Good morning. Here’s your Daily Situational Awareness for Thursday, 27 October 2022.
TODAY’S BRIEFING:
- Inside the Beltway
- News & Schedules
- Geopolitics Brief
INSIDE THE BELTWAY
WHITE HOUSE: At 3:30pm EST President Biden will deliver remarks on Micron’s plans to invest in semiconductor manufacturing in New York.
CONGRESS: Nothing Significant to Report (NSTR)
DEFENSE: NSTR
STATE: Secretary Blinken is traveling in Canada from the 27th to the 28th where he will meet with the Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Minister Joly.
GEOPOLITICS BRIEF
CHINA REJECTS TAIWAN STATUS QUO, PLANS TO PRESS FOR REUNIFICATION: Speaking at an event organized by Bloomberg media, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China has decided the status quo with Taiwan is no longer acceptable. Blinken said China plans to ratchet up pressure on the island nation and is openly threatening to use force should Taipei resist Beijing’s overtures for reunification. Blinken said the U.S. would stand up for its interests in the Pacific and that it was not trying to “restrain” China, but Beijing had fundamentally changed its relationship with the U.S. over Taiwan. Blinken added that China is speeding up the process by which it plans to pursue reunification.
PUTIN: UKRAINE AN AMERICAN ‘BATTERING RAM’ AGAINST CIS STATES: Speaking to the council of Heads of security and intelligence agencies of CIS countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine has “lost its sovereignty” and instead is being “directly controlled” by the U.S. for use as a ”battering ram” against the “CIS as a whole.” Citing the U.S. providing heavy weapons to Ukraine while ignoring Kyiv’s attempt to procure nuclear weapons and use a dirty bomb for provocations, Putin denounced America, saying Kyiv provided a visible example of “the true attitude of the United States towards its satellites.” Putin said these attitudes reflected new “risks and challenges” to CIS collective security amid a “sharp aggravation of the global geopolitical confrontation.”
MEXICO: WE’VE HAD ENOUGH INTEREST RATE HIKES: A key official at the Bank of Mexico cautioned against increasing the monetary policy rate to “excessively” high levels as the economy remains weak. The official, board member Gerardo Esquivel, said the bank’s current rate-hike cycle should end with rates between 10-10.25%. “Expected inflation for 2023 is around 5%, roughly, which means that a rate of 10.0% or 10.25% would be… high enough and restrictive enough,” Esquivel said. He added that Mexico began raising rates ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve, and demand pressures between the U.S. and Mexico were not the same and did not require Mexico to follow along with the U.S.Fed.
CHINA SECURES STAKE IN HAMBURG PORT: Germany’s ruling cabinet announced its approval for China’s Cosco to purchase a stake in the port of Hamburg’s shipping terminal. The approval grants Cosco a 24.9% stake in one of three terminals owned by logistics firm HHLA. The decision was immediately met with formal written protests from the German Foreign and Economic Ministry as well as four other government ministries, which said the move “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence” on critical transportation infrastructure, allowing China to use the port for leverage in a time of crisis. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials said China hoped “relevant parties” in Germany would see the move as “pragmatic cooperation” and refrain from “gratuitous hype.”
In today’s Early Warning, Mike gives his weekly economic update. Plus, the team takes a look at an array of domestic issues, including new shortages and labor market changes. For access to the full report, visit https://forwardobserver.com/subscribe