Senin, 03 Juni 2019

Mexican foreign minister says tariffs would have dire consequences, won’t affect immigration policy - The Washington Post

Mexico’s foreign minister warned Monday of dire economic consequences if the United States imposes the tariffs that President Trump has threatened as punishment for the flow of migrants transiting to the U.S. border. Marcelo Ebrard, who spoke at a news conference in Washington, said the threat would have no impact on Mexico’s immigration policy. 

 “Mexico is ready to work on issues of common interest,” Ebrard said. “The imposition of tariffs will have a counterproductive effect and would not reduce the migratory flow.”

 Ebrard said he and other officials would spend the next several days attempting to persuade the White House not to follow through on the tariffs, which Ebrard and the other Mexican officials said would be disastrous. 

 “What are we doing? Diplomacy,” he said. 

 But it remained unclear what shifts in immigration enforcement Mexico could propose that would satisfy Trump. The Trump administration has said Mexico must do more to secure its southern border with Guatemala and interdict buses of migrants. 

 The administration has also urged the implementation of a so-called “safe third country” agreement that would pressure asylum seekers to apply for residence in Mexico rather than the United States, making it easier for U.S. immigration agents to turn them around if they show up at the border. 

 Ebrard said Monday that such a policy “would not be acceptable to Mexico.”

 He emphasized that Mexico’s main proposal to stop migration is to invest in Central America and that its immigration policy was bound by international treaties on migration, Mexico’s constitution “and its own dignity.”

 “If there are only punitive actions, it’s not going to work,” Ebrard said, adding that so far the United States has been slow to cooperate on a joint aid program to reduce migration.

 “We don’t have until today a single project in place,” he said.

 Other senior Mexican officials spoke at the news conference about what would be lost if the tariffs were implemented. The agricultural industry would lose $1.4 billion a year with a 5 percent tariff, said Víctor Villalobos, Mexico’s secretary for agriculture and rural development.

 The tariffs would be very damaging, not just for Mexico “but for the supply chain every day that produces goods in Mexico and in the United States,” said Mexico’s economy secretary, Graciela Márquez Colín.

 Other Mexican officials talked about the impact the tariffs would have on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Hours before Trump made the threat of tariffs, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — the deal, dubbed NAFTA 2.0, that Trump has boasted about — to Mexico’s Senate for ratification. That vote has not yet been held. 

 “We came up with very good agreement, one that Trump himself has celebrated. What we need to do is what we were doing last week,” said Jesus Seade, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for North America. 

 “All of a sudden we have this enormous distraction,” he said.

 In a Sunday tweet, López Obrador, referring to himself in the third person, wrote, “The president of Mexico wants to continue being a great friend of President Trump.”

 That was a striking change in tone from a letter López Obrador sent to Trump on Thursday, in which he said Trump’s “America first” policy was “a fallacy.”

 Over the last few days, Ebrard had been periodically live-tweeting Mexico’s preparations for its meetings with American diplomats on the tariff issue. There was a selfie at the airport, a picture of Mexican diplomats in a boardroom and a photo of Márquez Colín, the Mexican economy secretary, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

 In his tweets, as in his news conference, Ebrard attempted to offer reassurance that the threat of tariffs could be averted through diplomacy.

 “The contacts are multiplying. The negotiation is ongoing,” he wrote under the photo of Márquez Colín and Ross.

 In another tweet, he warned the United States of the policy’s consequences in the agricultural industry. “Avoid shooting yourself in the foot,” he wrote. 

Read more:

Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador consolidates power with governorship wins

What is Mexico doing — and not doing — to keep migrants from crossing into the U.S.?

Grave concerns over tariffs reflected in Mexico’s diplomatic push for a deal

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-foreign-minister-prepares-washington-meetings-to-avert-the-threat-of-tariffs/2019/06/03/aac724dc-85fd-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html

2019-06-03 16:11:00Z
CAIiEHC7AQCKxRkqBIKlJuesxo8qGAgEKg8IACoHCAowjtSUCjC30XQwn6G5AQ

Chipotle says Mexican tariffs could cost it an additional $15 million, possibly forcing price rises - CNBC

Chipotle Mexican Grill said its 2019 costs could rise by about $15 million this year if President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Mexican imports are enacted, and that could mean price increases.

"If the tariffs become permanent, we would look to offset these costs through other margin improvement efforts already underway," CFO Jack Hartung said in a statement. "We could also consider passing on these costs through a modest price increase, such as about a nickel on a burrito, which would cover the increased cost without impacting our strong value proposition."

Chipotle said its net income last year rose to $176.6 million, $6.31 per share, on revenue of $4.9 billion. Excluding asset impairments and restructuring costs, the company earned $253.4 million, or $9.06 per share. The company's results were helped by price increases it put in place late in the year.

Chipotle was already expecting food costs in the second quarter to be 1% higher than the first quarter due to rising avocado prices. Tariffs would mean prices could be even higher.

Trump on Thursday threatened to put 5% tariffs on all Mexican goods beginning June 10 if the country doesn't help prevent the flow of illegal immigrants, mostly from Central America, over the U.S. border. Under Trump's plan, the tariffs would gradually increase and could rise as high as 25% this year.

Chipotle said Friday its supply chain team has been working to diversify its produce sources consistent with "our food with integrity principles," and said it is not willing compromise those principles.

"We know that we could easily solve the volatility in our supply chain by purchasing premashed or processed avocados, which would be cheaper, readily available and provide stability, but we are committed to our brand purpose and upholding our food with integrity principles," Hartung said. "We believe that using whole, fresh ingredients and making guacamole by hand in our restaurants each day leads to better tasting guacamole that our customers deserve and expect from Chipotle."

In the first quarter, restaurant-level operating margins accelerated to 21%, thanks to higher same-store restaurant sales increases and lower repair and maintenance expenses. This was partially offset by wage inflation as well as higher marketing and promotional costs and delivery expenses due to increased delivery sales.

Those higher operating margins helped it earn $88.1 million, or $3.13 per share, in the first quarter on a net basis. After excluding one-time items like restructuring costs, Chipotle earned $3.40 per share, on an adjusted basis, on sales $1.31 billion.

Chipotle estimated the tariffs could reduce 2019 margins by 20 to 30 basis points.

An employee scoops guacamole at a Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurant in El Segundo, California, U.S., on Wednesday, July 25, 2018.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Analysts say Chipotle isn't the only brand that may suffer from the price increase that would come from the Mexico tariffs. However, the company is one of the first to specify the cost pressure it could see.

"Anyone with avocados would be hurt most by Mexico import tariffs," says R.J. Hottovy, senior restaurant analyst at Morningstar. "Chipotle would be the most likely candidate."

Hottovy also called out other smaller chains including Fiesta Restaurant Group and Chuy's that wouldn't be able to hedge against tariffs as easily.

"A 5% tariff probably wouldn't hurt any single company that much, but the risk is whether we see any future escalation in tariffs," he said.

While Chipotle does not give formal guidance on food costs, on its first-quarter earnings call Hartung said the company believes food costs will be around 33% of its revenue. He said avocado prices spiked in March based on higher demand, and the company is projecting higher food costs in the second quarter.

The stock, which has a market value of $18.3 billion, has been the best performer in the restaurant space this year, up more than 52% in 2019. It was down 1.7% Monday morning.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/chipotle-says-mexican-tariffs-could-boost-costs-by-15-million-in-2019.html

2019-06-03 15:44:12Z
52780305674640

UK teen mowed giant penis into a field for Trump to see as he landed in London | TheHill - The Hill

A teenager in Bishop's Stortford, a city outside of London, mowed the shape of a penis into a field along with the message "Oi Trump" in hopes that the U.S. president would see it on his flight into the U.K. this week. 

According to the Bishop's Stortford Independent, the 18-year-old student, Ollie Nancarrow, mowed the message in the field along the Stansted Airport flight path so that President TrumpDonald John TrumpHead of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers to depart administration The Guardian editorial board says Trump is 'not welcome' in U.K. ahead of his first state visit Kushner casts doubt on the ability of Palestinians to govern themselves MORE would see it as he landed for a state visit early Monday morning. 

Nancarrow also mowed the message "climate change is real" and the image of a polar bear into the field.

The teen told Bishop's Stortford Independent: “Donald Trump and his denial of climate change are not welcome and I want him to be fully aware of that when he flies in to Stansted on Monday.” 

ADVERTISEMENT

Nancarrow, who is studying product design and business studies at his local high school, runs a website called born-eco.com which focuses on helping consumers find eco-friendly traders. 

Trump has long cast doubt on the existence and effects of climate change. In late 2018, Trump downplayed a U.S. government report on the environment, telling reporters that he didn't believe its warnings about the economic impacts of climate change. 

He has previously suggested that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese and has cited winter storms to push back on the idea of global warming.

The phallic welcome message for Trump comes as the president is expected to face massive protests in the country later this week. 

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://thehill.com/homenews/news/446615-uk-teen-mowed-giant-penis-into-a-field-for-trump-to-see-as-he-landed-on-london

2019-06-03 14:42:09Z
52780307257341

Queen Elizabeth II shows President Trump royal artifacts - CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUzFpYzigkA

2019-06-03 14:08:32Z
52780308436784

President Trump and Prince Charles review guard of honor - CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eucaWONlv5A

2019-06-03 12:20:12Z
52780308436784

Trump shatters diplomatic etiquette on eve of UK visit - CNN

The US President described one of the newest royals, the Duchess of Sussex -- the former Meghan Markle -- as "nasty" when he was told the American had once described him as "misogynistic."
"I didn't know that she was nasty," Trump replied in an interview with "The Sun" newspaper. He then tweeted Sunday morning: "I never called Meghan Markle 'nasty.' "
Even before he landed, Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan renewed their long festering spat.
Khan wrote in a weekend column in "The Observer" newspaper that it was "un-British to roll out the red carpet" for Trump since his behavior "flies in the face of the ideals America was founded on -- equality, liberty and religious freedom."
As Air Force One was on its final approach to Britain, Trump hit back.
"@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly "nasty" to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me...." Trump tweeted.
Trump's UK visit gives chance to throw political punches
And Trump waded into the Conservative Party's contest to find a new Prime Minister and Britain's paralyzing debate on leaving the European Union, in a way sure to outrage British critics.
Most presidents would go out of their way to avoid such sensitive topics at a moment of extreme political stress. In Trump's case they may deepen his already intense unpopularity in Britain ahead of his arrival for a three-day stay on Monday but enhance his global reputation as an unpredictable, disruptive influence.
Respecting diplomatic niceties has never been Trump's style, and his remarks underscored the intense challenge his visit poses to the "special relationship" between the US and Britain.
Trump's incendiary remarks were conveyed in a pair of bombshell interviews with the "Sun" tabloid and the "Sunday Times" -- papers owned by Rupert Murdoch, the proprietor of Fox News. They came as Britain prepares trademark pomp for Trump, who will be guest of honor at a state banquet hosted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Monday, designed to indulge his taste for adulation. First lady Melania Trump will accompany the president to the opulent ballroom.
The President has a habit of ignoring the political and diplomatic sensitivities of his hosts during trips abroad. In Japan just last week, for instance, where he was greeted with supreme flattery and royal ceremony, the President indicated he wasn't much bothered by North Korea's missile tests. His comments did not take into account the fact that such behavior is viewed with alarm and a grave security threat by the government in Tokyo.
Trump's comments ahead of his trip to Britain will also come as a new blow to beleaguered Theresa May, whose premiership has been destroyed by her failure to solve the political crisis provoked by Brexit.
May will trigger a Conservative Party leadership election Friday which will begin a search for her successor and likely produce a new prime minister by the end of the summer. Trump's Washington is clearly rooting for a more openly Euro-skeptic successor to May who could provide an ideological partner more closely aligned with the current White House.

UK has 'got to get it done'

Trump tells UK he 'wouldn't pay' $50 billion Brexit divorce bill
In the Sunday Times interview, Trump suggested that May would have been better off had she adopted his barnstorming negotiating style in intricate exit talks with the EU.
He said May should refuse to pay the $49 billion divorce payment required by the EU if Brussels does not give into Britain's demands and said she should sue the European bloc.
"They've got to get it done," Trump told the paper. "They have got to get the deal closed."
Trump also posed a challenge for candidates battling to become Prime Minister, calling on them to embrace renegade Brexiteer Nigel Farage, whose new party's strong showing in EU elections is posing an existential threat to the Conservative Party.
"I like Nigel a lot. He has a lot to offer," Trump said. "He is a very smart person. They won't bring him in. Think how well they would do if they did. They just haven't figured that out yet."
Farage -- who Trump calls a friend -- is a populist, nationalist leader in the President's own image. Like Trump, he has been accused by critics of using the emotive issue of immigration to advance his own political profile and to create division.
Trump and his national security advisor, John Bolton, have been outspoken proponents of Brexit, given their disdain for international institutions like the EU and attempts to restore national sovereignty rather than multilateral cooperation as the building block of international relations.
The President promised to go all out for a trade deal between the US and the UK if Britain severs ties with the EU.
For Melania Trump, protocol is paramount during high-stakes UK state visit
Trump also warmly praised Boris Johnson, the flamboyant former London mayor who is vying to become Prime Minister, in a remark that looked strongly like an endorsement and struck his critics as meddling in Britain's internal politics.
Johnson "would do a very good job -- he would be excellent," the paper quoted Trump as saying.
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wants to force a general election to oust the Conservatives, took exception to Trump's comments.
"President Trump's attempt to decide who'll be Britain's next PM is an entirely unacceptable interference in our democracy," Corbyn wrote on Twitter. "The next PM should be chosen not by the US president, nor by 100,000 unrepresentative Tory party members, but by the British people in a general election."

Trump weighs in on Markle

In an interview with "The Sun" published on Saturday, the interviewer mentioned Markle's 2016 comments that his politics were misogynistic and divisive. Trump responded by saying he had not been aware Markle was "nasty."
In another interview with the "Sunday Times," he also seemed keen to smooth over controversy, saying, "I am sure she will go excellently. She will be very good."
Markle is expected to miss the state banquet at Buckingham Palace because she is on maternity leave, but Trump will have tea with her new father-in-law, Prince Charles, during his visit.
There was no immediate reaction from the British government to Trump's remarks. But officials have learned to expect such flagrant interventions in UK politics from the President.
When he was in London last year, the President detonated a huge controversy by criticizing May's Brexit policies in another "Sun" interview. The comments led him into a rare apology to May from Trump, who seemed unusually chagrined over the interview.
There is also a sense that the President is playing to type and the shock value of his remarks is perhaps not what it was during the early years of his administration.
Trump is not the first US President to weigh in on Brexit. President Barack Obama's comment before the 2016 referendum that Brexit Britain would go "to the back of the queue" regarding a trade deal with the US was criticized by opponents in the UK and the US. But it was an isolated incident that pales into comparison with Trump's frequent interventions into UK politics.
Trump's remarks will fuel what are expected to be intense protests in London during his three-day visit to the United Kingdom, which is laying on an intense security net in central London.
But Trump, who loves nothing more than to be the center of attention, could not capture the main headlines in Britain Sunday morning.
His latest eruptions took second place to coverage of Liverpool's win over Tottenham in an all-English final of Europe's Champions League soccer competition.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/02/politics/trump-protocol-uk-visit/index.html

2019-06-03 11:52:51Z
52780308420436

The Queen welcomes President Trump to Buckingham Palace - CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa8ZpJfZ2_o

2019-06-03 11:54:55Z
52780308436784