South Korean Prime Minister Moon Jae-in is the Asian version of Barack Obama, and much like North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un essentially irrelevant in this geopolitical confrontation. Take a seat, or make a sandwich…. it matters not.

Behind the fanciful Korean ‘denuclearization talks‘ and lofty ‘peace initiatives‘ a far more consequential geopolitical economic battle is taking place between the worlds largest two economies. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping are engaged.

The Sandwich Maker Summit – (Reuters) – “South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday in an effort to ensure that a high-stakes summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump takes place successfully, South Korean officials said.

[…] Their two hours of talks at the Panmunjom border village came a month after they held the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade at the same venue. At that meeting, they declared they would work toward a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

“The two leaders candidly exchanged views about making the North Korea-U.S. summit a successful one and about implementing the Panmunjom Declaration,” South Korea’s presidential spokesman said in a statement. He did not confirm how the meeting was arranged or which side asked for it.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. But White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said an advance team of White House and U.S. State Department officials would leave for Singapore on schedule this weekend to prepare for a possible summit there.” (read more)



Sandwich Press

.

.

Chairman Xi made a strategic decision in his adversarial approach toward President Trump. Again, as noted in the briefing by Secretary Pompeo – Panda China is telling Pompeo they too want to see peace, Korean stability and denuclearization. However, Dragon-China is using the panda mask, and simultaneously leveraging Chairman Kim to aid their trade and economic conquest objectives.

However, Beijing made a fatal mistake; Xi exposed too much dragon face -and brought great shame and embarrassment to the Chinese people- he did not expect President Trump to call him out publicly.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross heads to China June 2-4 with •Steel and Aluminum tariffs; •auto-sector 232 evaluations; •intellectual property penalties; •over $150 billion in additional trade sanctions/tariffs pending; •and financial sanctions against Chinese banks as economic arrows in his dragon slaying quiver.

Don’t doubt for a minute, based on Chairman Xi’s mid-May maneuver with Chairman Kim, Wolverine Ross is not about to fire one -or several- of those arrows directly into the heart of Beijing. My guess would be the Steel (25%) and Aluminum (10%) tariffs for China go into effect regardless of the disposition of current trade negotiations.

Chairman Xi Jinping made a strategic mistake. Communist Xi genuinely has no idea the level of hurt President Trump is looking for an excuse to deliver. Xi Jinping showed great disrespect by attempting to embarrass U.S. President Donald Trump over the Singapore summit. Things are fixing to get ‘Old-School’.