INTERVIEW – AMB. JOHN BOLTON – former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a Senior Fellow for the American Enterprise Institute
- HALEY / Senate confirms Nikki Haley as Trump’s UN ambassador. (The Hill) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s nomination to serve as U.N. ambassador easily cleared the Senate on Tuesday. The final vote was 96-4, with Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voting against her. The Senate vote came hours after the Foreign Relations Committee approved the pick, 19-2. Coons and Udall were the only committee votes against her.
- Britain’s Prime Minister May to visit Trump in Washington. London (CNN) British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to visit US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, making her the first foreign leader to meet with the newly inaugurated president. Speaking in a televised interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, May said she would discuss the countries’ future trade relations, the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Syrian conflict.
- Trump signed a notice that the U.S. will begin withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Trump called the order “a great thing for the American worker.”
- Trump expected to issue orders on border wall, refugee ban Wednesday. President Donald Trump plans to issue several executive actions on immigration Wednesday, including one on a border wall with Mexico, according to a senior administration official. One of the actions expected to be taken will be an executive order to direct the use of federal funds toward the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border designed to prevent illegal immigration. A second one, initially reported by Reuters, will specify a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for people from Syria and six other Middle East countries.
- Mexico’s president to meet Trump on Jan 31. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet at the end of this month to discuss trade, immigration and security issues, as the Latin American leader faces increased populist pressure at home. Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer told a news conference on Saturday that the two leaders will meet on Jan 31, the week after senior officials of both administrations hold bilateral talks in Washington. Trump is committed to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and would move to withdraw if no “fair deal” is forthcoming, according to the White House website. Pena Nieto, whose popularity has plummeted due to corruption scandals and rising inflation, has been criticized for lacking a clear strategy to counter Trump’s threats to crimp trade and deport illegal immigrants.
- Mexico is ready to discuss NAFTA with the US but warns that it’s willing to scrap the deal. MEXICO CITY, Jan 24 (Reuters) — Under pressure from President Donald Trump, Mexico is preparing to discuss changes to trade rules about a product’s country of origin to try to avoid a disruptive fight with the United States over commerce. As he two countries begin a difficult new relationship, Mexico sees possible common ground with Trump on the “rules of origin” of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that binds the two countries and Canada, several sources said. Rules of origin are regulations setting out where trade products are sourced from.
