Apr 25, 2017

Wilbur Ross says Canada's milk rules are a sign of NAFTA issues

Frank Franklin II / AP

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dove into the Trump administration's stricter enforcement of trade deals while speaking on CNBC's Squawk Box Tuesday morning. Key takeaways:

Trade war with Canada: "I wouldn't regard the Canadian situation as being anything like the war with ISIS, but it certainly is a very precise set of tariffs on a very precise set of imports."
Free trade: "The other countries that talk about free trade are really very protectionist — Europe, China, Japan. So they have the rhetoric of free trade, but the reality of protectionism. That set of facts is not going to be permitted to continue."
Canadian dairy taxes: "It seems a little strange to me you would effectively prohibit dairy products from the U.S. going into Canada... it basically is very, very protectionist... you have some signs that NAFTA is not working very well."

Go deeper

Fadel Allassan

19 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Filing suggests Manhattan DA is investigating Trump for possible fraud

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

The Manhattan District Attorney's office suggested for the first time Monday that it's investigating President Trump and his company for "alleged bank and insurance fraud," the New York Times first reported.

The state of play: The disclosure was made in a filing in federal court that seeks to force accounting firm Mazars USA to comply with a subpoena for eight years of Trump's personal and corporate tax returns.

Go deeper (1 min. read)

Axios

Updated 41 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1 p.m. ET: 18,139,438 — Total deaths: 690,452 — Total recoveries — 10,751,618 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 1 p.m. ET: 4,682,461 — Total deaths: 154,965 — Total recoveries: 1,468,689 — Total tests: 56,812,162 — Map.
Politics: White House will require staff to undergo randomized coronavirus testing — Pelosi says Birx "enabled" Trump on misinformation.
Business: Virtual school is another setback for retail — The pandemic hasn't hampered health care.
Public health: Former FDA chief says MLB outbreaks should be warning sign for schools.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)

Fadel Allassan

1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

House Democrats subpoena top Pompeo aides in probe of IG firing

Mike Pompeo. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images

The Democratic chairs of the House Oversight and House Foreign Affairs committees announced subpoenas Monday for four State Department officials as part of their investigation into the firing of former Inspector General Steve Linick.

Why it matters: The two committees, in addition to Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are investigating whether Linick was fired because he was probing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department's attempts to bypass Congress to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.