Top Stories Today – May 10, 2019
Top Stories Today – May 10, 2019
Trump doubles tariff Chinese goods
President Trump’s threatened 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports took effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, halfway through high-level trade talks in Washington, D.C., led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. The tariffs, up from 10 percent, will be in force for shipments leaving China on Friday, leaving negotiators a little time to hammer out an agreement.
Both sides agreed the trade talks will continue Friday. China’s Commerce Ministry said it “deeply regrets” Trump’s decision and Beijing “will have to take necessary countermeasures.” Economists say Trump’s tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs from China are hurting both countries. The Washington Post via The Week
Pelosi: WH obstructing justice every day
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused President Donald Trump and his administration of “every day … advertising their obstruction of justice by ignoring subpoenas” issued by opposition Democratic lawmakers for oversight of him, the White House and government agencies.
Pelosi, the leader of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, unleashed her verbal attack a day after the House Judiciary Committee overrode Republican opposition and voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. Lawmakers cited Barr for refusing to turn over an unredacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his 22-month investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and allegations that Trump, as president, obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe. The Voice of America
Japan, Vietnam teaming up to resist China expansion
Japan is helping Vietnam build a defense against the larger, more militarily powerful China as Vietnam says Beijing’s forces are occupying more than their legal share of the South China Sea. Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya and his Vietnamese counterpart, Ngo Xuan Lich, met May 3 to “advance cooperation” on maritime security, Tokyo-based NHK television online said.
In October, the ministers met in Tokyo to discuss issues surrounding the South China Sea. They signed a “defense cooperation and exchange” memorandum that prescribed regular vice ministerial-level talks, the Japanese defense ministry website says. Japan has been jousting with China over sovereignty in parts of the East China Sea, including a chain of uninhabited islets coveted by fishing fleets. The Voice of America
Trump to nominate Patrick Shanahan as defense secretary
President Trump will nominate Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan to officially fill the position, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Thursday. Shanahan has served in an acting capacity since the beginning of the year after former Defense Secretary James Mattis left the role. Before that, he was the department’s deputy secretary, and has a long career working for Boeing. Shanahan’s appointment comes nearly six months after Mattis resigned. White House via The Week
Jeff Bezos Unveils a Moon Lander
In a carefully choreographed event akin to an announcement of a new iPhone, Jeffrey P. Bezos unveiled a moon lander.
Mr. Bezos, the founder, and chief executive of Amazon, also owns Blue Origin, a rocket company. In a convention center ballroom here, Mr. Bezos described on Thursday a dreamy, ambitious vision of the future: a trillion people in space, living not on moons or planets, but bucolic space colonies in a style originally envisioned by a Princeton physicist, Gerard K. O’Neill. “This would be an incredible civilization,” Mr. Bezos said. The New York Times