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China is still interested in a trade deal with the U.S. even after Mr. Trump signed a bill passed by Congress that it criticized as interference in its internal affairs. Mr. Trump's signing statement gave China an opening to continue its persistent effort to seek a trade deal that would lessen the effect of tariffs on its economy. It mentioned "constitutional authorities with respect to foreign relations," and stated Mr. Trump had signed the bill "out of respect for Mr. Xi, China and Hong Kong." This has credibility because Mr. Trump has consistently supported an effort to bring a peaceful end to protests and any efforts to that end that Mr. Xi has and would continue to make. Both sides see the role of the biggest economies in the trading system as too significant to be affected by different views on Hong Kong, as long as mutual respect is sustained.  

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Republicans in the U.S. are talking about impeachment more than Democrats in tweets, ads and messages they send out. The Democrats are talking about other issues and this is not what you would expect after Democrats voted together on party lines to pass two articles of impeachment of president Trump. Republicans may even use the issue of impeachment in favor of president Trump as the impeachment process moves to the Senate where Republicans are in a majority. Republicans believe president Trump did nothing wrong and may call Senator Biden and his son Hunter Biden to testify in the Senate about activities in Ukraine, say experts.

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There was a time under president Obama when rural America's problems were not given serious attention, or simply ignored. This is not happening under president Biden. Biden has learned from the failures of his predecessors. When Biden Democrats think of president Trump they are keenly aware that the Trump phase in America was a result of the repeated failures of presidents who preceded Trump in addressing the problems of rural America, in prolonged wars overseas that wasted resources needed at home, and in sowing the seeds of division through policies that favored large corporations, Silicon Valley and capital markets driven from New York, London.

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Of 42 persons in Trump's cabinet just over half support his candidacy for president says the Washington Post.

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Jim Vandehei, Politico founder, is from two small towns, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Lincoln, Maine, and understands what it is like for ordinary Americans struggling to make it. Sanders and Trump are riding an anti-establishment wave, says Vandehei, but do not have programs that would lead to growth and jobs. Something better is needed, he says, to tackle today's problems- poverty, trade, wages, and jobs for working class families.

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The BBC looks at some of the claims made by president Trump about India's rapid progress in delivering services to the people in electricity, sanitation, roads infrastructure, cooking gas, internet connections. BBC confirms that the economy size is now 6 times that in 2000, as Mr. Trump stated on his visit to Ahmedabad. It was in terms of the total value of all goods and services in the economy or GDP at $477 billion (IMF figures) in 2000. In 2019  it is $2,940 billion.  270 million fewer people were living in poverty in 2016, this is confirmed in a UN report. Here is the list for services as checked by The BBC. 1. Providing electricity to every one of the 600,000 villages in India. By 2014 most of the villages were electrified- at 96%. It is defined as having schools, health centres and 10% of households having electricity in each village. 2. About 600 million people having access to toilets under the Clean India mission launched in 2014. 100 million new toilets were built. 3. 70 million women were given access to cooking gas. 80 million new connections were built. 4.  320 million new internet subscribers. The figure is low about 600 million total internet subscribers. 5. It is true that infrastructure building is moving quickly says the BBC. About 10,000 kms were built in 2018-19 double that in 2013-2014 under a previous administration. The Mumbai Metro is mentioned in the WSJ as a project that has made remarkable progress. A bullet train project is moving ahead with Japanese financing and technological help from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.  Access to banking accounts and direct deposit of government transfer payments to all Indians is another project. Healthcare access through health care payments directly for health care costs incurred for low income families is another more recent project to reduce the uncertainty and improve finances of poorer citizens. ...

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Election expert, Karl Rove, says following the win in the New York primary Trump has 845 delegates according to Associated Press, yet there are 950 delegates on the opposite side, putting the gap at 105 with the others. Trump has won 47% of the delegates upto this point, and needs to win 58% to get to the needed 1237 delegates for a majority. Rove, says Trump's threat to run as an Independent is an empty threat because of the filing date for running as an Independent for 12 states is well before the convention on July 18, 2016. By that date 12 states with 166 electoral votes will have already seen deadlines passed for registering as an Independent. The states include Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Texas. Michigan's date is during the convention. Registering as an Independent before the convention and some of the primaries would alienate his own voter base, says Rove. Another factor is that Trump would have to raise a significant number of signatures under the rules which is doable, but would create the impression of being in a spoiler role than a serious candidate....

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As Biden launches his bid for reelection in 2024 a look at Pew Research analysis of the 2020 election shows that he significantly narrowed the margins Mr. Trump had in his favor in 2016 among married men and among veterans. As NYT's assessment of the Pew Research shows it was the support gained among moderate to conservative voting groups that won the election for Biden, not the traditional Democratic constituencies among minorities where Mr. Trump had in fact gained some ground in 2020. With married men and with veteran households Trump could manage only a ten percentage lead in each, 54% Trump to 44% for Biden in 2020, a huge difference from the big gaps in 2016 of 30 points. This probably decided the 2020 election for Biden. Some of this goes back to 1913 election of a professor at Princeton, New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson. Theodore Roosevelt had split the Republican party in the previous election by supporting his nominee Taft and fighting the election against Taft in 1913 after differences emerged with Taft. Wilson was the Democratic candidate with a strong agenda for workers rights during a period of income inequality as there is today. A similar situation is also seen in the 1948 election with Democrat Harry Truman defeating Republican Dewey after putting forward a Fair Deal in a program to protect workers and families following war and economic depression. ...

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Following president Trump's decision to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods on May 9, 2019, the WSJ looks at the mistakes made by both sides in misjudging each other's negotiating position. Mr. Trump says he is willing to increase the pressure on China by imposing tariffs on all Chinese imports into the U.S. after what he sees as China reneging on its commitments on trade by deleting key sections on enforcement provisions and Chinese legislation for enforcement to take place in the 150 page agreement prepared for both presidents to sign.  Early on in the negotiations between Liu He and Mr. Lighthizer, China misread the thinking on the U.S. side. Chinese thinking was that president Trump's urging for the Federal Reserve to lower rates was a perception sign of the weakening U.S. economy. It also may have misread the extent to which Mr. Trump trusts Mr. Robert Lighthizer, who Mr. Trump respects for winning a good deal with the Japanese in similar situation of Japanese rejection of U.S. demands. Mr. Trump also thinks the U.S. has a strong economy, is the largest world producer of oil, strong economic growth in the last quarter of 2018, is also negotiating better deals with other countries including the ones with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. It is also much less dependent on exports to China, giving it a stronger position with more experienced negotiators. China has whole sectors of its economy dependent on exports to the U.S., and crucial numbers of jobs at stake.  China also misread the signals from its stronger than expected economic growth from stimulus efforts in the last quarter, leading to it staking out a tougher position than the U.S. would accept. The U.S. position was set after decades of waiting for China to change and was unlikely to be affected by any temporary considerations.  As a result the U.S. not anticipating the Chinese response of deleting key sections agreed to in advance from the 150 page written agreement gave a strong response. Mr. Mnuchin who accompanied Lighthizer in talks says Mr. Lighthizer "read them the riot act" to the Chinese side. For the Chinese side the effort now shifted to continuing good faith talks without appearing to back down. ...

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Two women Claudia Sheinbaum of Morena party and Xochitl Galvez of National Action party are contesting the presidential election in Mexico in 2024. President Lopez Obrador is from the Morena party, he was former mayor of Mexico city and led the socialists to government in 2018 with his book presenting his message "Saying No to Corruption, Violence and Trump's Wall." He won by a landslide and during his term he targeted corrupt officials and worked with the US Trump administration, and now Biden administration on tackling migration and border issues.

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On tackling housing costs Applebaum says in NYT that Harris has a plan to build 3 million housing units and help homeowners with $25,000 to buy homes, and sets up a Housing Fund of $40 billion for builders. By contrast Trump says he will do nothing for supply or prices. For rental prices of apartments and homes Harris calls for limiting price increases to 5% for apartment property owners for federal benefits to be continued. Trump simply says the problem will fix itself once pressure of migrants looking for housing is removed. This is not a Plan says Applebaum.

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President Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed with near unanimous support by the U.S. Congress. The original U.S. law on Hong Kong passed in 1992 requiring yearly reports on the autonomy of Hong Kong for it to get the "special status" granted to it. This requirement for yearly reports expired in 2007. This requirement is now reinstated. The law signed by Mr. Trump requires the State Department to certify Hong Kong' autonomy annually. The WSJ describes it as a "grim trigger" strategy" which would cause damage to Hong Kong capital markets and is of a magnitude that makes it less likely to be used. Mr. Trump pointedly remarked that he had signed it "out of respect for Mr. Xi, China and Hong Kong," and Mr. Trump has shown respect so far for the protesters but also shown respect for Mr. Xi and China in the middle of the unending nature of the protests. The new Act does not give Mr. Trump any additional powers than he already has. It only changes one aspect of relations- it makes Hong Kong relative autonomy a part of permanent high level issues in China - U.S. relations, including trade and Hong Kong's status as financial center. ...

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Mr. Peter Navarro, 70, a key advisor to president Trump on trade and economic policy, is now the DPA policy coordinator.  Mr. Navarro takes on the presidential task force role of coordinating government-business cooperation with wartime powers under the Defense Production Act. Mr. Navarro says in an interview with the WSJ that he will take tough measures if necessary. Saying this is no time for delay, to hoard or price gouge, companies must move quickly or the government will clear the obstacles. "This is war. When there are bumps in the road, President Trump is going to knock them down immediately and unmercifully."  A California Economics professor Mr. Navarro warned about the virus and epidemics of this kind in a 2006 book. He now assumes this role after president Trump said about GM "always a mess," after long negotiations with GM leading to a shrinking supply of ventilators and government frustration. President Trump then used DPA powers to order GM to make ventilators and lined up 5 other manufacturers in 2 days. Navarro says he is following Trump time which he has in his office. This meaning he and the president will use the full arsenal of federal powers to get things done in record time.  ...

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Texas is becoming a swing state for 2024 The deep divisions in the Republican party in Texas with one faction supporting former Governor Rick Perry who was the longest serving Texas governor 2000-2014, and the Bush family and the other faction supporting Mr. Trump. Attorney General Ken Paxton who supports Mr. Trump faces impeachment by Republicans who support Perry-Bush. Texas is the home of Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) who was John F. Kennedy's vice president and then president, and also of the 2 Bush Republican presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush. It is also a state that has swung to Republicans since 1976, but has a history of Democrats under LBJ.

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The Harris campaign and efforts by unions and workers to reach working class people in the closing days of Harris vs Trump in 2024.