Friday, May 31
Mike Bloomberg: Stop Trump’s Radical Move on Tariffs (Bloomberg Opinion)
Congress should rein in the president’s trade-policy powers before it’s too late.
President Donald Trump’s approach to trade policy had set new benchmarks of incoherence and irresponsibility even before his threat to impose escalating tariffs on imports from Mexico — but this latest maneuver takes the cake.
This is a radical and disturbing development.
The prospects for global trade and output were already uncertain.
Now, Trump is risking not just a slow and steady reduction in investment thanks to heightened anxiety over trade, but a sudden collapse in confidence that could roil financial markets and bring on an outright recession.
It’s increasingly urgent that Congress curb this president’s ability to conduct a potentially ruinous trade policy.
See Mike’s tweet here and read the full oped here.
Hot on the Bloomberg: Carmakers See $18 Billion Wiped Out by Trump’s Mexico Threat (Bloomberg)
Wall Street Slams Trump’s Mexico Moves as a `Serious Risk’ (Bloomberg)
First on the Bloomberg: China Threatens Sweeping Blacklist of Firms After Huawei Ban (Bloomberg)
Winner From the US-China Trade Spat: Russian Soybean Farmers (Wall Street Journal – subscription)
Climate Jolt Faster Than Expected (Axios)
Saturday marks two years since President Trump announced he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Today, scientists have more confidence in the amounts of global warming showing the planet has been heating up faster than previously thought, from the poles to the depths of the seas. And they see clear evidence that virtually all of the observed warming since 1950 is due to human activities.
Today in ESG: JPMorgan Says the $720 Billion ESG Arena Is Only Getting Started (Bloomberg)
Emerging markets are catching up with developed ones in the growing arena of environmental, social and governance investing – growing 10% from the end of last year to $720 billion as of the first quarter.
2020 Watch: Gun Issues Loom Large for Democratic Candidates (New York Times)
Red-clad activists — most of them mothers — from the gun-control organization of Mike Bloomberg are an ever-present force at Democratic campaign events, and rare is the televised town hall in which a Democratic candidate isn’t pressed on what they would do to combat gun violence. Bloomberg’s group spent $30 million on the 2018 midterm elections and is poised to make itself a central player in the presidential primary.
Everytown for Gun Safety, which includes the Moms Demand Action grass-roots network, plans Friday to send an 18-part questionnaire to the 23 Democratic presidential candidates, Mr. Trump and his Republican challenger, Bill Weld.
The organization will use the results to award candidates a seal of approval called the Gun Sense Candidate distinction.
Angela Merkel Has Harvard Cheering Attack on Politics of Lies (Bloomberg)
In her speech to Harvard’s class of 2019, Merkel urged graduates to act with integrity, called on them to “tear down walls” and warned of the damage done to public life when people treat “lies as truth and truth as lies.”
Unsung 9/11 Heroes Finally Get Their Own Memorial (New York Times)
The Memorial Glade acknowledges those whose illnesses and deaths have come years after the towers collapsed.
“Like the heroes we lost on 9/11, their selfless acts provided light that helped guide us through our darkest hours and they allowed our city to rise again,” said Mike Bloomberg, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. He attended the ceremony with other government officials and prominent advocates, including the comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart, who is on the museum’s board of directors. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo did not attend.
“For some, the end of the recovery was the beginning of an even more difficult journey of sickness and disease,” Bloomberg said.
The week ahead.
New Action Plans To Be Announced at Clinton Global Initiative Action Network in USVI (St. John Source)
President Bill Clinton will host the fourth meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative Action Network on Post-Disaster Recovery in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island next week.
CGI is working closely with Bloomberg LP co-founder and vice chairman Thomas Secunda and Love City Strong – a local nonprofit based in St. John responding to the immediate needs of the community – to convene the meeting of government, business and civil society leaders to discuss building a stronger, more resilient Caribbean in the face of extreme weather events.
In announcing the event in April, Secunda said: “With climate change making hurricanes increasingly powerful and destructive, we’re helping build a more resilient region that is better prepared to respond to future storms and natural disasters.”
London Next Week: Baby Trump Balloon, Milkshakes Primed for President’s U.K. Visit (Bloomberg)
Travel section.
Tip du jour: Five Backdoor Shortcuts to Airline and Hotel Elite Status (Bloomberg)
Although traditional requirements have become more stringent, with just a little savvy and some strategic spending, top-tier travel status is still within reach.
Best of late night.
On the NBA finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors:
“At this point the Warriors are like the Avengers, we all know they’re going to win, we just have to spend 3 hours to find out how.”
— Jimmy Kimmel
“This basketball series is history in the making; Toronto is the first Canadian team to make the finals ever, even though the first game in NBA history was played in Toronto. The Toronto Huskies vs the New York Knicks. It was played in 1946, the Knicks won the game. It was the last time the Knicks won a game.”
— Jimmy Kimmel
On a proposed New York State law that would ban people in New York from texting while walking:
“So now you can be fined for jaywalking. You can also be fined for LMAO JK-walking.”
— James Corden
“The ban would include texting, checking emails and browsing the internet, with exceptions for emergencies. You know, emergencies like texting, checking emails and browsing the internet.”
— James Corden