Spin City: President Trump appeared to back off his threats against China speaking at the G-7 meeting in France and then the White House press office said he’d been misunderstood.

  Trump told reporters he had second thoughts about ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese goods. “Yeah, sure, why not?” Trump said. “Might as well. Might as well. I have second thoughts about everything.”Then he said, “We’re getting along very well with China.”

  Something like how the Borgias got along.

  Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham later said in an email to reporters, “His answer has been greatly misinterpreted.” She said, “President Trump responded in the affirmative — because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher.” 

  Was there anything unclear about what he said?

  Trump also appears to be abandoning his abrupt order to American companies to get out of China. He had arrived in France for the G-7 summit claiming that he absolutely has the power to give the order.

 Just before landing he tweeted a reference to a law intended to isolate a criminal government regime. He said, “For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!”

  The act says it may be invoked “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat … to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat.” 

  Trump has not declared a national emergency and he’d likely have a hard time convincing Congress that supplying cheap Chinese goods to Walmart is such a threat.   

  China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement on Saturday warning the US to back off. It said “This unilateral and bullying trade protectionism” seriously undermines “the multilateral trading system and the normal international trade order.”

Vapor Trail:The centers for Disease control has identified its first case in which a man died as the result of vaping.

  In recent weeks the number of people hit by a mysterious disease associated with vaping has nearly doubled to 200, the CDC says.

  A director at the CDC’s smoking and health division said, “The bottom line is that there’s a variety of things in e-cigarette aerosols that could have implications for lung health.”

The Frog Prince:Britain’s Prince Andrew continues trying to quell suspicion that he enjoyed romping with Jeffrey Epstein’s teenage escorts and said he regrets continuing his friendship after Epstein’s prostitution conviction.

  Epstein committed suicide while waiting for trial on sex trafficking charges.

  The 59-year-old prince said, “I have stayed in a number of his residences. At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”

‘Roo the Day: The US men’s basketball team suffered its first loss in more than 10 years yesterday in Melbourne at the hands of Australia’s Boomers. The Americans had won 78 straight games in international competition until the Aussies ended the run 98-94 in an exhibition match.

Early Retirement:Baltimore Colts quarterback Andrew Luck abruptly retired yesterday, two weeks before the open of the NFL season, ending a winning career plagued by injuries. 

  Luck was the number one draft pick in 2012. Here is a summary of his subsequent injuries:

  -Torn cartilage in 2 ribs
  -Torn abdomen
  -Lacerated kidney that left him peeing blood
  -Concussion
  -Torn throwing shoulder
  -Unhealed injury in calf and ankle

  He’s walking away from three years left on a $64 million contract. “I’m in pain, I’m still in pain, I’ve been in this cycle for four years,” Luck said at a news conference. “Shoulder, ankle, and this and this and this. I don’t feel like I can live the life I want moving forward.” 

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