CHINA TALKS – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  We are making progress with China on trade.  We're not getting everything we want, we never will, but we're getting important things.  Compare please with that legendary negotiator, John Kerry.  From Fox: 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Sunday that the U.S. and China -- the world’s two biggest economies -- have reached a tentative deal to cut trade deficits that includes the U.S. putting China tariffs on hold, an agreement that potentially averts an economic standoff that would have global impact.

“We have made very meaningful progress, and we agreed on a framework,” Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” after weekend talks in Washington with Chinese officials about cutting the U.S. trade deficit with China, which last year reached $337 billion. “We’re putting the trade war on hold.”

Mnuchin, who was the country’s lead negotiator in the talks, said the tariffs will be put on hold while the countries try to execute the framework agreement.

Mnuchin also said the tentative agreement includes China buying “substantially” more U.S. goods to cut the deficit, structural changes to the Chinese economy to help make the U.S. more competitive in that market and “protections on technology, which have been very important to the president.”

Trump, since his 2016 presidential campaign, has argued that the United States must renegotiate trade agreements with China and other countries to become more competitive in the global economy. And he has complained about China violating international property laws.

Trump on Friday called the existing U.S.-China agreement "bad for our country” and said, “We're changing it around."

On Saturday, the White House said, in what it called a joint statement, that the U.S. and China had agreed to take steps to reduce the deficit.

COMMENT:  It is remarkable to see what the Trump administration has already accomplished.  It won't mean anything to a media obsessed with ideology and with race, gender, and ethnicity, but I'll bet it means a great deal to most Americans.

May 20,  2018