TRUMP PLANS INDIA VISIT as early as this month, according to U.S. and Indian officials. The dates haven’t been finalized since the schedule depends on the pace of President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. If he visits, the two sides may choose to announce a limited trade deal that has been in the works for months. The U.S. wants India to ease pricing caps on medical equipment. Foreign companies that supply many of these products, including U.S. manufacturers, would benefit from the changes. The visit would come on the heels of a new trade deal with China.
The U.S. has also been pushing for tariff reduction on some electronic goods, telecom gear, mobile handsets and automobiles, besides providing greater access for agricultural produce and dairy products in the Indian market. India wants a rollback of higher tariffs on steel and aluminum products exported to the U.S. Trump has spoken out against high Indian tariffs even as he touted his personal rapport with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In September, Trump showed up at an event put on by Indian-Americans for Modi in Houston that drew over 50,000 people. It would be his first visit to India as president.
JOE BIDEN WINS a coveted endorsement from the Asian-American Pacific Islander Victory Fund, a group that plans to spend $2 million turning out voters from AAPI communities during the Democratic primary. The effort will target primary states with large Asian-American populations, including California, Nevada and North Carolina. The endorsement is the result of polling commissioned by the group in September, which had Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie, but Biden leading the pack in terms of perceived electability. There was also significant interest in Andrew Yang, Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, all of whom have AAPI roots.
The group aims to mobilize the 1.6 million AAPI eligible voters who didn’t vote in 2016. They were encouraged by the results of the 2018 elections, where their efforts helped flip seats in heavily Asian-American areas, like Orange County, Calif., and Virginia. Around 77% of AAPI voters nationwide voted Democratic in 2018, per exit polls. AAPIs are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group. “We can reach our voters less expensively than anyone else can” by harnessing community networks and volunteers’ language capabilities, said Shekar Narasimhan, chairman of AAPI VF.
EUROPEAN UNION trade negotiators cultivate alliances with U.S. business groups and think tanks to make their case to the Trump administration. “I certainly got a very good reaction from a variety of organizations,” including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Phil Hogan, the EU’s new trade commissioner, in an interview. “We have many good interlocutors here who understand the need to have a very close relationship—hopefully that can permeate elsewhere.”
The Trump administration’s trade wars have prompted U.S. trading partners to rely informally on trade advocates in the private sector and in Congress to make their case to the White House. In late 2018, when the White House was threatening to keep Canada out of a new North American trade deal with Mexico, the Chamber, Business Roundtable and National Association of Manufacturers said it would be “unacceptable to sideline Canada.”
MICROSOFT, TWITTER and other companies have signed an amicus brief filed by for-profit immigration assistance company Boundless Immigration in a federal appeals court case contesting the Trump administration’s public charge rule. The policy aims to disqualify legal immigrants from permanent residency if they use certain public-assistance programs, and prevent low-income foreigners from immigrating if they might use public benefits in the future. The Department of Justice made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the nationwide injunction put in place by a federal appeals court.
The businesses on the brief, which also include Hewlett Packard and Warby Parker, are concerned about the impact on legal immigration, which could be severely curtailed and affect employees and their families. Some analyses have shown that a majority of recent immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa wouldn’t pass such a wealth test.
SENATE AMENDMENTS have plummeted in recent years, a sign of a less deliberative body where party leaders keep a tighter rein on debates. The number of amendments considered by the Senate generally declined between the mid-1990s and the current Congress, according to data compiled by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Amendments by the majority dropped from 1,047 in the 104th Congress to 303 in the 115th, while minority amendments dropped from 688 to 163.
Declining Number of Senate Amendments
Source: Bipartisan Policy Center
Majority Amendments
Minority Amendments
1995-1996
2017-2018
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
TOP CHEFS team up for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. California cuisine pioneer and Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters will host a San Francisco fundraiser on Jan. 26, while chefs in Chicago and Stamford, Conn., host simultaneous gatherings. A separate “Pastry Chefs for Mayor Pete” group offers customized spatulas and aprons in return for donations to the campaign and has posted what is billed as Buttigieg’s recipe for pain au chocolat.
MINOR MEMOS: Warren asks for verification that customers on her campaign’s online shop are not executives at big tech, fossil fuel or pharmaceutical companies…. Mike Pence warms up for Trump rally in Milwaukee with a Culver’s Frozen Custard turtle sundae during a surprise stop…. Pop star Jason Mraz says Biden has “nice teeth” but he prefers Sanders or Warren.
Write to Gabriel T. Rubin at
gabriel.rubin@wsj.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-p...ed-11579257002
