Trump in UK | Pakistan PM Arrest | Iconic Syrian City Surrenders

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. July 13, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA Trump in Interview Assails May's Brexit Policy U.S. President Donald J. Trump met UK Prime Minister Theresa May for a working lunch hours after publication of an interview in which he criticized May’s handling of Brexit (Sun) talks and praised her political rival (Bloomberg). Trump also said May’s Brexit policy could "kill" a potential trade deal with the United States (FT). He said London Mayor Sadiq Khan has done a “terrible job” with regard to terrorism and crime. At a press conference following their meeting, both Trump and May expressed their interest in a bilateral free trade agreement following the UK’s exit from the European Union. Trump also disputed that he had criticized May’s leadership. Trump’s comments follow a turbulent week in UK politics, which saw resignations of several members of May’s cabinet, including former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis. ANALYSIS “Both Brexiters and Trump channeled dissatisfaction with the status quo and capitalized on the emotional draw of a clean break with an established order. But both movements lacked a workable vision of a new order,” Therese Raphael writes for Bloomberg. “There is no gain in treating Trump as ally; his instinct is to keep friends and enemies alike at a similar distance,” Thomas Carothers writes for Carnegie Europe. “Many Brexiteers greeted the referendum by insisting that a competitive Britain — freed from Brussels’s regulatory shackles — would strike deals all over an eager world; there was nothing to fear from the cold, fresh breeze of competition. Instead, Britain faces a protectionist president in the United States and a growing world trade war that looks a rather less enticing prospect,” Robin Oakley writes for Foreign Policy. PACIFIC RIM China Hits Record Trade Surplus With United States Chinese customs data showed that China's exports to the United States rose 12.6 percent year-on-year in June to reach $42.6 billion (SCMP), even as trade tensions rose. The amount represented a monthly trade surplus of $28.9 billion, a record since data became available in 1999.  CFR's Benn Steil and Benjamin Della Rocca write that the Trump administration's tariffs hurt U.S. competitiveness by restricting U.S. companies' access to foreign parts. NORTH KOREA: The U.S. State Department said that North Korea has offered to meet U.S. officials July 15 (Yonhap). The two sides were expected to discuss repatriating the remains of U.S. soldiers (NYT) killed during the Korean War on Thursday, but North Korean officials did not show up to meet their U.S. counterparts. Victor Cha discusses the uncertain aftermath of the Trump-Kim summit in this episode of the President's Inbox podcast. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Pakistan’s Former PM, Daughter Face Arrest Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz are expected to be taken by helicopter to an Islamabad jail (Dawn) as soon as they arrive in Lahore from travel abroad. They were sentenced to ten and seven years in prison, respectively, in a corruption case. INDIA: India's top court criticized the Information and Broadcasting Ministry's move to set up a hub for monitoring social media data as akin to "creating a surveillance state" (Hindustan Times). MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Syria Government Retakes City Where Revolt Began Syrian state television broadcast images of government forces raising the country's flag over the city of Daraa after rebels there agreed to surrender. The city was the first to revolt against President Bashar al-Assad (AP) in 2011. In Foreign Affairs, Jennifer Cafarella writes that the United States has options to constrain Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad if it is willing to use them.  YEMEN: Rights group Amnesty International accused forces from the United Arab Emirates and Yemen of "egregious violations" in running a network of secret prisons in Yemen (Amnesty), where scores of men have faced torture and forced disappearances. In Foreign Affairs, Peter Salisbury discusses what's at stake in the United Arab Emirates' assault on the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Eritrean President to Reciprocate Historic Visit by Ethiopian PM President Isaias Afwerki is expected to arrive in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Sunday, his first such visit in two decades (Africa News). It comes after he and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced an end to hostilities between their two countries and an agreement on their disputed border.  SOUTH SUDAN: Lawmakers voted to extend the term of President Salva Kiir (Sudan Tribune) by an additional three years. EUROPE U.S. Allows Extradition of Lithuanian Judge A U.S. judge declined to block the extradition of a former Lithuanian judge and lawmaker (DW), Neringa Venckiene. She says she faces death in her home country for her role in exposing an official cover-up of an alleged pedophile ring. AMERICAS Pompeo, Kushner to Meet Mexico’s President-elect U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House advisor Jared Kushner will meet Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City Friday for talks on trade, migration, and cross-border crime (VOA). CFR’s Shannon K. O’Neil discusses Mexico’s efforts to restrict migrant crossings at its southern border.  ARGENTINA: Argentina requested that Russia and China arrest and extradite former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati (RFE/RL), now a top aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during his visits to the countries. Argentina cited his alleged role in a 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed eighty-five people. UNITED STATES Child Immigrant Detention Spending Reaches $1 Billion Spending by the Department of Health and Human Services welfare services for migrant children who arrive in the United States unaccompanied or those who are separated from their parents by authorities grew threefold over a decade, reaching $958 million in 2017 (AP).         Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org

Date: July 13, 2018 at 10:31PM