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US Representative Katherine Tai sets out the policy of the Biden administration on trade with China. The policy is simply to keep Trump administration policy on tariffs in place and seek dialogue with China. This report in the WSJ explains what this means.  The Biden administration is preparing a long term policy to restore American leadership in the world in technology, trade and industry. This means as in semiconductors providing $52 billion to assist US firms to make semiconductors at home. The US will build a new supply chain that is resilient and brings more of the critical technologies in manufacturing back to the US. Where Mr. Trump was the initiator of a new policy on trade but lacked a long term vision Mr Biden is giving the Trump policies new vigor and shape and a long term vision of belief in America's role in the world. He is doing this by building on America's key strength - its people. The only way to do this is to invest massively after three decades of disinvestment under previous administrations. This comes in the shape of the $3.5 trillion plan for infrastructure and the Families and Workers Plan. Biden is also building stronger relationships with allies Australia, Britain, Japan, India, and Germany for trade, supply chain, and defense.   ...

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The first trips by the Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin show the Biden administration's priorities. Efforts to strengthen ties with Japan and South Korea giving the Indo-Pacific region top priority with the emergence of China as a challenge to US interests. Next stop is India. Even before the trips to Korea and Japan, a virtual summit was setup between the Quad countries, the democracies of Australia, US, Japan and India that are committed to an open and free Indo-Pacific region.

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Young people are the major source of transmission of coronavirus in the US with school sports as a major cause. Michigan, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, makeup 42% of cases on April 11. Adults ages 20 to 39 are affected the most in Michigan. With cases for children under 19 quadrupling from a month ago. 301 reported school outbreaks in Michigan alone. A big problem is that the spread of the variant B.1.1.7  from the UK started in clusters earlier in February. It now has spread to the general population. India has seen a surge in the past 5 days and public health officials are learning from this experience in Europe and the US. The focus  should be on micro containment zones, prime minister Modi told state chief ministers in a virtual meeting on April 10, with screening, testing, tracking, and that health officials should not let higher numbers affect their persistent effort to screen, test and track as with the unceasing effort the results will come. ...

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Companies holding international meetings in February helped spread the coronavirus in different countries. This report in the NYT describes the situation at one company. Many others also went ahead unaware of the serious risks or discounting what was happening in China and Italy.

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How should airwaves be given out for 5G- auctioning the spectrum to the highest bidder or letting government own it and rent it out to private companies so that national security interests are better protected and companies have broader access.

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US vice president Kamala Harris sends a message to Guatemalan migrants in her visit to Guatemala City, telling them not to come to the US. Biden administration policy is not to have migrants from Guatemala come to the US border with Mexico for economic reasons. Europe and the US have learned from past experience that economic migration is an endless process- that the only way to tackle this is to help improve conditions in neighboring countries of Central America and North Africa.

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As restrictions ease and the Delta variant makes up 83% of US cases, cases increase in the US. Stalled vaccination rates presents an added problem. On July 20 49% of the US population was fully vaccinated. Two thirds of counties in the US have less than 40% coverage, according to CDC director Walensky.

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The Biden administration plans to have booster shots for most Americans 8 months after the original second dose. It will start with health care workers and older Americans as early as mid-September. This is designed to control the spread of Delta and other variants and protect people.

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A new US agreement and security partnership with Australia and UK will help build nuclear submarine capabilities in Australia. China's relations with Australia are deteriorating and Australia is building its own defense capabilities for the Indo-Pacific region.