Trump sides with Mnuchin on investment
WASHINGTON –– President Donald Trump said Tuesday he favors using a U.S. committee that scrutinizes foreign acquisitions of American companies to limit investments in sensitive American technologies.
Mr. Trump’s remarks at the White House appeared to align him with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in an administration debate over how to curb Chinese acquisition of U.S. intellectual property. Mr. Mnuchin has advised using the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. instead of declaring an economic emergency and invoking a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Mr. Trump said China would not be the only target, but his March 22 order directing the Treasury Department to consider options on curbing investment restrictions singled out China.
Congress has been working on legislation to alter CFIUS. If passed, foreign investors seeking to buy U.S. companies would face stricter regulations.
Intra-Korean rail plans
SEOUL, South Korea — The Koreas agreed Tuesday to jointly study ways to improve North Korea’s outdated railways and link them with the South, as they continued to take conciliatory steps amid efforts to resolve the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons.
Talks at the border village of Panmunjom covered ways to carry out peace commitments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The agreement to start joint inspections of North Korea’s railways on July 24 was apparently as far as the rivals could go at the moment. Vows to upgrade infrastructure will remain aspirational until international sanctions against North Korea are lifted.
Guatemala meeting set
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen plan to meet with Central American leaders in Guatemala Thursday to discuss the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, said an aide to the vice president.
The U.S. initiated the meeting with the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the official said. The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended far more citizens of those three countries than any other illegally crossing the border last year.
President Trump caused international furor, then reversed course last week on a “zero tolerance” policy of child separation at the border. The president promised to press forward with tough border enforcement.
Mr. Pence is currently on a previously planned trip through Latin America.
Mattis lands in Beijing
BEIJING — Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived Tuesday in Beijing in the first visit to China by a Pentagon chief in four years. It comes as Beijing and Washington navigate a trade dispute and tensions related to China’s military presence in the South China Sea.
Mr. Matt is recently accused China of“intimidation and coercion” placing surface-to air missile sand other military equipment on contested islands The Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam claims to parts of the sea.
Mr. Mattis will meet President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking Chinese officials before continuing to South Korea and Japan.