The Evening: NAFTA, China, Smiths and More

Good Evening,

It's Monday, October 1st.

NAFTA Revamp

President Donald Trump has hailed Canada’s eleventh-hour decision to join the U.S. and Mexico in a revamped trilateral trade deal as “historic news” for America and the world, sparking a rally across North American financial markets, as the FT’s James Politi, Demetri Sevastopulo and Jude Webber report.

And the WSJ reports “ten things to know about the NAFTA deal.”

Dive Deeper: See CSIS’s interactive micro website, “The Trade Guys.”

NAFTA’s Economic Impact,” by CFR’s James McBride and Mohammed Aly Sergie.

But China

Meanwhile, as the Trump administration takes a victory lap in the wake of the new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, the relations between the U.S. and China, the world's second largest economy, continue to intensify. In the latest sign of the increasingly fraught ties, CNBC reports , the Pentagon has canceled Defense Secretary James Mattis' visit to China later this month.

Dive Deeper: Trade War with China: Costs, Opportunities, Challenges, and Benefits” via the Peterson Institute.

Turkey Sanctions

Turkey will resist U.S. efforts to impose sanctions on Ankara over the trial of a Christian pastor who has been detained for two years, President Tayyip Erdogan said today, accusing the preacher of having “dark links with terror,” as Reuters’ reports.

Dive Deeper: Turkey’s Economic Turbulence,” by CSIS’s Bulent Aliriza.

New CSIS Report:Going on the Offensive: A U.S. Strategy to Combat Russian Information Warfare,” by CSIS’s Seth Jones.

Your Questions

Do you have any questions about trade and how a changing U.S. trade policy may affect your life? If you do, please email me your question(s) to aschwartz@csis.org. We’ll publish some of the best questions and get our experts to answer them on an upcoming CSIS podcast.

Enroll for Spring 2019

Now enrolling for the Spring, CSIS & Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs offer a new Executive Master's in International Relations. Information here.


In That Number

3 miles

Iranian missiles that targeted eastern Syria early today came within three miles of U.S troops in the country.
Source: CNN

Critical Quote

" This is a much different deal than NAFTA."

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

Die Welt
CSIS's Trade Guys launched a new micro website that features trade trends, rules, lingo, history and more explained through short videos, hot takes, data visualizations and interactive graphs. Check out the new microsite here.

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

Optics

Die Welt
(Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images). President Trump speaks today at a press conference to discuss a revised U.S. trade agreement with Mexico and Canada in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Recommended Reading

The Committee to Save the World Order,” by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Ivo Daalder and CFR’s James Lindsay for Foreign Affairs.

This Town Tomorrow

At 8:30 a.m., CSIS will hold a symposium on the state of the U.S. nuclear energy industry and its impact on the nuclear Navy and U.S. national security.

Later, at 11:00 a.m., CSIS will host Dr. Marty Natalegawa, former foreign minister of the Republic of Indonesia and author of the newly-released “Does ASEAN Matter: A View From Within,” for the CSIS-Pertamina Banyan Tree Leadership Forum.

And at 3:00 p.m. join CSIS for the launch of a new report on global attitudes towards the United States from the Pew Research Center.

Video

Five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dollar plan that aims to connect more than 70 countries via an overland “belt” and a maritime “road.” Today, CSIS's Reconnecting Asia Project hosted a conversation examining China’s BRI, including the challenges, risks, and opportunities it poses for the United States. Watch the full event here.

Podcasts

Die Welt
The Smart Women, Smart Power biweekly podcast features powerful, in-depth conversations with women leaders from around the globe who are experts in foreign policy, national security, international business, and international development.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

The Smiths were one of the biggest bands ever to come out of England. Their music ruled when I was in high school in the mid-1980s. Just getting your hands on a Smiths record was a big deal back then. For many, the band was all about lead singer Morrissey. For me the Smiths were about guitarist Johnny Marr and the jangling pop he produced which would prove so influential for bands like Oasis and yes, even Radiohead. Check out Radiohead covering the Smiths’ “Headmaster Ritual,” this is just fantastic.

I invite you to email me at aschwartz@csis.org and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz