The president keeps denying he knows Lev Parnas. Parnas helped Rudy Giuliani get close to Ukraine officials in order to force Zelensky to open an investigation that would hurt Joe Biden. Parnas decided he would tell what he knows about the Zelensky takedown in order to get a reduced sentence when the Southern District of New York fries his butt for illegal campaign contributions and several other charges.
It turns out Lev worked for Fred Trump when he was sixteen. Parnas was a frequent player at Trump’s Washington Hotel. Parnas claims the hotel is a meeting place for mobsters and Congressmen that want to stay in Trump’s good graces and make deals that cross legal boundaries. Mr. Parnas has several pictures of him with the Trumpster. But the president told the press he doesn’t know Rudy’s Ukraine henchman.
The phase one deal with China is not as great as it sounds. According to the EU, the agreement violates a WTO law that says a country can’t put trade pressure on another country. When that happens, the basic law of letting price and competition set the stage for trade, disappears. In other words, Trump forced China to agree to buy $200 billion worth of American products, and that disrupts China’s ability to trade with other countries.
It’s doubtful the Chinese can live up to the agreement. The agreement has a clause that give China an out. The products they agreed to buy must be price in line with the competition. China could force American farmers to drop prices because they can buy the same products from Brazil or Argentina at a lower price and get better delivery terms.
Phase one does take the spotlight off the real trade issue. The tech part of the deal is still on the table. The Chinese won’t agree to stop subsidizing their tech companies. And they won’t let Trump change their capitalistic laws to make look like a trade hero and the Huawei slayer.
A Canadian court will decide if Meng Wanzhou committed fraud when she allegedly used a Hong Kong shell company to do business with Iran next week. If the court sides with the prosecution, Meng gets a one-way ticket to the United States. That would erode Canada’s already shaky relationship with China. If the court drops the charges, Trump will punish Canada. Trump’s not a Trudeau fan. When Melania gave Justin some of her Eastern European sugar at last year’s G20 summit, the Trumpster orange face turned red.
