CHINA SYNDROME: The US and China announced an agreement to temporarily slash the drastic trade tariffs they imposed on each other while continuing talks to end the trade war threatening the world’s two largest economies.

  Stock futures were up sharply this morning on the news. If this ends in a reasonable settlement it’s a huge victory for President Donald Trump, and he’ll be sure to tell you. Yesterday he posted on his Truth Social: “IN JUST THREE MONTHS, TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS (and therefore, record numbers of JOBS!) HAVE BEEN POURING INTO THE USA. THIS IS BECAUSE OF MY TARIFF POLICY, and our great November 5th Election WIN!”

  The two countries said they would each suspend their tariffs for 90 days and continue negotiations started over the weekend. The US would reduce its tariff on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30, while China would lower its import duty on American goods from 125 to 10 percent.

 The United States sought lower tariffs, pushing China to roll back export curbs on minerals and stop the flow of fentanyl ingredients to the United States. The US has complained that China runs a $1.2 trillion trade surplus China runs with the rest of the world, which makes it difficult for other countries to have competitive manufacturing industries.

  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— The Trump administration is reported to be accepting the gift of a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar to replace Air Force One for which the scheduled replacement is years behind production. The gift of such value sets off legal and ethical alarm bells, but it’s being written off as a government to government gift. 

  This has a strong odor to it. According to the deal, the jet would ultimately be donated to Trump’s presidential library, allowing him to use it when he’s no longer in office. A new 747, minus the extras, costs $400 million.

  Attorney General Pam Bondi said it’s all legal. Trump posted; “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane.”

  The gift jet would be refitted by the Pentagon with security and communication features. The conversion would be completed at the end of the year, giving Trump three years of use.

— President Trump announced on his Truth Social that he’s going to sign an executive order that would dramatically bring down the price of prescription drugs in. the US. “Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%,” he wrote.

  Trump said he will invoke a “Most Favored Nation” policy under which the US would pay the same price for drugs as the countries that pay the lowest price for the same drugs. 

— The White House ordered federal agencies to stop estimating the economic damage caused by climate change when writing regulations, except when it is “plainly required” by law.

  President Trump claims global warming and climate change are a “hoax” and he’s cutting back on efforts to limit the damage. Now he’s limiting exercise of the metric known as the “social cost of carbon,” which assigns an estimated cost to the economy of one ton of carbon dioxide pollution, the primary greenhouse gas that is heating the planet. The Biden administration used such estimates to put limits on greenhouse gas emission from cars, power plants, factories, and oil refineries.

  Under the Biden administration the cost of one ton of carbon emissions was estimated at $190 following the first Trump administration, which put it at $5.

— Trump is auctioning off to top buyers of his digital meme coin a tour of the White House and a private dinner with him at one of his private golf clubs.  As a result buyers have been snapping up and increasing the value of $TRUMP. Some have told reporters they’re doing it because they want Trump to do something for them.

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend said that Russia must agree to an immediate ceasefire before he accepts his invader’s offer of direct talks toward ending their war. Russia’s Vladmir Putin has offered talks to starts on Thursday.

  The added pressure on Russia began after leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Poland visited Kyiv and announced a deadline of today for Russia to accept a 30-day cease-fire or face additional sanctions. 

 THE OBIT PAGE: William Porter, a car designer who helped create some of the hottest American cars in the 1960s and 70s, the “muscle cars” including the Pontiac Trans Am, the GTO, and the Firebird, died at home in Whitmore Lake, Michigan at age 93.

  Porter’s  elongated hoods often included air scoops to cool huge eight cylinder engines. The music foursome Ronny and the Daytonas had a hit song about the GTO:

         Little GTO, you’re really lookin’ fine
         Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389
         Listen to her tachin’ up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine
         C’mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO

  Porter’s cars that were not wrapped around a tree by teenagers at 80 mph are now collector’s items for the gray-haired set who never had one when they were young.

THE SPIN RACK: Hamas militants in Gaza said they would free Edan Alexander, 21, an Israeli soldier and the last living American citizen they hold captive, but they didn’t say when. President Trump is visiting the area in a few days. — A new study in people 50 and older found that they if they’ve had the shingles vaccine they have a 23 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease.  

BELOW THE FOLD: Jordan Hudson, 24,  the girlfriend of 73-year-old football coach Bill Belichick, placed third in the Miss Maine USA beauty contest. But she’s #1 for Bill.

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