Free Republic

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this weekend to discuss economic and trade matters, their offices announced Tuesday.“We have shared interests,” Bessent said later on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle.” The current tariff war “isn’t sustainable,” said Bessent, “especially on the Chinese side. And, you know, 145 percent [tariffs], 125 percent, is the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple, what we want is fair trade.”Bessent and Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts on both Saturday and Sunday, the Treasury secretary said.

A Special Flight Squadron Il-96 departed Moscow at 0919 in the morning, went on to St. Petersburg where it landed at 1016. At 1215 it departed St. Petersburg for New York, an 11 hour 52 minute flight, arriving at 12:10 AM, December 26. It would leave New York at 0834 and arrive in Washington at 0927 after a 53 minute flight. It would remain in Washington until later that afternoon, departing Dulles Airport at 16:49 (4:49 PM). According to the official Russian spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, the flight was arranged for "another rotation of diplomats." If the flight actually brought high...

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Saturday indicated that lifting all anti-Russia sanctions and canceling all claims against Moscow in international judicial instances should be an intrinsic part of a peace settlement in Ukraine. -snip- "the cancellation of all illegal sanctions and lawsuits against Russia in international courts should become an integral part [of this settlement]," Zakharova said in a statement. It is noteworthy that on Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the grounds of alleged "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian...

They quote the following tweet: Estimating public expenditures of $162.3M for early January storms, @JerryBrownGov asks President Trump for a federal disaster declaration.