The Evening: Congressional Talks Falter, Tariffs on Canada, Days Between and More

Congressional Talks Falter

Congress’ top Democratic and Republican leaders traded bitter accusations today ahead of a critical negotiating session on a coronavirus relief bill, and with talks appearing to falter, President Trump told reporters that he was preparing to sign executive orders, as soon as Friday morning, that he says would extend enhanced unemployment benefits and provide a payroll tax cut, as the Washington Post reports.

New South Korean Study Shows Asymptomatic Carry Virus in High Amounts

A new study in South Korea, published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers more definitive proof that people without symptoms carry just as much virus in their nose, throat and lungs as those with symptoms, and for almost as long, as the NYT reports.

Dive Deeper: “Is It Possible to Avert Chaos in the Vaccine Scramble?” by CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison, Anna Carroll, and Katherine Bliss.

Trump to Reimpose Aluminum Tariffs on Canada

A little over a month after implementing the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement designed to lower trade barriers across North America, the Trump administration has decided to reimpose tariffs on Canadian aluminum, as the WSJ reports.

Climate Check

"Key triggers for epidemic zoonoses include climate variability, flooding, and other extreme weather events linked to climate change,"write Samuel Brannen, Christian Haig, Habiba Ahmed, and Henry Newton in a CSIS commentary.

CSIS Executive Education

Rolling applications are still open for the CSIS and Syracuse University’s joint Executive Master’s in International Relations, a first-of-its-kind degree allowing working professionals in the nation’s capital to benefit from the strengths of the #1 graduate school in public affairs and the #1 think tank in the United States.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

200

There are over 200 Covid-19 vaccines in development, 27 of which are in human clinical trials.

Source: CSIS

Critical Quote

“What China did is a terrible thing ... whether it was incompetence or on purpose.”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

Part two of a mini documentary series on climate change adaptation from CSIS's Global Food Security Program and iDeas Lab explores how farmers in El Salvador are planting a diverse array of crops and trees to improve crop yields and restore the health of the soil.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: Thibault Camus/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.) French President Emmanuel Macron hugs a resident during his visit to Beirut two days after a massive explosion devastated the Lebanese capital.

Recommended Reading

“A Strategic Framework to Improve Coronavirus Response in Africa,” by CSIS’s Judd Devermont and CNA's Nilanthi Samaranayake.

This Town Tomorrow

Tomorrow, at 8:30 a.m., the CSIS Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies will host key leaders from rating agencies to provide insights into economic trends their firms are watching that could impact India’s economic trajectory.

Later, at 1:00 p.m., CSIS's Jonathan Hillman moderates a discussion with CSIS experts Heather Conley and Kurt Tong, as well as Matt Warner, president of the Atlas Network, to discuss how trade can advance U.S. strategic aims.

And, at 10:00 a.m., the Wilson Center will host a panel discussion exploring the Chaldean Christian and Yezidi community in Iraq.

Video

In the latest "High Resolution," CSIS's Victor Cha and Joseph Bermudez Jr. analyze activity and growth at North Korea's Pyongsan Uranium Concentrate Plant. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

In this episode, the Trade Guys and I unravel the news swirling around TikTok's potential acquisition by Microsoft and explain why the Trump administration is involved in the deal.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

“There were days between
Summer flies and August dies”

The last great collaboration on a song between Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter came in 1993 when they wrote “Days Between,” a sweeping, grand composition in the genre of a tune like the Dead’s magnificent “Terrapin Station” that came before it. The Dead never recorded “Days Between” in the studio and played it for a final time with Garcia on June 24, 1995, at RFK Stadium here in Washington. Garcia died on August 9, 1995. As I mentioned at the beginning of this week, the period between August 1, Jerry’s birthday (also mine) and August 9 have become a celebration of Garcia’s life known as the “Days Between,” named after the song.

And what a song it is, full of hope, innocence, longing, learning and loving. But most of all it underscores the chasm between past and present. Bob Weir’s performance of “Days Between” in this clip captures all of that and so much more.