Apr 7, 2017 - Politics & Policy

New sanctions on Syria and a trade plan with China announced

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

Three pieces of news came out of a briefing with pool reporters in Florida Friday afternoon:

  1. Syria sanctions: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the U.S. will announce new sanctions on Syria soon "as part of our ongoing effort to stop this kind of activity."
  2. China trade plan: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also announced there is a 100-day action plan on trade with China, which he said would include "weigh-stations of accomplishment." Ross added it "may be ambitious, but it's a very big sea change in the pace of discussion."
  3. Trump will visit China this year. But the dates aren't announced yet.

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Dan Primack
47 mins ago - Economy & Business

There's little consensus on TikTok's specific national security threat

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

TikTok has become a Rorschach test for how U.S. politicians view China, with little consensus on the specifics of its threat to homeland security.

The big picture: Much of what D.C. fears about TikTok is fear itself, and that's reflected in President Trump's executive order to ban the app by Sept. 20 if it's not sold by parent company ByteDance — alongside another focused on Chinese messaging app WeChat and its parent company Tencent.

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Ursula Perano
54 mins ago - World

U.S. sanctions Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam

Photo: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department on Friday placed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, following months of tension as she has allowed continued overreach by Beijing to subvert Hong Kong's autonomy.

Why it matters: It's the toughest sanction yet imposed on China for its destruction of Hong Kong’s relatively free political system.

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Ben Geman
1 hour ago - Energy & Environment

GM's high-stakes electric move

The Cadillac Lyriq. Image courtesy of Cadillac

Cadillac on Thursday unveiled the Lyriq, the luxury brand's first all-electric model and GM's first consumer electric vehicle unveil since the Chevy Bolt several years ago.

Why it matters: It's the first reveal by GM of an electric vehicle that will use the company's new modular platform and Ultium battery system — technologies meant to underpin the 20 electric vehicles that GM plans to launch by 2023.

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