Macron, Russians, Nepal, Trump Tariffs, Homaro Cantu, Instacart, WIP

Macron, Russians, Nepal, Trump Tariffs, Homaro Cantu, Instacart, WIP

Marc Ross Daily
April 6, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ Macron sets out overhaul of French parliament

✔️ Trump administration punishes Russians

✔️ Nepal's PM walks tightrope on India visit

✔️  Trump orders officials to look at $100 billion in new Chinese tariffs

✔️ Ds crowd midterm field, banking on turnout surge
 

GEOECONOMICS

@AP: BREAKING: Trump administration punishes 7 Russian oligarchs, 17 government officials with sanctions.

Macron sets out overhaul of French parliament: FT reports, plans to reduce seats, use more PR and simplify procedure put in train

Merkel and Trump are planning talks in Washington on April 27.

Anti-migrant party urged to ditch Silvio Berlusconi: The Times, the leader of Five Star Movement has challenged the anti-migrant party League to dump ally Silvio Berlusconi and join forces in a populist government instead. The Italian president has begun talks to patch together a new government after the elections on March 4produced a hung parliament.

Carlos Puigdemont, a wanted man in Spain for having led Catalonia’s unconstitutional referendum on independence last year, was released on bail by a German court.

Nepal's prime minister walks tightrope on India visit: Nikkei reports, courted by Delhi and Beijing, Oli wants to extract investments from both

Trump orders officials to look at $100 billion in new Chinese tariffs: The Hill reports, Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to consider slapping $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, escalating a heated trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. The move comes one day after China proposed $50 billion in tariffs on a variety of US goods in response to Trump’s own tariff threat.  "In light of China’s unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate," Trump said in a statement issued by the White House.

WP: Trump seeks additional tariffs on $100 billion of Chinese goods in escalation of trade confrontation

AP: China vows to fight US ‘at any cost’ as trade spat worsens

@CNBCnow: BREAKING: China will not hesitate with 'major response' to new tariffs - Ministry of Commerce

@AFP: #UPDATE China calls on the EU to take a joint stand against US protectionism as the tit-for-tat trade rift between Washington and Beijing threatened to entangle Europe http://u.afp.com/oqDF

Why China is confident it can beat Trump in a trade war: NYT reports, China’s leaders sound supremely confident that they can win a trade war with President Trump. “China is not afraid of a trade war,” the vice minister of finance, Zhu Guangyao, declared at a news conference to discuss possible countermeasures. More than once, he cited the history of the “new China” — which began its extraordinary economic revival four decades ago — as evidence that it would “never succumb to external pressure.”

CNBC: US-China Business Council president on negotiating with China: John Frisbie, US-China Business Council president, discusses the outlook for the US-China trade environment as both countries announce tit-for-tat tariffs against each other. https://cnb.cx/2GXaaPB

Bloomberg TV: John Frisbie says the business community want US, China to come to the table: US-China Business Council President John Frisbie discusses trade tariffs and who gets hurt from a trade war. He speaks with Alix Steel on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas." https://bloom.bg/2JowBva

AMERICAN POLITICS

Democrats crowd midterm field, banking on turnout surge: WSJ reports, Democrats are fielding challengers for nearly every Republican House incumbent this year, including some of the reddest territory in the country, in a radical change from the last midterm election in 2014.

In an already tough election year, Dana Rohrabacher is struggling with his own party: LAT reports, The Orange County Republican has drawn more than a half-dozen Democratic challengers, some of whom have raised more cash than the 15-term congressman. Election handicappers declared his race a toss-up, protesters have shown up at his home and district office, and Rohrabacher's name has frequently come up during the investigation into Russian election meddling because of his connections to key figures in the inquiry. Then Scott Baugh, a well-known Republican who spent more than a decade leading the county party, decided to run against him. https://lat.ms/2HaBcjW

Vice interview with Trey Gowdy - make time to watch it - the truth is ugly: Republican Trey Gowdy Was Known For Being Hyperpartisan — Until Trump http://bit.ly/2H5bujc

Trump will skip this year WHCA dinner.

@BenSasse: Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam, but setting Amer agriculture on fire is not a plan. 

Crain's Detroit Business: How Michigan businesses would be affected by China tariffs http://bit.ly/2IAL722

News Observer: ‘It really hits North Carolina’: China goes after tobacco in latest tariff fight http://bit.ly/2EmVbc9

The Jersey Journal - Editorial: Is the threat of a US-China trade war anything more than sabre rattling?

Trump’s easy campaign promises run into the difficulties of reality: WP reports, Freed from the caution of former advisers, Trump has spent recent weeks returning to the gut-level basics that got him elected: tough talk on China, a promise of an immigration crackdown and an isolationist approach to national security.  Several people who have spoken to the president say he is telling advisers that he is finally expediting the policies that got him elected and is more comfortable without a number of aides around him who were tempering his instincts. And he often cites rising poll numbers in recent weeks as a reason he should do it his own way, these people said. 

Top 20% of Americans will pay 87% of income tax https://on.wsj.com/2HeaGGB

John Kasich is back in New Hampshire. It’s not for the foliage. NYT reports, on the itinerary for the Ohio governor and 2016 presidential hopeful: a diner visit, a Q. and A. at a college and criticism of President Trump amid speculation about a 2020 run.

Patagonia vs. Donald Trump: We all knew the legendary outerwear company Patagonia lived and breathed the adventurous life. We knew they cared about the environment. But it wasn’t till Trump came along that we realized they were ready to fight. http://bit.ly/2q9EdK7

ENTERPRISE

Amazon is considering whether to use Alexa to launch a person-to-person payments feature.

Bon Appetit: What's the Deal with the Food at T.J. Maxx? A look inside the sourcing of America's messiest (and most eccentric) discount pantry. http://bit.ly/2GzQ0LX

WSJ: GE urged to dump auditor KPMG after 109 years by proxy advisers

Nine West reportedly could file for bankruptcy protection as soon as today.

Instacart has raised another $150 million from existing investors like Coatue Management.

MGM Resorts has made "back-channel" approaches to Wynn Resorts about a takeover.

Tencent shows off their vision for the future of unmanned retail http://bit.ly/2GEo7T2

“WeChat payment, whether in retail, catering or other formats, is gradually promoting and cooperating with the entire retail industry in China, including department stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores. There is no one format that does not support WeChat payment.” 

TRENDS

Another 10 promising retail technology ventureshttp://bit.ly/2IukED5

"Having rooms with business model canvases, sharpies and sticky notes is not innovation culture." -- @tendayiviki

@ThisIsSethsBlog: Words on slides http://tinyurl.com/ya9vm2j6

Four key lessons in entrepreneurship from the hottest names in hip-hop http://bit.ly/2Ep6Bwl

1. They just start
2. The tools are practically free
3. Make language your leverage
4. Everything’s a WIP (work in progress)

CULTURE

LAT: Al Pacino portrays beloved and disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in new HBO film

Meet the shoe surgeon, whose sneaker designs sell for up to $10,000: WSJ reports, LA-based Dominic Chambrone takes sneakerhead devotion and expertise to the next level. https://on.wsj.com/2GGFVJh

The life and death of Homaro Cantu, the genius chef who wanted to change the world: Guardian reports, how a homeless child grew up to become the most inventive chef in history. http://bit.ly/2uSkVh5

SOTD

A Flock of Seagulls- Space Age Love Song http://bit.ly/2HeJI1D

SPORT

I've been there: Sergio Gárcia, the defending Masters champion, was front and center of an extraordinary scene on the return to the course which yielded his greatest triumph as he took 13 strokes at the par-five 15th.

Masters leaderboard:

1 -  Jordan Spieth -6
T2 -  Tony Finau -4
T2 -  Matt Kuchar -4
T4 -  Henrik Stenson -3
T4 -  Adam Hadwin -3
T4 -  Patrick Reed -3
T4 -  Charley Hoffman -3
T4 -  Hao-Tong Li -3
T4 -  Rory McIlroy -3
T4 -  Rafael Cabrera-Bello -3

WSJ - Jason Gay: My Masters is Paris-Roubaix. Golf is fun, but on Sunday morning, cycling offers a rock fight for the ageshttps://on.wsj.com/2HaChs0

Women on the verge: Outside Magazine reports, the champions, trendsetters, and fighters reshaping the outside world. http://bit.ly/2q9dZYl

Cellphone Spying, Industrial Goods, Trade War, Shopping Malls, Mark Zuckerberg

Cellphone Spying, Industrial Goods, Trade War, Shopping Malls, Mark Zuckerberg

Marc Ross Daily
April 4, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ US suspects cellphone spying devices in DC

✔️ Trump lays out tariff plans for Chinese industrial goods

✔️ China strikes at US farming as soybeans enter trade war

✔️ Zuckerberg will speak to the House on April 11

✔️ Shopping malls moving more toward overall experience

GEOECONOMICS

US suspects cellphone spying devices in DC: AP reports, for the first time, the US government has publicly acknowledged the existence in Washington of what appear to be rogue devices that foreign spies and criminals could be using to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages. The use of what are known as cellphone-site simulators by foreign powers has long been a concern, but American intelligence and law enforcement agencies — which use such eavesdropping equipment themselves — have been silent on the issue until now. The devices work by tricking mobile devices into locking onto them instead of legitimate cell towers, revealing the exact location of a particular cellphone. More sophisticated versions can eavesdrop on calls by forcing phones to step down to older, unencrypted 2G wireless technology. Some attempt to plant malware.

McMaster denounces Putin and his “pernicious form of aggression.”

India is rushing to complete its ambitious infrastructure plan before the next elections, and is spending a record $18 billion this year to build highways and improve roads across the nation.

62: For the first time since gaining independence in 1947, India now spends more on defense than its former colonial power in the UK. 

Italy: Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s president, will today start talks aimed at giving his country a government. An election last month bequeathed it a hung parliament. Perhaps the least unnatural solution would be an all-populist coalition between the biggest party, the Five Star Movement and the hard-right League. 

US market futures are in the red amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China.

Trump lays out tariff plans for Chinese industrial goods: FT reports, the Trump administration revealed plans for a 25 percent tariff on 1,333 Chinese products ranging from industrial robots to locomotives in retaliation for what it said had been decades of state-backed intellectual property theft by Beijing. The list released on Tuesday covers imports worth some $50bn last year and represents the most aggressive US trade response to China’s actions since President Richard Nixon normalized diplomatic relations in the 1970s.

LAT: Trump administration ramps up trade war with China by releasing list of new tariffs

AP:US proposes tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports

Pro-tip: These are "proposed tariffs"

China strikes at US farming as soybeans enter trade war: Bloomberg reports, soybeans have finally entered the US-China trade war. China’s Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday said it plans to impose 25 percent duties on imports of the commodity in addition to other U.S. agricultural produce including wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco and beef. They’re among 106 products ranging from aircraft to chemicals targeted by Beijing in retaliation against proposed American duties on its high-tech goods.

The US exported almost $14 billion of soybeans to China last year, over a tenth of total exports to the Asian country. 

WP: China fires back at Trump, vows to impose tariffs on more US products, including soybeans

SCMP: China slaps extra 25 percent tariffs on 106 US imports as trade war nears

FT: Trade wars of 2018 have just begun

Question for the White House - where are we going with all this? The US is trying to stop China's well-laid economic growth plans, which it almost certainly won't be able to do. And what happens if China dumps US stocks, or stops buying US debt? What happens when Chinese stop buying iPhones, Buicks, and Nikes. 

AMERICAN POLITICS

Special Counsel Robert Mueller informed Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions. 

Politico: The most powerful lobbyist in Trump’s Washington. Hint: It’s not Corey Lewandowski. https://politi.co/2q1jbNJ

Since Gary Cohn quit and Trump announced his plan to institute a new round of tariffs, the S&P 500 is down roughly 5%. This number to the downside will grow today.

Trump’s tariffs are hurting American factories after prices skyrocket: Bloomberg reports, Here’s one way to assess Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum: America’s factories already aren’t feeling so great. The tariff announcement helped send a measure of raw-material prices paid to an almost seven-year high in March, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing survey showed Monday. About 32 percent of the respondents’ comments related to the threat of duties, ranging from the potential for higher costs to concern about limited availability around production schedules, according to Timothy Fiore, chairman of the group’s factory survey committee.

China finds California wine pairs well with a trade war: NYT reports, retaliatory tariffs are a blow to exporters increasingly catering to young, newly wealthy Chinese looking for bottles with cachet. https://nyti.ms/2GRjpAM

@JoshuaGreen: New Chinese tariffs this morning could have bigeffect on US midterms. Per Bloomberg data, biggest soybean producers include Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana.

CA-GOV: 27 different candidates are slated to appear on California’s gubernatorial primary ballot on June 5. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will proceed to the general election this fall. The two top contenders are Democrats Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa.

ENTERPRISE

WSJ: Fox says Disney could buy UK's Sky News

Amber Baldet, who was heading up JPMorgan Chase's Quorum blockchain team, is setting up her own business. 

BOF: Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren betting on denim revival

North Face is committing to having an equal number of men and women in all its advertising moving forward.

Shopping malls moving more toward overall experience and designers will probably try to squeeze more profits out of a smaller amount of retail space with more emphasis on mixed-use.

Martin Sorrell is being investigated for alleged improper use of company funds. The long-standing chief executive, under whose leadership WPP became the world’s largest advertising agency, denied wrongdoing but said the board was right to investigate.

Spotify stock closed its first day of trading at $149.01 giving the music streaming giant a market cap of around $26.6 billion.

Apple has snapped up John Giannandrea, Google's outgoing search and artificial intelligence engineering chief, to head up its own AI strategy. 

Western payments groups play long game in China: FT reports, mobile payments market is 50 times bigger than what the US offers.

Russian trolls: Facebook is banning 270 Facebook and Instagram accounts run by Russia's Internet Research Agency.

Mark Zuckerberg will speak to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11. 

TRENDS

Recode: What this Silicon Valley VC learned on the ‘Rust Belt Safari’: There are plenty of ways for tech to play in the “comeback cities” of the heartland. http://bit.ly/2Efi3uc

I loathe the term Rust Belt.

20 percent: Percentage of renters who have no interest in owning a home, according to the latest from a semiannual Freddie Mac survey. 

CULTURE

NYT: Disgraced by scandal, Mario Batali is eyeing his second act

Mountain bike excursions, cheaper WiFi, and better food: Welcome to cruise 2.0 https://wapo.st/2pGhAwF

MLK: Fifty years ago today, the Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed as he was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

SOTD

U2 - Pride ( In The Name Of Love) http://bit.ly/2H98gsR

SPORT

Sebastian Steudtner big wave surfing at Nazare, Portugal: Watch this http://bit.ly/2H8niyI

Philadelphia: It's the first time that the Super Bowl Champions and the NCAA Basketball Champion are from the same city.

March Madness: Ratings for Turner's coverage of the NCAA men's basketball national championship game sunk to a new low, down 28 percent from CBS' broadcast of last year's game. Carrying the game on cable was always going to mean fewer viewers than on broadcast, and the blowout didn't help.

NAFTA, Shinzo Abe, US-China, John Bolton, Rag & Bone

NAFTA, Shinzo Abe, US-China, John Bolton, Rag & Bone

Marc Ross Daily
April 3, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ Industry giants push back on looming China trade action

✔️ John Bolton, cyber warrior

✔️ More than 25 million people went on a cruise in 2017

✔️ Mueller probe into UAE influence broadens

✔️ Indie bookstores grow in the age of Amazon

ROSS RANT

Sure, China is a competitor, but it's also a marketplace

Much of the press coverage on the current state of US-China commercial relations is focused on competition, and not enough on the market for American goods and services.

China as a competitor has been dominating press headlines for years. Candidates seeking high office in the United States have been informing voters that China is a competitor and the only solution is tough action. Political columnists use China to score easy points and advance one-sided protectionist remedies.

Years of one-sided opinion is having a negative impact on US-China commercial relations and is fostering a tit-for-tat retaliatory tariff environment.

In the United States, negative views of China have increased by 26 percentage points between 2006 and 2016. And American negativity towards China has been higher than Chinese negativity toward the United States in every year since 2014.

A January 2017 Pew Research survey of Americans found that 65 percent of respondents said China is either an adversary (22 percent) or a serious problem (43 percent), while only about a third (31 percent) said China is not an issue.

And in a separate Spring 2016 survey by Pew Research, a majority (55 percent) of Americans held an unfavorable opinion of what more and more Americans see as their largest Asian rival.

This hostile environment is the public affairs reality that American business is facing right now.

Many now see China, one of America's most significant and most promising markets, as a loser for US business. Unfortunately, this belief is fertile ground for politicians supporting protectionist policies and trade halting tariffs. Actions that if successfully passed would force Beijing to respond with retaliatory trade tactics including increased limits stifling full access to the growing Chinese consumer marketplace for American goods and services.

It is time for those that care about a productive and engaged US-China commercial relationship to take these polls seriously and engage Americans in Main Street coffee shops and at picnic tables for backyard BBQs.

For far too long American business has overly relied on a model dependent on high-level government relationships and support from the White House and corresponding federal agencies to manage the US-China relationship.

This model to manage the US-China relationship is exhausted and broken.

US companies exported $135 billion in goods to China in 2017, and it is still the third-largest US goods export market behind Canada and Mexico, our neighbors and NAFTA partners.

Thirty states experienced at least triple-digit goods export growth to China since 2006, and four states saw growth of more than 500 percent over the same period: Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, and South Carolina. Every US state had triple-digit services export growth to China since 2006, 16 states had export growth of more than 400 percent.

At a grassroots level, it is critical to remind Americans US goods and services exported to China come from a wide range of industries. Goods such as transportation equipment, agriculture products, computers and electronics, and chemicals. These exports also sustain logistics jobs in America’s ports and warehouses throughout the country.  Also, US services exports come from the travel, education, and transportation sectors as well as professional business and financial services.

Leaders of American business needs to play a decisive role in reversing this trend and ensuring American goods and services reach the ever-expanding Chinese marketplace. Sitting on the sidelines will be too detrimental for America's economic security. 

GEOECONOMICS

Trump pushing for preliminary NAFTA deal by mid-April, sources say: Bloomberg reports, The White House wants leaders from Canada and Mexico to join in unveiling the broad outlines of an updated pact at the Summit of the Americas that begins April 13.  

Trump will welcome PM Shinzo Abe of Japan to Mar-a-Lago from April 17-18, 2018.

China to start paying for oil in yuan as early as this year: report: Asia Times reports, Beijing is forging ahead in its efforts to internationalize the yuan, with sources saying this week that China may begin paying for crude oil with the local unit as early as this year. 

Industry giants push back on looming China trade action: NYT reports, as the United States prepares stiff trade measures and China retaliates, stock markets have plummeted and some of America’s biggest companies have lodged objections. The idea of addressing China’s unfair trade practices is popular, but details of President Trump’s plan have set off fierce opposition.

Trump to unveil China tariff list this week, targeting tech goods: Reuters reports, the Trump administration this week plans to introduce a list of $50 billion to $60 billion worth of annual Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs as part of an effort to punish China over its technology transfer policies. Administration officials have said that the US Trade Representative's office is expected to publish the list, which is expected to target "largely high-technology" products, by Friday. 

The US wrote the rules for global trade. Now China is using them against Trump. WP reports, the Chinese government designed its first concrete response to President Trump’s recent wave of protectionist policies to inflict noticeable political and economic pain upon the United States while remaining within the bounds of global trade rules. China imposed tariffs on a relatively modest $3 billion in American imports. But by hitting numerous products, including fruit, wine, ginseng and pork, that affect congressional districts across the country, China demonstrated that it can exert pressure within the American system.

Anchorage Daily News: Here’s what the Trump-China trade negotiations could mean for Alaska’s gas pipeline http://bit.ly/2q3TTxw

"Working on the premises that US-China trade relations don't escalate into a tit-for-tat imposition of tariffs across a host of sectors, LNG presents a real opportunity for the U.S. and China to forge common ground (and economic benefit)," said Jamian Ronca Spadavecchia, managing director at Oxbow Advisory, where he works on business, trade and government policy analysis. 

AMERICAN POLITICS

John Bolton, cyber warrior: Politico reports, John Bolton has spent years imploring the US to go on the attack in cyberspace — a stance that some digital warfare experts caution could set up the nation for a conflict it would be better off avoiding. 

Corruption, not Russia, is Trump's greatest political liability: New York Magazine reports, instead of draining the swamp, the president is monetizing it.  What appears to be an embarrassment of riches for Democrats may in fact be a collection of distractions, and it's likely that several of Trump’s most outrageous characteristics will fail to move the needle in the states and districts where the needle needs moving. https://goo.gl/pwVvGb

WSJ: Mueller probe into UAE influence broadens

Beware of an ambitious state AG: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) said he is launching a probe into Facebook Inc.'s use of personal data and is asking the company to disclose every time-shared user information with a political campaign or political action committee.

ENTERPRISE

LAT: Apple will dump Intel and use its own chips in Macs, sources say

Rag & Bone aims to revitalize the brand in Japan.

More than 25 million people went on a cruise in 2017.

Beauty mogul Bobbi Brown launches a lifestyle brand: NYT reports, Bobbi Brown spent more than 20 years building a major beauty brand and proving her doubters wrong, and now she's expanding with a new lifestyle venture dubbed Beauty Evolution. The brand will focus on wellness products including a vanilla collagen cocktail and a chocolate protein drink.

Indie bookstores grow in the age of Amazon: NPR reports, independent bookstores took hits as first large chains and then Amazon grabbed market share, but many indies learned to adapt and their numbers have climbed about 40% since 2009, Harvard Business School professor Ryan Raffaelli said. "Real estate developers are actually willing to give deals to some of the independent bookstores because the independent bookstore is a mark of authenticity," he said.

Reuters: Walmart opens first small high-tech supermarket in China

CBS plans to make an all-stock offer for Viacom.

Hostility from Trump, criticisms from Capitol Hill threaten to weaken the tech industry: WP reports, Monday was just the latest bad day for Silicon Valley, which has seen its biggest brands politically battered over several months as the president has lashed out on social media and US and European regulators have scrutinized the industry.

TRENDS

6 billion: That’s Starbucks’ own estimate for how many cups it distributes worldwide, or around 1 percent of the 600 billion paper and plastic cups that Earth uses in a given year.

CULTURE

23 percent: Black Panther was responsible for a staggering 23 percent of all movie ticket sales in the first three months of the year, the second-highest percentage ever. Titanic” took up 25 percent of winter sales in 1998.

LAT: Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas will be reborn as Virgin Hotels property

SPORT

Baseball: FiveThirtyEight gives the Astros and Indians each a 14 percent chance of winning the World Series, with the Dodgers (12 percent) and Yankees (9 percent) also in the hunt.

When 26.2 miles just isn't enough – the phenomenal rise of the ultramarathon: They are an almost-impossible test of the human body and spirit, yet the number of ultramarathons has increased 1,000% over the last decade. Adharanand Finn of Guardian asks what’s behind this rapid increase – and whether racing 100 miles or more is actually good for you. http://bit.ly/2GtUZOr