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U.S. rolls back Trump-era tariff on Japanese steel
Duty on aluminum to remain in place under new agreement.
The U.S. has reached a deal with Japan that will lift a portion of the additional 25% tariff imposed on steel imports under former President Donald Trump in 2018.
Washington will introduce a tariff-rate quota under the agreement announced Monday, suspending the duties on Japanese steel shipments up to 1.25 million tons a year the average imported in 2018 and 2019 starting April 1. "Today's announcement builds on the deal we struck with the EU and will further help us rebuild relationships with our allies around the world as we work to fight against China's unfair trade practices," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
The Trump administration imposed the additional 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum from markets like Japan and the European Union under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to restrict shipments seen to pose national security concerns. Japanese steel exports to America fell to around 720,000 tons in 2020 from around 1.73 million tons in 2017, before the additional duties were imposed.
Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda and Raimondo had agreed to swiftly resolve the issue during a meeting in November. No new tariff-free quotas will be applied to aluminum shipments for now. Waivers for certain steel and aluminum imports without readily available American-made alternatives will remain in place. Many Japanese aluminum products already benefit from this framework. The two sides are expected to continue discussions on the remaining levies, with Japan urging the U.S. to completely scrap the Trump-era tariffs on both steel and aluminum.
But there is resistance in the U.S. against a further easing of import restrictions. Washington pushed for a partial deal with Tokyo at this time, likely in part to avoid making the announcement right before the midterm elections coming up in the fall.
The U.S. also agreed in October to introduce a tariff-rate quota for the EU, which took effect in January. It agreed with the U.K. last month to start negotiations to resolve trade issues.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade/U.S.-rolls-back-Trump-era-tariff-on-Japanese-steel
BOXER40 USAF C-40C ne from JBA heading across the pond
This call sign is used a lot internationally and is likely some dems on another worthless trip.
It is the "C" model which is moar transport oriented as opposed to the "B" model that is heavier on comms/mobile office and less passengers on doze.
SAM978 USAF C-32A departed JBA nw
Blinken with Pacific trip aims to reaffirm U.S. focus on Asia
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will aim with a trip to the Pacific this week to remind the world that Washington's strategic long-term focus remains with the Asia-Pacific region despite an escalating crisis with Russia over Ukraine. Blinken departs on Monday for Australia, Fiji and Hawaii for a week-long trip and meetings with key allies, aiming to reaffirm a commitment to push back against what the United States calls China's growing economic and military "coercion." The trip's highlights include a meeting of the informal grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States known as the Quad, diplomatic efforts regarding North Korea and discussions on the concerns of Pacific Islands states where U.S. officials believe China wants to establish bases. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price** was asked at a briefing on Monday whether Blinken had considered cancelling the trip given the Ukraine crisis. Price replied that the United States is capable of "walking and chewing gum at the same time."
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/blinken-with-pacific-trip-aims-reaffirm-us-focus-asia-2022-02-07/
Ukraine Calls Bank Subpoenas by Russia’s Tatneft Dangerous ‘Pretext’
Ukraine is asking a U.S. judge to block subpoenas issued to 52 banks by Russian oil company Tatneft, claiming they’re “a pretext” to demand critical financial information at a time when Russia is amassing troops along the border with its Eastern European neighbor.
“Especially in the context of Russia’s imminently threatened invasion of Ukraine, a Russian oil company with close ties to the Russian government should not be permitted to use discovery in aid of a judgment as a pretext for demanding sensitive information bearing on Ukraine’s military, national security, and monetary stability,” Ukraine said in a court filing in Manhattan Tuesday.
Ukraine said Tatneft issued the subpoenas as part of an effort to enforce a 2017 U.S. judgment for $172 million, which confirmed an arbitration award against the country. Ukraine claims Tatneft has declined to enforce the award for years.
“Instead, it has turned to the U.S. for sweeping worldwide discovery about the assets and financial transactions of Ukraine and third parties with key roles in strategic industries like defense, energy, transportation, and communications,” Ukraine said. The nation asked a judge to block the subpoenas or at least narrowed to exclude requests for sensitive information.
The case is In re Subpoenas Served on JSC State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine, 22-mc-00036, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ukraine-calls-bank-subpoenas-by-russia-s-tatneft-dangerous-pretext-1.1720232
NY Fed Q4 Report: Total Household Debt Increases to $15.6 trillion
From the NY Fed: Robust Mortgage and Auto Loan Originations Help Drive Total Household Debt to $15.58 Trillion in Q4 2021.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data today issued its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. The Report shows that total household debt increased by $333 billion (2.2%) to $15.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021. The total debt balance reflects an increase of $1 trillion during 2021 and is $1.4 trillion higher than at the end of 2019. In nominal terms, the 2021 total increase in overall debt is the largest seen since 2007. The Report is based on data from the New York Fed's nationally representative Consumer Credit Panel.
Mortgage balances rose by $258 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 and stood at $10.93 trillion at the end of December. Credit card balances increased by $52 billion, representing the largest quarterly increase observed in the 22-year history of the data. However, credit card balances remain $71 billion lower than at the end of 2019. Auto loan balances increased by $15 billion, consistent with the previous two quarters. Student loan balances contracted by $8 billion, remaining roughly flat in nominal terms at the end of 2021 after almost two decades of steady increases. In total, non-housing balances grew by $74 billion.
Household debt previously peaked in 2008 and bottomed in Q3 2013. Unlike following the great recession, there wasn't a huge decline in debt during the pandemic. Aggregate household debt balances increased by $333 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, a 2.2% rise from 2021Q3, and the largest increase since 2007 in both percentage and nominal terms. Balances now stand at $15.58 trillion, reflecting an
The overall delinquency rate was unchange in Q4. From the NY Fed: increase of $1 trillion during 2021, and stand $1.4 trillion higher than at the end of 2019. Aggregate delinquency rates were flat in the fourth quarter of 2021 but remain very low, after declining sharply through the beginning of the pandemic. The fourth quarter saw a continued decline in late delinquency offset by a small increase in the share of earlier delinquency. The low delinquency rates have reflected forbearances (provided by both the CARES Act and voluntarily offered by lenders), which protect borrowers’ credit records from the reporting of skipped or deferred payments but are now winding down. As of late December, 2.7% of outstanding debt was in some stage of delinquency, a 2.0 percentage point decrease from the fourth quarter of 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. Of the $424 billion of debt that is delinquent, $298 billion is seriously delinquent (at least 90 days late or “severely derogatory”, which includes some debts that have been removed from lenders’ books but upon which they continue to attempt collection).
The credit scores of newly originated mortgages had increased in the early part of the pandemic, but have declined in recent quarters, yet remain very high and reflect a continuing high quality of newly opened mortgages as well as a higher share of refinances. The median credit score on newly originated auto loans was roughly flat. ... In all, 2021 saw historically high volumes of new extensions of installment credit for both mortgages and auto loans. Mortgage originations, measured as appearances of new mortgage balances on consumer credit reports and which include refinances, were at $1 trillion in 2021Q4. In annual terms, mortgage origination volumes were at a historic high in 2021, with over $4.5 trillion in mortgages originated.
https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2022/02/ny-fed-q4-report-total-household-debt.html
'The Largest Financial Seizure Ever' - DoJ Announces Billions In Bitcoin From 2016 Bitfinex Hack Recovered, Couple Arrested
In what the Department of Justice is calling 'the largest financial seizure ever', the U.S. seized about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a 2016 hack of the Bitfinex currency exchange.
On August 2, 2016, the exchange Bitfinex was hacked for approximately 119,756 BTC. Notably, the stolen cryptocurrency was valued at $71 million at the time of the theft, is now valued at $4.5 billion, officials said. Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and face federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States. “Today’s arrests, and the Department’s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions.”
According to court documents, Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen from Bitfinex’s platform after a hacker breached Bitfinex’s systems and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Those unauthorized transactions sent the stolen bitcoin to a digital wallet under Lichtenstein’s control.
Over the last five years, approximately 25,000 of those stolen bitcoin were transferred out of Lichtenstein’s wallet via a complicated money laundering process that ended with some of the stolen funds being deposited into financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan.
According to DOJ, the couple used sophisticated techniques, including “using fictitious identities to set up online accounts; utilizing computer programs to automate transactions, a laundering technique that allows for many transactions to take place in a short period of time; depositing the stolen funds into accounts at a variety of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets and then withdrawing the funds.”
The remainder of the stolen funds, comprising more than 94,000 bitcoin, remained in the wallet used to receive and store the illegal proceeds from the hack. After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein.
Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to la^vfully seize and recover more than 94,000 bitcoin that had been stolen from Bitfinex.
The recovered bitcoin was valued at over S3.6 billion at the time of seizure.
Lichtenstein and Morgan face up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering charges they face. In addition, they face an additional sentence of up to five years for conspiracy to defraud the U.S., according to the Justice Department statement.
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/largest-financial-seizure-ever-doj-announces-billions-bitcoin-2016-bitfinex-hack-recovered
Poland Hikes Rate to Highest Since 2013 to Fight Inflation
Poland increased borrowing costs for a fifth consecutive month to an almost nine-year high as pressure grows on the central bank to tame record inflation in eastern Europe’s largest economy. The council that sets interest rates lifted the benchmark 50 basis points to 2.75% on Tuesday, in line with the median estimate of 32 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The central bank’s governor, Adam Glapinski, will brief reporters on the decision on Wednesday.
The bank will continue to act against inflation in the coming months, the Monetary Policy Council said in a statement. The body also raised the main reserve requirement to 3.5% from 2% and said a stronger zloty would be coherent with the bank’s policy.
The currency briefly reversed gains against the euro after the decision, only to strengthen 0.1% to 4.5329 per euro at 4:26 p.m. in Warsaw. That put its gains this month at 1.1%, the best run in emerging markets after Russia’s ruble.
Polish rate setters began raising rates in October lagging peers in the region in an abrupt turnaround that surprised markets. And even after Tuesday’s decision, Polish negative real interest rates are still among the lowest in Europe.
Since then, Glapinski who has been nominated by President Andrzej Duda to lead the bank for another six-year term has called for increased tightening, shedding his previously dovish stance.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-08/poland-hikes-key-rate-to-highest-since-2013-to-fight-inflation?srnd=markets-vp
French AF CTM001 A330 and CTM0004 Falcon 7X on ground at Berlin from Kyiv departure
After US visit, Scholz hosts Macron, Duda in Berlin for Ukraine talks
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to host the French and Polish heads of state in Berlin on Tuesday, building on his trip to Washington the day before, as he joins the flurry of international diplomacy aimed at avoiding war with Russia.
Scholz will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda in the German capital under the so-called "Weimer Triangle" format. They are expected to discuss efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Russian-Ukrainian border.
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/after-us-visit-scholz-hosts-macron-duda-in-berlin-for-ukraine-talks/ar-AATC2Wz
pt sucked (no surprise dhere)
the one spot telling me don't do anything else dhere-where I need the MRI-but felt ok in other areas.
radiated pain and swelling kicked up a bit-expected
I'll know way moar about all that by tomorrow morning-usually takes about 24 hours for the entire thing to be felt but sacrum instant and staying away from that for next appt
Bloodwerk mostly negative but still habs the symps for the shin thing and the off the chart reading for one set of the bloodwerk-autoimmume
Refer to Rheumatory specialist nao
>>125128 lb
Another load in.....
RCH633 USAF C-17 Globemaster west from Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport after arriving from Bragg
Polish AF PLF106 G5 nw from Tblisi, Georgia after a ground stop/refuel
Departed Beijing earlier
Xi Jinping has high hopes for Poland. Could it be a ‘gateway to Europe’?
Chinese president offers to ‘support Poland’s effort to become a key point in China-EU industrial and supply chains’ after meeting counterpart Andrzej Duda But there has been scepticism in Central and Eastern Europe about partnering with China, and Poland has concerns about the Ukraine crisis.
moar
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3166159/xi-jinping-has-high-hopes-poland-could-it-be-gateway-europe
Duda was dhere over the weekend so this is not them as they were in Berlin earlier with Macron
>>125045 lb Duda returning from Beijing from Sunday