Kim Yong Chol's demotion would be very good news for America - Washington Examiner

Reports from a South Korean newspaper suggests that two of Kim Jong Un's top officials have been purged from his regime. If true, this would be welcome news for U.S. diplomacy.

Chosun Ilbo reports that North Korea has executed a lead negotiator responsible for discussions with the U.S., has sent Kim Yong Chol to a labor camp, and has told Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong to "lie low." It also asserts that a North Korean propaganda outlet, Rodong Sinmun, recently editorialized against traitors.

The U.S. State Department says it is investigating. But again, if this report is true, the first reaction should be one of guarded optimism for the U.S. After all, if Kim Yong Chol has been purged from the highest echelons of the regime, it would mean the departure of a key hardliner who had the North Korean leader's ear.

And there should be very little doubt that Kim Yong Chol is an archon of North Korean regime hardliners. Pushing his young boss to play for time and sanctions relief, Kim Yong Chol is an obstruction to President Trump's grand bargain. And up until this news, it was increasingly clear that the North Korean leader was holding to his adviser's bent. If, however, Kim Yong Chol has been sent away to the gulags, it comes at a crucial time. Kim Jong Un has repeatedly struck out those around him to consolidate his personal power at the heart of North Korean governance. Yet regime pressures in North Korea are now defined by the upcoming food crisis. If Kim cannot address that food crisis, either by an amelioration of U.S. sanctions under diplomacy, or via extorting the U.S., he is likely to launch new long range ballistic missile tests. Kim Yong Chol almost certainly would have advised a harder rather than softer line against America.

This flows into why I believe President Trump walked away from Kim Yong Un at the two leaders' most recent summit in Hanoi this February. Trump believes, with good reason, that Kim has not yet made up his mind as to whether to pursue a compromise. So if only for a moment, and if only contingent on Chosun Ilbo's report, this is good news.

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2019-05-31 16:16:00Z
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Trump threatens tariffs on Mexico over immigration: Live updates - CNN

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed any legal concerns with the President’s tariffs announcement.

Asked if there are concerns the action will get tied up in court, Sanders said:

“Not at all. The President has the legal authority to do this through IEEPA. In fact, that give him much broader authority than he’s taken on this front.”

For context: IEEPA is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which authorizes the President to regulate commerce after declaring a national emergency.

She continued, “This is a measured response to the authority that he has, there’s case law that supports it from precedent where this has been done in the past. And again, the President’s going to fulfill his duty, it would be nice if Congress would fulfill theirs.”

However: As CNN reported yesterday, privately, officials have conceded it’s not clear the White House has the legal authority to impose tariffs on this scale. They are concerned that, because of the scope, the mandate will potentially face legal challenges that could leave it tied up in the courts before June 10 even gets here. 

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2019-05-31 16:12:00Z
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Trump threatens tariffs on Mexico over immigration: Live updates - CNN

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed any legal concerns with the President’s tariffs announcement.

Asked if there are concerns the action will get tied up in court, Sanders said:

“Not at all. The President has the legal authority to do this through IEEPA. In fact, that give him much broader authority than he’s taken on this front.”

For context: IEEPA is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which authorizes the President to regulate commerce after declaring a national emergency.

She continued, “This is a measured response to the authority that he has, there’s case law that supports it from precedent where this has been done in the past. And again, the President’s going to fulfill his duty, it would be nice if Congress would fulfill theirs.”

However: As CNN reported yesterday, privately, officials have conceded it’s not clear the White House has the legal authority to impose tariffs on this scale. They are concerned that, because of the scope, the mandate will potentially face legal challenges that could leave it tied up in the courts before June 10 even gets here. 

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2019-05-31 14:58:00Z
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Trump announces escalating tariffs against Mexico, starting at 5 percent, until illegal immigrants 'STOP' - Fox News

President Trump on Thursday abruptly announced a new 5 percent tariff on Mexico beginning in early June, saying the levy will "gradually increase" until the ongoing illegal immigration surge at the southern border is "remedied" and illegal migrants "STOP."

"On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP," Trump wrote. "The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, ... ..at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow."

Fox News is told the tariff on all goods by land, sea, and air from Mexico will hike to 10 percent on July 1 -- and potentially increase substantially from there.

"If Mexico still has not taken action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the United States, Tariffs will be increased to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019," Trump said in a statement released later by the White House on Thursday. "Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory."

The statement added: "Thousands of innocent lives are taken every year as a result of this lawless chaos.  It must end NOW! ... Mexico’s passive cooperation in allowing this mass incursion constitutes an emergency and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States."

Specifically, White House sources told Fox News that Mexico would need to step up security efforts on the border, target transnational smugglers, crack down on illicit bus lines and align with the U.S. on a workable asylum policy. Mexico could use certain so-called choke points on the southern border to curb illegal migration sharply, according to the sources.

The Washington Post reported earlier in the day that the Trump administration was considering the move, and that it had broad support in the White House -- although some aides reportedly tried to talk Trump out of it.

“We are going to do something very dramatic on the border because people are coming into our country," Trump told reporters earlier Thursday.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 permits tariffs to be levied by the executive in the event of a national emergency originating from a foreign source. Trump said he was invoking the powers in the law and would use his "sole discretion" to determine whether Mexico had taken sufficient action.

"If Mexico does not take decisive measures, it will come at a significant price," Trump concluded in his statement.

The situation could complicate the legislative passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), sent to Congress by the White House on Thursday, which has aimed broadly to limit tariffs among the three countries.

However, the White House told Fox News it saw the matters as entirely distinct and did not anticipate complications for the USMCA.

Migrants seeking asylum in the United States lining up for meals provided by volunteers near the international bridge in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Vice President Mike Pence was in the Canadian capital of Ottawa on Thursday to build support for the USMCA. The U.S. recently lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada that had threatened to sink the arrangement, which was signed in November with the goal of replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement.

TRUMP ORDERS ASYLUM OVERHAUL, CITING STATS SHOWING MOST CLAIMS ARE FRAUDULENT OR UNFOUNDED

The news of the tariff came hours after Politico reported that an internal plan under consideration at the Department of Homeland Security effectively would block Central American migrants from bringing asylum claims, by prohibiting claims from applicants who resided in a country other than their own before seeking entry to the United States.

Arrests along the southern border have skyrocketed in recent months, with border agents making more than 100,000 arrests or denials of entry in March, a 12-year high. Immigration courts that process asylum claims currently have faced a backlog of more than 800,000 cases and asylum applicants increasingly have been staying in the U.S. even after their claims for asylum have been denied.

More than 4,000 individuals have been apprehended at the border with children who are not their own in recent months, administration officials tell Fox News.

And, Customs and Border Protection said it apprehended or turned away over 109,000 migrants attempting to cross the border in April, the second month in a row the number has topped 100,000.

In a dramatic moment, more than 1,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended by border agents near the U.S.-Mexico border early Wednesday -- the largest ever group of migrants ever apprehended at a single time, sources told Fox News on Thursday. The group of 1,036 illegal immigrants found in the El Paso sector included migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, according to sources.

Trump tweeted a video of the episode on Thursday, with the note: “Democrats need to stand by our incredible Border Patrol and finally fix the loopholes at our Border!”

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A top Border Patrol official told lawmakers in April that authorities have apprehended more families illegally crossing the border between October 2018 and February of this year than during all of the 2018 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018).

"Much media attention has focused on caravans coming across from Central America," Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector Chief Patrol Agent Rodolfo Karisch told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. "But, the fact is that RGV is receiving caravan-equivalent numbers every seven days."

Fox News' John Roberts and Edward Lawrence contributed to this report.

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2019-05-31 14:15:06Z
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Why Mexico is so important to the American auto industry - CNN

Every American auto factory depends on Mexican parts to build its cars or trucks. That's why President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports of up to 25% by October is rattling the US auto industry. The tariffs could raise costs in the United States by tens of billions of dollars in the auto industry alone.

Car buyers would probably pay the cost of those tariffs.

"We believe the tariffs on vehicles would undoubtedly be passed on to consumers, which would raise the price of vehicles sold in the US by an average of about $1,300," wrote Emmanuel Rosner, auto analyst for Deutsche Bank.

That price increase would hurt demand for cars, perhaps cutting US auto production by as much as 3 million vehicles a year, an 18% drop from current levels, Rosner estimates.

If that happened, it would be the greatest blow to the US auto industry since the Great Recession sent the industry hurling toward near collapse 10 years ago.

The industry imported $59.4 billion in parts from Mexico last year, according to US government trade data. That includes parts used in factories and those sold in auto parts stores and repair shops.

Mexico is by far the largest foreign source of parts used by the industry. About 16% of all auto parts used by US assembly plants come from Mexico, according to an estimate from the Center for Automotive Research, a leading industry think tank.

Automakers can't easily shift to other suppliers to avoid using parts from Mexico. Mexican parts suppliers specialize in providing low-cost, labor-intensive components, which don't make economic sense to build elsewhere, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the center.

For example, 70% of wire harnesses, the collection of wires that carry power throughout a vehicle, come from Mexico. Few if any wire harnesses are made in the United States. Much of the rest of the harnesses arrive at the US-Mexican border from countries south of Mexico.

"It's one of the first pieces you install when you're assembling a car," she said in April when Trump was threatening to close the border with Mexico altogether. Such a move would have shut the entire US auto industry within a week, she estimated.

"You can't build the whole car and slap the wire harness in later. This is a big critical part that shuts down the assembly line if you don't have it."

Finished cars and trucks also come into the United States from Mexico — about 2.7 million autos were imported from Mexico last year, worth $52 billion, according to the US Commerce Department. That's nearly a million more autos than came from Japan, the No. 2 source of auto imports.

A 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico would add about $28 billion a year to the cost of completed vehicles and parts.

Automakers are strong supporters of the new trade deal that the Trump administration negotiated with Mexico and Canada designed to replace NAFTA. That trade agreement, the US Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), would continue to allow most auto parts and vehicles to cross the border in both directions without tariffs. But it needs Congressional ratification before it takes effect.

The USMCA "relies on duty-free access to be successful. The imposition of tariffs against Mexico will undermine its positive impact and would impose significant cost on the US auto industry," said Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, an industry group representing GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

The US auto industry is already struggling with increased costs because of the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum. Both General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) have estimated that rising commodity prices from those tariffs have raised their costs by more than $1 billion each.

The entire industry has been trying to cut costs to free up cash for the expensive research and development challenge of developing the next generation of electric and self-driving cars. That is the reason GM cited for its plans to close four US factories this year.

That means automakers probably wouldn't assume the cost of the tariffs. Instead, they would pass them onto consumers. That could hurt American auto sales and cost additional jobs in the United States. Last year, GM warned that a proposal to put tariffs on all cars and auto parts imports from around the world would lead it and other automakers to cut US jobs.

Costs would rise even further if Mexico responds by imposing tariffs of its own on American goods. That would be a double blow to the US auto industry, because Mexico is a major market for both its cars and its parts.

Mexico bought 140,600 cars from the US last year, about 8% of all car exports, making it the fourth largest market behind Canada, China and Germany, according to the US Commerce Department. Those cars cost $3.3 billion.

More importantly, US parts makers shipped another $32.5 billion worth of parts to Mexico, mostly to use in Mexican auto plants.

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2019-05-31 13:33:00Z
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Assange suffering psychological torture, would face "show trial" in U.S. - UN expert - AOL

GENEVA, May 31 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suffered psychological torture from a defamation campaign and should not be extradited to the United States where he would face a "politicized show trial," a U.N. human rights investigator said on Friday.

Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture who visited Assange in a high-security London prison on May 9 along with two medical experts, said that he found him agitated, under severe stress and unable to cope with his complex legal case.

"Our finding was that Mr. Assange shows all the symptoms of a person who has been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. The psychiatrist who accompanied my mission said that his state of health was critical," Melzer told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.

"But my understanding is that he has now been hospitalized and that he is not able to stand trial," he said.

Assange was too ill on Thursday to appear via video link from a British prison in a hearing on an extradition request from the United States, his lawyer Gareth Peirce told Reuters. He is in a health ward.

"Mr. Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture," Melzer said in a statement.

The Swiss law professor declined to identify judges or senior politicians whom he accused of defaming Assange, saying "dozens if not hundreds of individuals" had expressed themselves inappropriately.

"Here we are not speaking of prosecution but of persecution. That means that judicial power, institutions and proceedings are being deliberately abused for ulterior motives," he added.

British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, in a tweet posted within minutes of Melzer's statement, said: "This is wrong. Assange chose to hide in the embassy and was always free to leave and face justice.

"The UN Special Rapporteur should allow British courts to make their judgements without his interference or inflammatory accusations," he said.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, Britain February 5, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/Files

A supporter of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds a banner outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he marks three years since Assange claimed asylum in the embassy on June 19, 2015. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange clocks up three years inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London today, after claiming that Swedish prosecutors cancelled a landmark meeting in his case earlier this week. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

A supporter of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds banners outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he marks three years since Assange claimed asylum in the embassy on June 19, 2015. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange clocks up three years inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London today, after claiming that Swedish prosecutors cancelled a landmark meeting in his case earlier this week. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks speaks via video link during a press conference on the occasion of the ten year anniversary celebration of WikiLeaks in Berlin, Germany, October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears on screen via video link during his participation as a guest panelist in an International Seminar on the 60th anniversary of the college of Journalists of Chile in Santiago, Chile, July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

File photo dated 05/02/16 of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who will publish more confidential documents on the US Central Intelligence Agency once a "key attack code" has been disarmed, he has revealed.

File photo dated 5/2/2016 of Julian Assange who has defended the release of emails by WikiLeaks about US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaking from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been living for more than three years after the country granted him political asylum.

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 4: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange participates via video link at a news conference marking the 10th anniversary of the secrecy-spilling group in Berlin, Germany on October 4, 2016. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet presents in Quito, Ecuador, on June 23, 2016 the Ecuador 's book " When Google found Wikileaks". Julian Assange made his appearance to the world in 2010 with the publication by WikiLeaks of thousands of secret documents revealing conspiracies , corruption, crimes , lies, and incriminate several governments and particularly the United States as the main actor illegalities. (Photo by Rafael Rodr�uez/ACGPHOTO/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange prepares to speak from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on February 5, 2016 in London, England. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has insisted that Mr Assange's detention should be brought to an end. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: A panel of WikiLeaks representitives and press look on as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a press conference at the Frontline Club via video link from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 5 February 2016 in London, England. Mr Assange's speech comes a day after it was announced that the UN panel ruled he was being unlawfully detained at the Ecuadorian Embassy. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Australian founder of whistleblowing website, 'WikiLeaks', Julian Assange speaks to media after giving a press conference in London on July 26, 2010. The founder of a website which published tens of thousands of leaked military files about the war in Afghanistan said Monday they showed that the 'course of the war needs to change'. In all, some 92,000 documents dating back to 2004 were released by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks to the New York Times, Britain's Guardian newspaper, and Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly. Assange also used a press conference in London to dismiss the White House's furious reaction to the disclosures. AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 21: (AUSTRALIA OUT) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange poses during a portrait shoot on May 21, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Chew/Fairfax Media/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).

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"POLITICIZED SHOW TRIAL"

Assange made headlines in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

Washington is seeking the extradition of Assange, who was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11 after his seven-year asylum was revoked, for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information.

The Australian, now 47, had skipped bail and taken refuge there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault investigation later dropped. Sweden reopened the investigation in early May. Assange denies the rape allegation.

The United States has charged Assange with espionage, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information. He faces 18 U.S. criminal counts and decades in prison if convicted.

"I am seriously, gravely concerned that if this man were to be extradited to the United States, he would be exposed to a politicized show trial and grave violations of his human rights," Melzer said.

"The main narrative in this affair really is the United States wanting to make an example of Mr. Assange in order to deter other people from following his example," he said.

Melzer did not expect U.S. authorities to subject Assange to physical torture such as water-boarding during interrogations.

"I would much more expect him to be subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, to very harsh detention conditions and to a psychological environment which would break him eventually."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay Editing by Ros Russell)

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Wikileaks says Julian Assange could face 175 years in prison after US files 17 new charges against him
Sweden reopens rape case against Assange
Assange refuses extradition to US; long legal fight expected

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2019-05-31 12:53:53Z
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China threatens to blacklist foreign companies after Huawei ban - CNN

The Chinese government is working to establish an "unreliable entity list" which would include foreign companies, individuals and organizations, according to a statement Friday from China's Commerce Ministry.

Companies that violate market rules will be added to the list, according to the statement. Other targets include firms that block supplies to Chinese companies for "non-commercial reasons" or otherwise damage their interests.

The exact details of the plan will be announced soon, the statement added.

The move to establish a blacklist comes after the United States hit Huawei with an export ban, effectively barring US companies from doing business with the smartphone and telecom equipment maker.

The Trump administration claims that Huawei equipment can be used by China for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses a risk, saying the restrictions are an attempt to put it out of business.

Huawei fight

The US campaign against Huawei, one of China's most powerful tech companies, reached new heights earlier this month when the Trump administration added it to a list of companies said to undermine American interests.

That forced crucial suppliers like Google (GOOG) and ARM Holdings to cut ties with the Chinese company, while top carriers in the United Kingdom and Japan delayed the launch of Huawei smartphones.

For Huawei, which had aimed to become the top smartphone brand globally by the end of 2020, the ban could pose an existential threat.

Huawei bought $70 billion worth of components and parts last year from 13,000 suppliers. Of that, about $11 billion was spent on products from US businesses including Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analysts had predicted that China could target US businesses as a result of the Huawei ban. Trust between the United States and China is running low as new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs go into effect.

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2019-05-31 12:40:00Z
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China threatens to blacklist foreign companies after Huawei ban - CNN

The Chinese government is working to establish an "unreliable entity list" which would include foreign companies, individuals and organizations, according to a statement Friday from China's Commerce Ministry.

Companies that violate market rules will be added to the list, according to the statement. Other targets include firms that block supplies to Chinese companies for "non-commercial reasons" or otherwise damage their interests.

The exact details of the plan will be announced soon, the statement added.

The move to establish a blacklist comes after the United States hit Huawei with an export ban, effectively barring US companies from doing business with the smartphone and telecom equipment maker.

The Trump administration claims that Huawei equipment can be used by China for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses a risk, saying the restrictions are an attempt to put it out of business.

Huawei fight

The US campaign against Huawei, one of China's most powerful tech companies, reached new heights earlier this month when the Trump administration added it to a list of companies said to undermine American interests.

That forced crucial suppliers like Google (GOOG) and ARM Holdings to cut ties with the Chinese company, while top carriers in the United Kingdom and Japan delayed the launch of Huawei smartphones.

For Huawei, which had aimed to become the top smartphone brand globally by the end of 2020, the ban could pose an existential threat.

Huawei bought $70 billion worth of components and parts last year from 13,000 suppliers. Of that, about $11 billion was spent on products from US businesses including Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analysts had predicted that China could target US businesses as a result of the Huawei ban. Trust between the United States and China is running low as new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs go into effect.

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2019-05-31 11:43:00Z
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Where Trump's 'emergency power' on tariffs comes from - CNN

The tariffs will begin at 5% and increase to 25% in the coming months unless Trump sees the results he wants, the White House said. But what they are, exactly, White House officials couldn't explain. If they go into effect, they will impose harsh economic penalties on Americans who buy goods from Mexico. Which is probably every American.

But how can Trump do that?

One key thing to know is that the emergency powers he is using evolved from the need for the President to act with decisive authority during war, specifically World War I. The Great Depression prompted the expansion of emergency powers to include economic emergencies, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service. (This piece uses many facts from that analysis, which is worth reading.)

These powers were used throughout the Cold War until the 1970s, when, according to CRS, Congress basically realized the US had been in a state of emergency for 40 years and put new restrictions on the President, including requirements to track the cost of any emergency and justify it each year.

The law by which Trump can impose sanctions like the tariffs, passed in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam, is the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This authority has actually been used quite frequently; there have been 54 national emergencies, 29 of which are ongoing.

Some of these emergencies targeting countries have been going on for decades, like sanctions on Iran. Others, like the one enacted by Bill Clinton targeting narcotics traffickers, have certainly affected people in Mexico, but just as certainly not affected the whole country.

The law has never, before now, been used to impose tariffs, according to CRS. And Mexico is a neighbor and ally, from which we bought $345 billion in stuff last year because we are joined together in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

That's an incredibly broad application, especially considering those costs will ultimately be passed along to American consumers, who ultimately bear the brunt of tariffs -- which are paid by importers, not by exporting countries.

They'll affect the supply chain for the US auto industry, machinery, medical instruments, not to mention the avocados and tomatoes in American salads, fruit, vegetables. All of it.

And it's a two-way street. Americans sold just shy of $300 billion in goods to Mexico in 2018 -- cars, machinery, pork and beef. Billions and billions dollars worth of many different type of goods that might be subject to retaliatory tariffs from Mexico.

White House officials have privately conceded it's not clear the President has the legal authority to impose tariffs on this scale, CNN reported Thursday. They are concerned that the move could draw legal challenges that could leave it tied up in the courts without ever taking effect.

But Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas and a CNN legal analyst, said what Trump is doing under the law may very well be within the authority Congress gives the White House -- though it's just as surely not what Congress ever intended.

"The idea behind these authorities is that the President is better situated to make those kinds of determinations than Congress, especially when they're time-sensitive," Vladeck said in an email. "So I think the President's conduct may well be within the letter of the law here. But, as with the National Emergencies Act, I very much doubt this kind of exercise of the authority conferred by the statute is what Congress had in mind."

Under the law, though, Congress can also end an emergency with a joint resolution, something it already did that with regard to Trump's border declaration, though lawmakers could not override his veto.

If the tariffs go into effect and American consumers suffer, don't be surprised if lawmakers try again.

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2019-05-31 11:20:00Z
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North Korea executes 5 officials over failed Kim-Trump summit: South Korean media - Fox News

North Korea has executed five officials for their part in the failed second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korean newspaper.

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., was executed by firing squad in March for being "won over by the American imperialists to betray the supreme leader", according to the Chosun Ilbo.

The paper also claimed that four other North Korean Foreign Ministry officials were executed that same month because of the breakdown of the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, but did not provide details.

JAMES CARAFANO: TRUMP AND KIM - WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON? LET'S HANDICAP NEXT STEPS WITH NORTH KOREA

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., and four other North Korean foreign ministry officials, were executed because of the breakdown of the February North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. (REUTERS, File)

Seoul's spy service said it could not confirm the report, while the presidential Blue House said that "it's inappropriate to make hasty judgments or comments."

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, told reporters in Berlin that he had seen the reports and the U.S. was "doing our best to check it out."

JOY BEHAR LIKENS TRUMP TO A 'MOBSTER' AFTER 'DISGRACEFUL' COMMENTS ABOUT BIDEN AND NORTH KOREA

Trump’s much-anticipated summit with Kim ended abruptly and without the two leaders signing any agreements over nuclear disarmament.

Kim aide Kim Yong Chol is reportedly undergoing hard labor for his role in the breakdown. (REUTERS, File)

Top Kim aide Kim Yong Chol is reportedly undergoing hard labor for his role in the breakdown.

He had been Kim’s most trusted policy adviser and was removed from one of his posts.

President Trump meeting with Kim Yong Chol this past January 18 in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo)

He even was seen in photos with President Trump at the White House over the past year, delivering letters from the North Korean dictator.

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Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim entered nuclear talks with the U.S. early last year.

Since the Hanoi nuclear summit between Trump and Kim ended in failure, North Korea has again tested weapons and boosted its belligerent rhetoric toward American and South Korean officials.

Fox News' Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-executes-5-officials-over-failed-kim-trump-summit-south-korean-media

2019-05-31 11:09:59Z
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The Latest: Murky waters impair recovery of boat in Hungary - Fox News

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Kang Kyung-wha, center, foreign minister of South Korea, together with her Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, right, visits the bank of the Danube River close to Margit Bridge where a sightseeing boat capsized in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, May 31, 2019. Hungarian police have detained the captain of a cruise ship that collided with the sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists, causing it to sink quickly in the river in Budapest, as loved ones of the missing and dead were expected to arrive Friday in Hungary. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

BUDAPEST, Hungary – The Latest on rescue efforts following the capsizing of a boat in Budapest (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

Hungary's foreign minister says underwater visibility at the site in the Danube River where the sunken tour boat is located is "practically zero," complicating efforts to salvage the wreck.

Peter Szijjarto said Friday after meeting his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, that the wreckage is more than 6 meters (20 feet) under water, with the Danube expected to keep rising because of rainfall.

Twenty-one people, including 19 South Koreans, are still missing after Wednesday's collision. Seven people were rescued and seven are confirmed dead.

Szijjarto and Kang visited the site of the mishap, near the Hungarian parliament, before holding talks at the Foreign Ministry.

One of the bodies recovered was found nearly 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) downstream, nearly 2-½ hours after the collision.

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9 a.m.

Hungarian police have detained the captain of a cruise ship that collided with a sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists, causing it to sink quickly in the Danube River.

That development came as loved ones of the South Korean people who are missing and dead were expected to arrive Friday in Budapest.

Seven people are confirmed dead and seven have been rescued, while 21 people remain missing in the waters.

A South Korean group on a package tour of Europe — including 30 tourists, two guides and a photographer— were on an hour-long sightseeing tour of Budapest when their boat collided with a Viking cruise ship during a downpour Wednesday evening.

Nineteen South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members — the captain and his assistant — remain missing.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-latest-murky-waters-impair-recovery-of-boat-in-hungary

2019-05-31 10:50:42Z
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