Following North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, President Trump warned countries doing business with North Korea may no longer trade with the United States. “The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” tweeted President Trump on Sunday afternoon. U.S. halting all trade with other countries would have massive economic ramifications for the global economy. Below is a list of top U.S. trading partners. On Sunday, reporter John Bennett with CQ Roll Call asked, “Mr. President, will you attack North Korea. With First Lady Melania standing with him, Trump...

American factories accelerated in August at the fastest pace of expansion since 2011, data from the Institute for Supply Management showed Friday. The ISM purchasing manufacturers surveyed showed all six of the biggest manufacturing industries ramped up activity in August. The monthly purchasing managers index rose 2.5 points to 58.8, reflecting employment rising to its highest level since June of 2011, an increase in production and rising inventories. Economists had expected a reading of 56.5. Any reading over 50 indicates growth. Exports and new orders continued to show strong growth, although these slowed from July. The Bureau of Labor Statistics...

It must be pointed out; it is up to us to do so. The corporate media are hopelessly deficient in their coverage and explanations of how strategic objectives for national security are being delivered through a Trump Doctrine via economic leverage. The results are stunningly effective, yet few have noticed, and even fewer seem willing to articulate...... The sanctions against Venezuela, while targeted, are only one small outcropping of a much larger geopolitical strategy that U.S. President Trump has initiated for the past eight months with jaw-dropping success: From OPEC (Saudi Summit) to the EU and Baltic States (Poland Pre-G20);...

Most shoppers prefer to buy American. But given a choice between an American-made product and a cheaper import from China, Mexico or another low-wage country, they'll go for the bargain. That's one reason millions of American factory workers have lost their jobs. In last year's presidential election, Donald Trump put the collapse of American manufacturing center stage. He pledged to take on China -- our biggest trade rival -- and to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. He told rallies in Indiana and Pennsylvania that "we cannot continue to allow China to rape our...

“Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting someone else,” Ben & Jerry’s and Fair Trade co-founder Jerry Greenfield likes to tell us. Let’s hope he doesn’t drive an electric vehicle, doesn’t use a laptop or cell phone, and doesn’t rely on wind or solar power. We’re constantly confronted with slogans and lectures about fair trade, human rights, sustainability, environmental and social justice, little people versus Big Corporations. Most of these terms reflect perspectives and agendas of the political left, and are intended to stifle discussion and advance those worldviews. But most of their self-avowed adherents never look...

OK folks, here is a website I have been following recently. It is a youtube website, but it is a live channel version, broadcasting a live feed. In short, it is sort of, a live news feed. That said, they run with stories from other sources. Some sources are very good. I'm not sure, whether this one is. I find it slightly fascinating to follow, when they are up to date. They seem to be working through the process of what they are providing, as they develop. That said, I am not certain this is an actual news story. But...

<p>President Trump on Friday dismissed his embattled chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, an architect of his 2016 general election victory, in a major White House shake-up that follows a week of racial unrest, according to multiple administration officials.</p> <p>Trump had been under mounting pressure to dispense with Bannon, who many officials view as a political Svengali but who has drawn scorn as a leading internal force encouraging and amplifying the president’s most controversial nationalist impulses.</p>

China says its bullet train technology was stolen, days after US trade probe move Officials urged to do more to protect intellectual property in commentary published two days after US announcement PUBLISHED : Thursday, 17 August, 2017, 8:32am UPDATED : Thursday, 17 August, 2017, 8:32am Beijing has apparently hit back at US plans to investigate intellectual property violations by China, with officials urged to do more to protect bullet train technology from theft. The call came in a commentary published in the official Procuratorial Daily on Wednesday, two days after it was announced that US President Donald Trump would authorise...

The first round of negotiations on a new North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) kicked off Wednesday in Washington.

There are trillions of dollars at stake; you might have heard us mention that before.  At no time was it more clearly evident than RIGHT NOW. All anxiety is driven by the economics of politics.  Oh, they’ll point to other excuses; but those who understand the larger elements within multinational corporate and government finance totally understand this is all about money. Economics is money. Money is Economics. Every syllable and syntax by every oppositional entity, and the authorities who are directing them, are related to the current economic threat that is President Trump. Those who really understand this dynamic; those who...

Trump orders probe of China's intellectual property practices WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday authorized an inquiry into China's alleged theft of intellectual property in the first direct trade measure by his administration against Beijing, but one that is unlikely to prompt near-term change. Trump broke from his 17-day vacation in New Jersey to sign the memo in the White House at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The investigation is likely to cast a shadow over relations with China, the largest U.S. trading partner, just as Trump is asking...

Forget the social chaff and political countermeasures being promoted in the media. It is all manufactured distraction. It’s MONEY that matters to the powerful interests in the upper suites of the corporate media apparatus. Everything, e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, every story, is circling the upcoming economic and financial trade confrontations. There are trillions at stake and President Donald Trump is facing off against the international “BIG CLUB”. The purchased multinational political entities who operate within the massive and institutional multinational corporate and financial networks behind the World Bank and World Trade Organization. NAFTA re-negotiations are set to begin in Washington DC this coming...

Canada will enter talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with a goal to seek exemptions from Washington's Buy America directives, and push for stronger labor and environmental standards in the pact. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday provided broad outlines on what Canada's bottom line on Nafta renegotiations, which begin in earnest on Wednesday in Washington. ... She said local-content provisions, such as Buy America, "are political junk-food -- superficially appetizing, but unhealthy in the long run." Ms. Freeland said Canada also wants to make Nafta more "progressive," through tougher labor and environmental standards. On the...