Mike Pompeo got a chance to support John Bolton and Trump’s claim that Iran damaged cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Cargo ships travel through the Strait of Hormuz on a regular basis and they usually travel safely through those waters. But when John Bolton and Trump sent warships to the area, cargo ship damage went up unexpectedly.
Mr. Trump claims Iran damaged the ships without any proof. There is a video that shows a boat filled with men taking a mine off the Japanese vessel, but there’s no proof the men on board that vessel are Iranians. Japan claims Iran wouldn’t damage a Japanese ship while the Japanese prime minister was in Iran. Prime Minister Abe went to Iran to try to bring Iran and the U.S. back to the table for more negotiations. Japan thinks the attack on their ship hurt Abe’s reputation. Japan wants more proof Iran is behind the attacks.
Russian President Putin and China’s President Xi claim Trump is tariff and sanction drunk. Both leaders say Trump needs to stop ripping the global economy apart. Mr. Putin claims Trump started a tech war when he banned Huawei. Huawei just announced they will introduce their HongMeng OS in the next 90 days.
HongMeng directly competes with Google’s Android OS. Putin told the press Russia will use China’s 5G technology, and other countries claim they will still use Huawei’s products. Google wants to fight the Huawei ban. Google thinks Trump’s Huawei ban will impact national security.
Huawei also plans to use some of their patents to slow down U.S. technology development. Huawei owns more than 55,000 tech patents. U.S. tech companies currently use Huawei products that have patent protection. If Huawei claims patent infringement, U.S. tech companies will feel the impact of Trump’s trade war with China in ways they didn’t expect, according to the Washington Post.
The trade war with China has investors running for cover. But there’s no place to run, according to a Morgan Stanley report. Bond market yields have Wall Street nervous. The inverted yield curve spells trouble for Trump’s great economy, according to Morgan Stanley.
If the yield between the 2-year and the 10-year notes stays inverted for more than a quarter, a recession will develop within twelve months, according to Ed Hyman, Wall Street’s top economist. According to Mr. Hyman, Trump’s great economy won’t be that great at the end of 2019. Hyman claims 2020 could be the year the U.S. falls into a Trump-induced recession.
