Trump, Abe to intensify trade talks

US prez warns he could walk away if Kim meet not fruitful

PALM BEACH, Florida, April 19, (RTRS): US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday they had agreed to intensify trade consultations between the two longtime allies, with an aim to expand investment and trade between their countries.

“President Trump and I agreed to start talks for free, fair and reciprocal trade deals,” Abe said at a joint news conference with Trump.

Trump reaffirmed his desire at the news conference to address trade imbalances with Japan, saying he preferred one-on-one talks to negotiate a bilateral deal aimed at trimming the US trade deficit.

Japanese stocks rallied to a sevenweek high, partly due to relief that Trump did not mention the value of the yen or criticise Japan’s monetary policy.

While the leaders said they had agreed to have top advisers pursue talks, Abe made clear that differences remained in each country’s approach.

“On the US side, they are interested in a bilateral deal,” Abe told reporters. “Our country’s position is that TPP is the best for both of our countries,” he added, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

The TPP was sought by former Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump abandoned it during his first weeks in office, saying it was not a good deal for the United States.

“I don’t want to go back into TPP, but if they offered us a deal that I can’t refuse on behalf of the United States, I would do it,” Trump said.

“But I like bilateral better. I think it’s better for our country. I think it’s better for our workers, and I much would prefer a bilateral deal, a deal directly with Japan,” he added.

The next task is for US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japan’s Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi to lead talks on trade and reach a conclusion that is agreeable to both sides.

The director the White House’s National

be freed from “all accountability” under state criminal law.

Schneiderman, a Democrat in his eighth year as attorney general, has made his office a central figure in blue state challenges to Trump, tangling with the Republican president on such matters as consumer finance, the environment, immigration and the 2020 census. (RTRS)

Dems see Wisconsin ‘proving ground’:

Margo Miller thanked her hosts, covered herself in a blue poncho and headed back into the driving sleet Saturday morning, with Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, said on Tuesday the US government wants Japan to open up its politically sensitive agriculture market, but this is a move Japan is likely to resist.

Trump last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports that have been in place for about three weeks.

He said the tariffs had brought many countries to the negotiating able and that he may take them off of steel and aluminum imported from Japan if the two countries can come to a trade agreement.

Tarrif

The Trump administration granted temporary tariff exemptions to several other US allies but not Japan. Just after the tariffs took effect, South Korea agreed to a permanent steel exemption in exchange for a new quota that effectively cuts its steel shipments by 30 percent.

Abe said that Japanese steel and aluminum did not “exert any negative influence” on US security.

“It’s our position that the quality of Japanese products is high and many of these products are difficult to be replaced with. They are greatly contributing to US industries and employment,” Abe said.

Meanwhile, Trump said on Wednesday he hoped an unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be successful after a recent visit to Pyongyang by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, but warned he would call it off if he did not think it would produce results.

Trump told a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that his campaign of “maximum pressure” on North Korea would continue until Pyongyang gave up its nuclear weapons.

He also said Washington was negotiating for the release of three Americans held by North Korea and there was “a good chance of doing it.” He did not answer a reporter’s question as to whether that would be a condition

more doors to knock in this rural subdivision but with another new volunteer’s name on her clipboard.

Miller and about 50 other Democratic activists who braved the spring storm returned with 160 petition signatures for a special state Assembly campaign, a local sleeper election that Democrats hope will be anything but.

Since Republican Donald Trump’s surprise win in Wisconsin helped hand him the White House, Democrats like Miller have been channeling their anger and soulsearching into races close to home, racking up unexpected victories that are sounding

The newest members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) salute during their police academy graduation ceremony at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, on April 18 in New York City. Over 400 new officers were

sworn-in as official members of the NYPD during the ceremony. (AFP)

for going ahead with the summit.

“I hope to have a very successful meeting (with Kim),” Trump said in Palm Beach, Florida.

“If I think that it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we’re not going to go,” he added. If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting.”

Trump said earlier that Pompeo, one of his most trusted advisers and his pick to be the next US secretary of state, formed a “good relationship” with Kim when he became the first US official known to have met the North Korean leader.

US officials said Pompeo met Kim when he visited Pyongyang over the Easter weekend, which ran from March 31 to April 2, to lay the groundwork for the planned summit, in which Trump hopes to persuade North Korea to abandon development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

“Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea,” Trump tweeted earlier. “Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”

A senior administration official said Pompeo brought up the case of the three American prisoners with Kim in North Korea and that the United States was hopeful for their release.

Pompeo’s visit provided the strongest sign yet of Trump’s willingness to become the first serving US president to meet a North Korean leader.

Trump said on Tuesday he believed there was a lot of goodwill in the diplomatic push, which he has said could take place in late May or early June.

US officials said the visit by Pompeo was arranged by South Korean intelligence chief Suh Hoon with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, and was intended to assess whether Kim was prepared to hold serious talks about giving up his nuclear weapons.

alarms for Republicans across the country.

The epicenter of the Republican resurgence of eight years ago, Wisconsin is now the proving ground for the Democratic revival. The work of activists like Miller could play a key role in the fight for control of the House and Senate in midterm elections in November. But the goal is bigger. One door-knock at a time, Democrats are seeking to rebuild their hold on the Upper Midwest and, with it, their hopes of winning the White House in 2020. (AP)

FAA to order engines inspections:

The US Federal Aviation Administration said it will order inspection of about 220 aircraft engines as investigators have found that a broken fan blade touched off an engine explosion this week on a Southwest flight, killing a passenger.

The regulator said late on Wednesday it plans to finalize the air-worthiness directive within the next two weeks. The order, which it initially proposed in August following an incident in 2016, will require ultrasonic inspection within the next six months of the fan blades on all CFM56-7B engines that have accrued a certain number of takeoffs.

Airlines said that because fan blades may have been repaired and moved to other engines, the order would affect far more than 220 of the CFM56-7Bs, which are made by a partnership of France’s Safran and General Electric.

The CFM56 engine on Southwest flight 1380 blew apart over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, about 20 minutes after the Dallasbound flight left New York’s LaGuardia Airport with 149 people on board. The explosion sent shrapnel ripping into the fuselage of the Boeing 737-700 plane and shattered a window. (RTRS)