Ex-Trump adviser Carl Icahn sold $31m in shares days before president announced new steel tariffs Icahn served as special economic adviser to the President - Independent

2/3/2018

Ex-Trump adviser Carl Icahn sold $31m in shares days before president announced new steel tariffs

Icahn served as special economic adviser to the President

Andrew Buncombe New York @AndrewBuncombe

Mr Icahn sold $30m Getty

​A billionaire investor and long-time ally of Donald Trump, sold more than $30m of shares in a company that depends heavily on steel, only days before the President announced plans to introduce tariffs on imports of the metal.

Carl Icahn, who served as special economic adviser to the President before he resigned when a magazine article highlighted potential conflicts of interest, got rid of a total of $31.3m of stock in Manitowoc Company Inc. The company describes itself as a leading manufacturer of cranes and requires a large quantity of steel.

Think Progress reported the 82-year-old began selling stocks on February 12, less than two weeks before the Trump administration announced its plan to impose taxes on imported steel and aluminium. It based its report on a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 22, which showed Mr Icahn sold nearly a million shares of Manitowoc.

Donald Trump unveils new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to US

Earlier this week, Mr Trump announced he was going to introduce a 25 per cent levy on important steel and 10 per cent on imported aluminium. While some welcomed Mr Trump’s proposal, many both within the US and overseas, criticised them and warned on a potential trade war.

Mr Trump later said a trade war would be a good thing for the US.

“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy.”

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The report said Mr Trump’s decision resulted in the shares in steel and aluminium producing firms jumping. Meanwhile, shares of firms heavily depending on the substances, saw major declines. The value of Manitowoc Co fell by more than 6 per cent.

Mr Icahn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un meets South Korean envoys - BBC News

5/3/2018

North Korea's Kim Jong-un meets South Korean envoys

Chung Eui-yong (centre) and Suh Hoon (second left) are among the delegates going to North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is hosting a dinner for two South Korean delegates, the first time officials from Seoul have met the young leader since he took office in 2011.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the dinner, quoting a South Korean presidential spokesman.

The delegation is in Pyongyang for rare talks partly aimed at restarting dialogue between the North and the US.

Relations between the Koreas have warmed following the Olympics.

In an unprecedented move the delegation includes two ministerial-level envoys - intelligence chief Suh Hoon and National Security adviser Chung Eui-yong.

North Korean state radio said the delegation was met by Ri Son-gwon, North Korea's reunification chief, who led talks in the weeks before the Winter Olympics.

During the two-day visit, the South Korean group will focus on establishing conditions for talks aimed at getting rid of the North's nuclear weapons as well as dialogue between the US and Pyongyang.

Mr Chung had earlier told a press briefing he would deliver President Moon Jae-in's "resolution to maintain the dialogue and improvement in relations between the South and the North... [and] to denuclearize the Korean peninsula".

"I plan to hold in-depth discussions on various ways to continue talks between not only the South and the North, but also the North and the United States," he added.

'US is not interested in talks'

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US would be prepared to meet North Korea, but reiterated that Pyongyang would first have to "denuke".

However, North Korea - which has said it wants to talk to the US - said it was "preposterous" for the US to insist on preconditions.

"The US attitude shown after we clarified our intention for dialogue compels us to only think that the US is not interested in resuming... dialogue," said the foreign ministry in a statement reported by state media.

It's remains unclear who would represent the US in any such meeting.

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The top US diplomat on North Korea Joseph Yun announced his decision to retire earlier last week, a departure which could hamper the Trump administration.

Analysts believe that Mr Yun was very much in favour of compromise and diplomacy with North Korea.

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The relationship between the US and North Korea were particularly tense before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, with both countries repeatedly threatening each other with total destruction.

But the Games saw the two countries march together under a single flag - the outcome of the first inter-Korean talks in two years.

The question now being asked is whether North Korea's participation in the Paralympics, starting this week, can lead to an even bigger breakthrough.

The US has distanced itself from the North Korean overtures during the Games.

US Vice-President Mike Pence has said there is "no daylight" between the US and its regional allies on the need to "continue to isolate North Korea economically and diplomatically until they abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

China NPC: Government sets trillion yuan military budget - BBC News

5/3/2018

China NPC: Government sets trillion yuan military budget

China has the world's largest army and has focused on modernising it in recent years

China has announced a military budget of 1.11 trillion yuan ($175bn; £126bn) for the coming year.

The figure, an 8% increase on last year, was announced as the annual meeting of parliament got under way in Beijing.

Prime Minister Li Keqiang also set a target of 6.5% growth for the economy.

The National People's Congress (NPC) is also expected to remove the two-term presidential limit, enabling Xi Jinping to remain in office indefinitely.

The move, which was long expected but has been controversial even in China, has helped cement Mr Xi's status as the most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong.

Thousands of Chinese legislators at Monday's meeting burst into applause when the plan to scrap the two-term limit was read out to the chamber. The vote on the proposal will take place on 11 March and is expected to be unanimously approved.

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The NPC is largely a rubberstamp parliament, endorsing decisions already made by the Communist Party.

Its delegates, about 3,000 of them representing all provinces and regions, are technically elected, but in practice, hand-picked by the Party.

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The gathering takes place under tight security - known dissidents are routinely removed from the capital before it takes place.

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The government has said it will focus on three main goals over the coming year: tackling China's exposure to financial risk, reining in rampant pollution and continuing to combat poverty.

In his opening report to parliament, Mr Li said the army must be "strong as stone" in the face of "profound changes in the national security environment".

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The increased spending, announced in a budget report, is seen as a good indication of China's strategic ambitions, as it continues to modernise its army - the world's largest - and develop its infrastructure in contested areas like the South China Sea and its Himalayan border regions.

While expected, the spending increase will further unnerve China's regional rivals.

Many of China's regional delegates attend in traditional dress as a show of diversity

China is now the world's second largest economy. After years of rapid growth, millions have been lifted out of poverty and there is a ballooning middle class.

There are also some 100 billionaires in China. Many of them are members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body, which is also meeting this week.

But a reliance on borrowing to fuel this growth has led to pressing political concerns about debt risk.

As expected, Mr Li's report said reining in this risk would be a key policy for the coming year, promising to "see that internal risk controls are tightened in financial institutions" and a "serious crackdown on activities that violate the law like illegal fundraising and financial fraud".

This could indicate further action like that taken against insurance giant Anbang, which was last month taken over by insurance regulators.

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Mr Li set the growth target - the amount by which the economy is expected to continue expanding - at 6.5%, slightly lower than the 6.9% growth achieved in 2017.

On the horizon, as China lays out it financial ambitions, is a potential trade war brewing with the US, as the Trump administration pursues its policy of shifting the global balance in trade.

The NPC takes place with tight security and very little opportunity for opponents to challenge the leadership

China's trade surplus with the US reached an all-time high of $275.81bn in 2017.

President Donald Trump has already announced steep new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to address what he calls "very stupid" trade deals, and has threatened further measures targeting Chinese imports specifically.

NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui said on Sunday that while China does not want a trade war "if the US takes actions that hurt Chinese interests, China will not sit idly by".

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Mr Li also on Monday issued a fresh warning to Taiwan nationalists, saying Beijing "will never tolerate any separatist schemes or activities for 'Taiwan independence",

Beijing considers self-ruling Taiwan to be a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country again, though many in Taiwan want a separate nation.

US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in historic Vietnam visit - BBC News

5/3/2018

US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in historic Vietnam visit

The nuclear-powered carrier set anchor off the port city of Danang

US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is making a historic call at Vietnam, the first time a ship of this size has visited since the Vietnam War ended.

The nuclear-powered carrier set anchor off the port city of Danang, where US combat troops first landed in the war, making this a highly symbolic location.

The visit is meant to demonstrate the countries' growing military ties.

But analysts say it inevitably sends a message to China as it continues to develop the disputed South China Sea.

It comes as China announced a military budget of 1.11 trillion yuan, an 8% increase on last year, as its annual meeting of parliament got under way in Beijing.

The BBC's Jonathan Head, who is in Danang, says that while co-operation between the US and Vietnam's military has grown it is still limited, and Vietnam has to manage the messaging of this visit carefully.

China is now the de facto superpower in this region, and by far the most important trading partner for Vietnam.

So Vietnam's communist leadership is taking care to avoid any steps that might upset relations with its giant neighbour, our correspondent says.

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China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including reefs and islands also claimed by other nations. Vietnam specifically exercises claims over the Paracel and Spratly islands.

The USS Carl Vinson is a so-called "Nimitz-class" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and supports thousands of sailors and pilots

The US has always said it does not take sides in the South China Sea dispute, but the US Navy has consistently run so-called "freedom of navigation" operations through disputed waters, a clear challenge to China's territorial ambitions.

The USS Carl Vinson has made many journeys to the wider region in its decades of service and was last in the sea just days ago.

Danang was a major US military base during the Vietnam War. The docking of the vast vessel, which can support up to 90 aircraft, will represent the largest US military presence in Vietnam since the end of many years of bitter conflict and after the country was unified in 1975.

The Vietnam War - which Vietnam calls the American War - was protracted and bloody. The Vietnamese government estimates that millions of Vietnamese, both civilian and Communist fighters, were killed. Just over 58,000 American soldiers were killed or went missing in action.

Only a symbolic message: Jonathan Head, BBC News, Danang

The presence of a US aircraft carrier in Danang, one which will be conducting so-called "freedom of navigation" passages through the disputed areas of the South China Sea, also sends a potentially provocative message to China - but only a symbolic one.

To date US expressions of concern over China's actions in the sea have had no discernable impact on the construction of military facilities there.

The US carrier strike group looks impressive, but it is not clear what it can actually do to restrain China. Even as Vietnam's top brass enjoy watching the full might of the superpower they once fought now paying court as a would-be ally, they must remain mindful of the continuing historic shift in the balance of power in their region away from the United States, in favour of China.