Document 50mdYMZNaEqZkByjR82gbNzLV

Message From: Sent: To: Subject: Americans for Limited Government [media@limitgov.org] 3/29/2018 1:31:03 PM Abboud, Michael [/o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=b6f5af791al842fladcc088cbf9ed3ce-Abboud, Mic] Trump's art of the deal: New South Korean trade deal and progress on denuclearization in North Korea proves tariffs, sanctions and pressure work Is Trump's art of the deal working? March 29, 2018 Permission to republish original op-eds and cartoons granted. Trump's art of the deal: New South Korean trade deal and progress on denuclearization in North Korea proves tariffs, sanctions and pressure work South Korea has agreed to stop dumping steel and import more U. S. automobiles, North Korea is ready to talk denuclearization, and China and the U. S. could be ready to talk about an end of U. S. technology transfer to Beijing. Is Trump's art of the deal working? Ask Venezuela, socialism always fails; why do progressives want to bring its policies here? In the 2016 Presidential election, candidates like Bernie Sanders framed socialism as a viable option, but ask any Venezuelan citizen, and they will tell you it is a deadly curse. The system of government supported by the left seems to promote equality and prosperity, but victims of socialism understand the chaos the system creates. As Venezuela continues to become the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere, it also becomes a case study in yet another failed socialist experiment. Byron York: House subpoena rattles Justice Department; Sessions 'angry1at slow response; FBI 'called on the carpet' "The FBI is promising swift action on a House subpoena covering three politically charged investigations after word that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has grown angry with the bureau's slowwalking of congressional requests for information. " Trump's Art of the Deal: New South Korean trade deal and progress on denuclearization in North Korea proves tariffs, sanctions and pressure work Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00001 Soare WMt*h&u$.g<w. By Robert Romano In "The Art of the Deal," President Donald Trump wrote: "Leverage: don't make deals without it." Three developments in the past week prove that President Trump's approach to foreign affairs where he utilizes all the tools in his arsenal including tariffs, sanctions, and overall pressure -- are yielding dividends in the Asia Pacific region because they exerted significant leverage by the U S. South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to new amendments to the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, where South Korea agreed to reduce its steel export quota by 30 percent and to double the amount of American-made cars that are imported. In exchange, the U.S. will grant South Korea an exemption to President Trump's 25 percent tariff on steel imports. Senior administration officials have also hinted that a new currency agreement is in the works that would address exchange rate and Treasury markets manipulation. These were all things Trump had spoken of last June when South Korean President Moon Jae-ln visited the White House. Now they're actually being delivered. All because of Trump's tough stance on trade, including the tariffs but also his call for trade to be fair and reciprocal. The discussions were ongoing, South Korea was already at the table, but after the Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00002 tariffs were announced, a new agreement was quickly hammered out, which ended up being in both the U S. and South Korea's interests. South Korea is the number three exporter of steel to the U.S. China is the number one exporter of steel to South Korea, leading some to worry that it could become a pass-through for Chinese steel if South Korea were given an exemption to the steel tariffs. A hard quota stops that dead in its tracks, the administration officials said, because shipping Chinese steel instead of their own would harm South Korean producers. Elsewhere, Trump's new $60 billion of tariffs against China over intellectual property abuses have brought Beijing to the negotiating table, Reuters reports: "Premier Li Keqiang said earlier on Monday that China and the United States should maintain negotiations and repeated pledges to ease access for American businesses to China's markets. Li told a conference that included global chief executives that China would treat foreign and domestic firms equally, would not force foreign firms to transfer technology and would strengthen intellectual property rights, repeating promises that have failed to placate Washington." U.S. officials have heard all this before, but there it is. The U.S. and China are engaging in talks to settle trade differences. With the tariffs in play, this could finally result in concessions to each side's benefit. To see these promises realized, President Trump will need to keep the pressure on to get China to reduce its tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, including currency. Because, as we're seeing elsewhere, the pressure is working. Perhaps most importantly, now it is being reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has agreed in principle to discuss denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, with Kim stating, "The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved - if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realization of peace." President Trump responded favorably on Twitter, stating, "Received message last night from Xi Jinping of China that his meeting with Kim Jong Un went very well and that Kim looks forward to his meeting with me. In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost[s]!" This could be a major, history-changing breakthrough. This is like moving mountains. Recall Trump promised "fire and fury" would be rained down on North Korea if it came to war. The U.S. has instituted stiff sanctions on North Korea and has placed immense pressure on China to act. Now it's all coming together. Hopefully. Diplomacy, which has always been a possible avenue of resolution, appears to be fully engaged now. Peace could be within sight. It may not work out in the end. But it never would have been possible without the credible threat of force promised by Trump, backed up by the sanctions. Meaning, all of Trump's doomsayers who promised a new Great Depression from the tariffs and nuclear Armageddon from his tough stance against North Korea may be wearing a lot of egg on their faces when this is all over. Ironically, they might have even helped enhance Trump's leverage with his deal-making, since the consequences of not making a deal being reported might be grave. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00003 There are still many challenges that need to be overcome, and the road forward is fraught with numerous pitfalls, but there are real opportunities here that did not exist prior to President Trump. And so far, believe it or not, it looks like Trump's art of the deal might actually be working after all. Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government. Ask Venezuela, socialism always fails; why do progressives want to bring its poilcies here? m By Natalia Castro In the 2016 Presidential election, candidates like Bernie Sanders framed socialism as a viable option, but ask any Venezuelan citizen, and they will tell you it is a deadly curse. The system of government supported by the left seems to promote equality and prosperity, but victims of socialism understand the chaos the system creates. As Venezuela continues to become the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere, it also becomes a case study in yet another failed socialist experiment. Venezuela had it all. The Mises Institute of Austrian Economics, Freedom, and Peace in an October 2017 report by Rafael Acevedo and Luis B. Cirocco explains, in the late 20th century, Venezuela had a functioning democracy with a large oil supply. But as the government acquired more and more industry, wealth grew disproportionately, creating a large impoverished underclass. Socialism was the problem. And the vast income inequality and seemingly disposable government income from oil revenues, allowed populist leader Hugo Chvez to enter the political realm as things got wose. Acevedo and Cirocco continue, "He was elected in 1998 and promised to replace our light socialism with more radical socialism. This only accelerated the problems we had been facing for decades. Nevertheless, he was able to pass through an even more anti-private-property constitution. Since Chvez's death in 2013, the attacks on private property have continued, and Chvez's successor, Nicols Maduro, promises only more of the same. Except now, the government is turning toward outright authoritarian socialism, and Maduro is seeking a new constitution in which private property is almost totally abolished, and Maduro will be allowed to remain in power for life." Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00004 Things got worse, again, native Venezuelan and political activist Debbie D'Souza explained on Pragerll, once oil prices took a dive in 2014, the Venezuelan government could no longer make good on expensive promises to the people; and hyperinflation made the countries currency worthless, businesses left for capitalist countries, and 75 percent of adult's lost weight due to food insecurity. For context, one U S. Dollar is currently worth about 50 thousand Venezuelan Bolivars. Venezuela's government maintains strict control and is unafraid to use it. Mary Anastasia O'Grady of the Wall Street Journal reveals, "The dictatorship increasingly controls what food there is. Dollars from oil exports go only to the state, which uses them to import. It also confiscates, at will, farm production and the output of agricultural processors... To receive the rations, Venezuelans must carry the Carnet de la Patria, a government-issued license only available to those approved by the regime." The scarcity brought on by socialism has allowed the distribution of food to become a political weapon, and it is fueling a humanitarian nightmare. The United Nations reported this month that in 2017, over 94,000 Venezuelans fled their country and sought refuge in neighboring nations like Colombia, a 2,000 percent increase since 2014. This has made the Venezuelan crisis the largest refugee crisis Latin America has ever seen. This is not just the story of a failing country; it is the story of socialism. Parallels can be made to socialist regimes across the world. Felipe Moura Brasil, a journalist and Veja magazine columnist, explained to Pragerll, "[In Brazil], [socialism worked for a while, socialism always works at the beginning; but government spending kept going up, and then [the President's] socialist paradise fell apart, and the economy fell with it. The outcome: from 2008 to 2015, government spending grew nearly four times as fast as tax revenue. The economy shrank 3.8 percent in 2015, the worst result in 25 years... We also remain among the world's leaders in murder and robbery, and we rank near the bottom in of industrialized nations in terms of education and healthcare." Brazil and Venezuela had the opportunity to become global leaders, they had resources and wealth; but they also had socialism, which destroyed all of their potential. As D'Souza noted, "Once a country goes down a socialist path, there's no easy way back. And the longer a country stays socialist, the harder it is to reform it... When people get used to depending on the government, no matter how poor they remain, that dependency is hard to break." The United States spoke lightly of socialism in the 2016 election, but what most do not realize is that when power is given to the government, it is taken from the people and is difficult to be given back. Americans must look at Venezuela's tragedy and understand that it can happen here if we let it. If we allow the government to provide us with everything, we are giving them the capability to take everything away. Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00005 ALG Editor's Note: In the following piece from The Washington Examiner Byron York reports on the FBI leadership being dressed down by AG Sessions for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas: xamtner Byron York: House subpoena rattles Justice Department; Sessions 'angry' at slow response; FBI 'called on the carpet' By Byron York The FBI is promising swift action on a House subpoena covering three politically charged investigations after word that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has grown angry with the bureau's slowwalking of congressional requests for information. Last week the House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein demanding documents from the Justice Department and the FBI "regarding charging decisions in the investigation surrounding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility recommendation to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe," according to a committee press release. In a letter accompanying the subpoena, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va,, told Rosenstein the committee had asked for the documents months ago and received little or nothing in response. "Given the department's ongoing delays in producing these documents, I am left with no choice but to issue [a] subpoena to compel production of these documents," Goodlatte wrote. Late Tuesday, a source who asked to be identified as a "DOJ insider" emailed an update from inside the Justice Department, making clear Sessions has grown impatient with FBI Director Christopher Wray: Senior staff on both sides of the street have met on this and the FBI is getting called on the carpet. The Attorney General is angry with how slow the process has moved when it comes to requests from Congress to the FBI. He's told Wray that the pace is unacceptable and that if the FBI needs to double the number of people working on this, then that's what they need to do, but he is done seeing the Department criticized for the FBI's slow walking of requests from Congress like the last administration when these requests should be a top priority. Sure enough, on Tuesday, Wray issued a press release promising to double the number of people working on the document request. From Wray: As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests. Up until today, we have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte's requests. The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands. Regardless, I agree that Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 7 ED 002061 00004070-00006 the current pace of production is too slow. Accordingly, I am doubling the number of assigned FBI staff, for a total of 54, to cover two shifts per day from 8 a.m. to midnight to expedite completion of this project. Wray's announcement was welcome news to members of the House committee. Welcome -- but still cautiously received. Click here for the full story. Americansfor Limited Government 10332 Main Street # 326None Fairfax Virginia 22030 United States This email is intended for abboud.michael@epa.gov. 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