>> peter navarro and bob lighthizer get thrown into the same basket. they are two different characters. robert lighthizer has been an operator here in washington for decades. --served in the record it reagan administration, as a disciple of bob dole, served on the senate finance committee, has been a lawyer in town here for the steel industry. academic,rro is an and if you look at his writings, a bit of an ideologue. it's not clear if he has the same pragmatic approach to policy as bob lighthizer. peter navarro is a huge and mirer, as he said in public, a bob lighthizer and he will be backing bob lighthizer. who willr is the guy be able to translate trump's vision into real policy. caroline: what are the other crows coming from president trump with the auto tariffs rolling back? we heard from some of the big players in european autos like bmw at the white house, did we learn anything in terms of that focus? luke: there are two different these is. one is trump talking about auto tariffs which are largely retaliatory that have hit u.s. exporters to china.

bob lighthizer talks about this all of the time and mnuchin. that is essential. and i'm glad to see that a lot of american businessmen and women are talking about this now, the center -- i was telling jerry about this before, the center of that conversation is now moving in our direction. people are picking up on it. i saw my friend hank paulson give a speech on that subject and sound just like me. the interview of mr. paulson. that is good. because that is where we really -- i mean, i'm not -- i would love to -- i'll sell as much energy and l&g and soy beans as they want but the other issues, the ownership and the technology issues, the cyber, that has to be addressed. it is so important to the future of the united states and to our relationship and to any potential trade deal. i'm just saying, you'll hear other people from the administration, i presume they'll agree with me but i'll tell you that this camper really wants palpable, clear, measurable reforms in that area and not teeny weenie reforms. big reforms. that is the heart of it. now i'm not going to be a

i want to thank you as trade representative bob lighthizer and his entire team for their tremendous effort and the efforts that they have made all throughout the last almost two-year period. thank you as well to jared kushner, secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of the treasury steve mnuchin, and director larry kudlow for their hard work and untiring devotion throughout the negotiation process. peter navarro, thank you for the work you have put in. and so many others. the usmca is the largest and most significant modern and balanced trade agreement in history. all of our countries will benefit greatly. it is probably the largest trade deal ever made also. in the united states, the new trade pact will support high-praying manufacturing jobs and promote greater access for american exports across the range of sectors, including our farming, manufacturing, and service industries. as part of our agreement, the united states will be able to lock in our market access to canada and mexico and greatly expand our agricultural exports, something we have been wanting to do for many years. this i

so that's why i'm bringing ambassador bob lighthizer who has a long record. ght highser was already work on the japan unfair trade problem and he had a huge success there. they think president trump is super smart, they compare him ahead of past presidents. but they are really scared of bob lighthizer as well because of his success with japan. that led to a series of written agreements with verification measures in it. i think that's one of the goals. by the way, that's one of the areas of concession. the chinese said we are going to criminalize intellectual property theft. it's a big shift. they are talking about opening up their market to american companies more. trish: let me ask you about the public display president trump has against china. bob ruben who was the treasury secretary under president clinton told me 6-8 months ago that he didn't like the strategy this president had. he said it's too public. he said the chinese are always trying to save face. if you go after them as publicly as this president is doing, you are not going to get anywhere because

i think bob lighthizer is the perfect warrior to bring transparency and a solution to this issue.s the deputy u.s. trade representative for president reagan and he is the best adult in the room, he and steven mnuchin. erik: you know what i'm talking about. for example, the tweet about autos. he says the chinese are going to reduce and eventually eliminate -- has agreed to reduce and eliminate tariffs on cars coming from china to the united states. those are his exact words. the next day, steve mnuchin and larry kudlow are backpedaling as fast as they can. tom: i cannot explain it. you have a discussion at a very high level going on in english and chinese, and a translation from a very global level to a very business level. i am sure something actually gets lost in the transition, -- translation, but what is important is the dialogue. taking these small issues tweet by tweet or issue by issue is very difficult. the president practices dynamite diplomacy. it is startling and out of cadence for many of us. we would like a more monitored, thoughtful, and apparently considered process,

and so i think he's going to be a tough negotiator, and he's hired one to be his chief guy, bob lighthizeris, i think, tougher than any of the trade representatives that other presidents have had in recent years. jon: this seems like sort of a baby step to me, fred -- >> exactly. jon: not a lot of meat on the bone. are you worried this is really fluff? [laughter] >> well, i'm not necessarily worried, but i think it is fluff. i think you have that quite correctly. and, look, it just looks like so much more than it is. i don't think it will change, reflect any change, any softening in the chinese trade practices or the weight that the chinese negotiate than we've seen before. they'll be as tough and mean as ever. jon: well, you know, the chinese are coming off a really tough quarter economically. do you think that changes the dynamic of these discussions at all? >> well, that's a good question that i don't know the answer of. you would think normally with another country and maybe another issue it would, but with the chinese i suspect not. i mean, trade is so critical to their stature in the

bob lighthizer leading these negotiations is important. longtime china hawk and has been someone critical of past administrations for agreeing to or being suckered into prolonged negotiations. it is going to be interesting to watch him now that he has his hands on the wheel. in about 25 minutes we understand that ceos from german car manufacturers are going to be at the white house for talks. .ou have your ear to the ground what are we hearing about the possibility of tariffs being imposed? shawn: that is the other big threat, these national security tariffs trump is threatening to impose on imports of cars from the eu, japan, and other countries. essentially global imports. the big victims would be european makers. they will go in and they will make their case they are big investors in the united states. bmw has its biggest plane in the world in spartanburg, south carolina. there are also one of the biggest exporters of u.s. made cars. they will be pleading their case. the deal with the eu and japan has been that trump would hold off on i

i will be the first thing that gets addressed in the next few weeks and bob lighthizer will be leavinghe specifics in negotiating this with ustr putting it into a legally binding agreement. maria: i recognize secretary these things do not happen overnight. china really looks at things over the long term so how long will you give it in terms of a change in behavior on the other things like intellectual property and opening up their markets to foreigners? >> there are 142 structural items we have discussed in great detail. our expectation is phase one will be implemented immediately and when i say immediately that's part of the 90-day negotiations with specific timeframes, specific commitments and phase two will be very quickly as well. maria: secretary mnuchin let me turn to grow tickets and all of your policies and to have stepped into this job your number one priority has been economic growth, getting the numbers, growth numbers up as well as creating more jobs. economists are worried as you know of a slowdown in the next two years as we head into the 2020 election. do you expect this

president tweeted - bob lighthizer will be working closely with mnuchin and peter navarro. >> come onro? >> march 1st, there it is. the team >> i mean this is a team of rivals this is not -- that's why comparing lincoln to trump, you are supposed to call me out on that >> i can't call you out on everything or we'll never get anywhere on the show >> did you see -- >> you do wonder about when you think of mnuchin and his approach in kudlow verses lighthizer, navarro. we talked about it so often and wilbur ross and some where as well >> how they're going to come to a cohesive set of ideas that or set of agreements. >> in the end -- >> one of them is going to be fired. >> trump is the one that'll have to decide. >> all i can tell you that xi and trump are great friends. >> because he said so. >> right >> great friends >> kudlow did say they had amazing chemistry. that's why that qualcomm offer was made according to larry. >> what is that? au, what is salt what is oil? >> honestly, let's look at the periodic table and see what chemistry really means >> right >> now you have lost me. >> i d

steve mnuchin and bob lighthizer, the u.s. trade representative, have been meeting with the chinese vice premier. off of those trade talks last night on the phone, we are hearing they have separated the issue of hauwei and they are continuing to focus on areas of common ground, particularly in the agricultural sector. that is good news for farmers, agricultural sector, and that is what treasury secretary mnuchin said will be the biggest positive impact of this in the short-term. >> president trump has just held a contentious meeting with the democratic leaders in congress, chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. >> i will take the mantle, i will be the one to shut it down. i'm not going to blame you for it. the last time you shut it down, it did not work. i'm going to shut it down for border security. >> if this is a view into how this will go forward in the new congress, i did not find it very encouraging. >> i guess it is a little bit discouraging if you are an investor. it does look like we are headed toward a government shutdown n

trade prepare bob lighthizer. and david bossie, he would love to have an opportunity like this.ne. he says he hasn't bin contacted about a chief of staff job and he's happy with the job he has. but there is a concern that his departure could impact the holdland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. now, back to you. great to see you. let's bring in "the weekly standard" executive editor, fred barnes. who will be the best person to replace kelly? too none of those. kelly has been under rated. he's a pretty good guy. but you need another dimension from what he has. he's been a military guy who has gotten rid of all the chaos at the trump white house, but he's not a political strategist. and you need one in that job. the best one i have seen in the years i have been writing about this stuff is jim baker under the first president bush, then he was secretary of state. but he was a great chief of staff because he had both those traits. he could run the place, he was tough, and he was a good political strategist. liz: who is that guy now? mark meadows is known to be a skilled brawler. w

president trump is considering steve mnuchin and mick mulvaney and bob lighthizer. several candidates said they are not interested. lighthizer is negotiating with the chinese over thorny trade issues. moving him to that position would be complicated. >>> bruised and battle tested. prime minister theresa may has survived a leadership challenge by other own party. her battles are not over. she tries to convince european neighbors to reopen the dialogue over the brexit withdrawal treaty. we have nic robertson live in london. theresa may sticks around, but she is weakened by the vote. >> reporter: she knows and everyone knows 1/3 of her mps are against the deal she is working for. if she gets the deal through parliament, she needs considerable concessions from the european union. they smell the possibility of calling a vote of no confidence in the government and having a general election. when she goes to brussels, the politicians there don't have the power to give her what she needs. what the vote did yesterday was to throw into sharp focus the depth of division and ho

among those considered is steve mnuchin and mick mulvaney as well as bob lighthizer. some indicated they are not interested. >> two of the people listed are negotiating with china on an important trade deal. >>> bruised and battle tested. prime minister theresa may has survived a leadership challenge triggered by members of her own party. her battles are not over. she tries to convince european neighbors to reopen the dialogue over the brexit withdrawal treaty. we have nic robertson live in london in front of parliament for us. she survives, but this doesn't get easier. >> reporter: it doesn't. i think it sharpens the focus of everyone here. a third of her party is against her and the ultimate goal is a brexit agreement to pass in the house of parliament behind her. with a third against her, that becomes harder. the opposition is firmly against her at the moment. any idea she could win some of them to her side to pass this vote seems impossible. what does she need to do today when she goes to brussels? she will try to get political and legal reassurances on the back-s

bob lighthizer will be working closely with steve mnuchin, larry kudlow, wilbur ross, and peter navarrot, dot, dot, dot, dot." dot, dot, dot, on seeing whether or not a real deal with china is actually possible. if it is, we will get it done. china is supposed to start buying agricultural product and more immediately." agricultural product, singular? ( laughter ) ( as trump ) "look, i'm negotiating with a carrot-and-stick approach. i'm insist ago ( cheers and applause ) i am insisting that china buy a carrot, and they have told me where to stick it." ( laughter ) you, "ah-ah-ah." he continued, "president xi and i want this deal to happen, and it probably will. but if not, remember, comma, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, i am a tariff man." ( laughter ) oh, yeah. oh, yeah, baby. >> jon: tariff man. >> stephen: oh, yeah, everybody knows i'm a tariff man, yeah. it takes all kinds. there are some freaks out there. anything goes, free markets. call me old fashioned, but i like an import with a big duty." ( laughter ) and-- that was a long walk. that was a long walk. >>

bob lighthizer will negotiate for us.se will make some concession early sparse buying product. longer haul we'll talk about the other issues that have to be talked about in my view. changes in the relationship as far as intellectual property. second the mexico signed the u.s. mexico trade agreement with canada. it has been positive. market are the moving on a lot of different things but overall when the market, the dow hit 26 yesterday, i think that was an indication people saw the positive. now maybe they're seeing it will be hard. it is always hard, particularly negotiating with china. but it is important we're making progress. i'm very please what happened the next few days. connell: trade is complicated to your point. we'll ask but the president's identification as a tariff man is a negotiating tactic or philosophy. you said both. you may be right. doesn't that worry you as a free trader if that is philosophy, protectionist philosophy outlook? >> i have seen with regard to the nafta deal being revamped that he is will

>> two very separate camps of the trade agenda inside the white house, peter navarro and bob lighthizerand then there is steve mnuchin, and to a lesser degree, wilbur ross weighs in on each side of the issues, depending on what it is. what we have to remember is donald trump makes the decision. in this book, remember what we heard, bob woodward told us -- gary: was literally taking documents off the resolute desk because he didn't want him to sign a trade deal with south korea at the time. he got that name because he was profiteering somewhere, goldman sachs profiteering off of it. he didn't want donald trump to sign the papers, so literally taking it off his desk. that is such a disservice, those are the enemies. >> laura: ronald reagan would never relent on this kind of trade deal -- i'm going to say i notice per sumptuous, i did work for reagan, but he would never remind come and my mom you. they have them right where you want them. you release the drip know my grip, wall street is happy, all the money we put over there, all the work china is going to do, all of the private banking,

people are concerned about where this whole discussion is headed because the fact is that because bob lighthizers the one who will be leading the negotiation and he has been very strict from the u.s. side about wanting china to make structural changes that would mean really painful changes to the industrial policies, that those discussions will be incredibly difficult for the chinese to compromise on so that's one of the big questions that the people here have, just whether or not beijing is willing to make those changes. >> eunice yoon live in beijing with the latest, thank you very much for that. >>> with us now on the cnbc news line is fast money trader, guy adami. let's talk about the markets, china very much a part of the emrn emerging markets picture. what is the price action telling you now about how things are developing with regards to the u.s. and the rest of the world >> good morning. you know, the question we've been asking for a long time is, you know, is the u.s. market going to trade down and catch up to emerging markets or are emerging markets going to bounce and catch up to the

trade rep, bob lighthizer says the president will not push past the march deadline. to worry a little bit that the chinese use some negotiations as delaying tactic to kick the can down the road. susan: dan, i would say i've been encouraged by some of the news flow out of china of the they will take up the law to actually stop forcing forced technology transfer from u.s. companies and also more access to the markets without having a a joint venture partner in the chinese markets. i find that encouraging. those are some of the demands, by the way, from the trump administration. >> that is exactly right. if they start in fact doing that, if they make good on the commitments, then i think you have to credit the trump administration with making enormous progress in the trading relationship with china. keep in mind that chinese president xi xinping is himself under a lot of internal pressure of people unhappy with the trade relationship with the united states and so i think it is possible that when mr. malpass goes over there, we could see some progress early next year on

. >> have you seen bob lighthizer's complaint it is 215 pages long >> fair point. >> so getting this knocked out in 90 days is a lot to ask for >> and you also have a president that wants -- maybe he is not being perceived as being a friend to the market, but he wants to be a friend to the market i have 100% confidence in that and that has been throughout his time as president. he wants to be a friend to the market i think that is relevant >> but i think he wants to make sure that he is not seen as somebody who is in the pocket wall street because a lot of his base is not wault strell streets main street. so i think he is testing to see if he can get the things done that he wants to get done to be a friend to the market, but do it in a way that doesn't alienate the base. >> he doesn't want to be blamed for a more significant do you think tu think -- downturn in the stock market you ha market you have to lay blame somewhere. so i think the president is thinking i'm not going to be blamed for the selloff, the fed will be blamed because jay powell is making all these missteps, they shou

-- is because here, specifically on the issue of very complicated issue like trade, you have bob lighthizerwilbur ross, stephen vaughn, inside the u.s. e.r. the final finest thinkers on te and the government we have ever had, ever, and i worked for reagan. they are smart, getting it done, and they have already made huge headway. obama promised it, and clinton thought about it. never would happen. it's bigger the difference is you have very smart people finally negotiating for the amen people. not for big transnational corporations trying to benefit foreign nations, such as china, so they can dump their products here. the other important point is, liberals, they say, oh, we are for gun control, they walk around with armed guards. they want open borders, yet they live with. >> laura: the church, by the way, politicizing a nativity scene, they protest president trump's immigration policies ended a liberal district court judge actually actually help an this isn't just any moving day. this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connecte

we have a process now and one person in charge, bob lighthizer. you're right to be skeptical. sometimes we hear announcements of great progress and then the reality is not followed. i think it's trust but verify. overall, the market reacted properly by going up some today. >> neil: i don't want to get too lost in the market here even though i'm a nerd and i enjoy those weeds. i'm curious as to how we make the chinese stick to this. other presidents have been fooled by the chinese saying one thing, doing another. they spied on us, ripped off a lot of our technology. you know, they make promises that they were going to stop that, make promises they would buy more and never materialized. that trust and verify goes back to ronald reagan. how do you do the same thing with the chinese? >> just follow up. we're not the greatest on following through. second, it's based on market conditions. so the fact that they're saying they're going to buy more soy beans should make us happy only because our soy beans on a question of price and quality are the best in the world. so yeah, we can tru

the world with massive subsidiaries these have to be addressed and so i'm confident that with bob lighthizerthe lead and good team behind him that by march 1 the chinese will deliver on their promise to have concrete verifiable actions with concrete verifiable results, and we should be optimistic but the markets shouldn't pin their hopes on that because that's not what this is all about. we have a tremendously strong economy. every indicator is pointing up, we're bullish the china trade is a small part of our overall economic growth and world trade and i think what we need to do is focus on the structural adjustments occurring here in this economy under the leadership of the best presidents we've had in modern history. maria: but everyone is worried about growth because of these tariffs. are there any reason to believe the tariffs on steel and aluminum go away over the mid-term? >> so maria, look there's a lot of false narratives out there where they are trying to beat back the tariffs but the tariffs have been growth-inducing and investment-inducing, productivity-inducing. maria: wait a min

others including treasure secretary treasury stekt steve mnuchin, mick mulvaney, chris christie, bob lighthizer already indicated that they are not interested in the post. so stay tuned on that one. >>> reminder, full circle, don't miss it. week nights at 6:45 p.m. on facebook. it's our daily newscast on facebook. you get to vote on what stories we cover. you get the details. watch it week night 6:25 eastern at facebook.com/anderson cooper full circle. that's it for us. the news continues. hand it over to chris for cuomo "prime time". >> thank you, anderson. this is cuomo primetime. cohen is going to prison. people say his story is far from over. you can't look at this like a political story with opinions and pundits. you need to look at the facts. the legalities, and you have to see how the cases are developing. we can do that right now. the man who was by trump's side for a decade, cohen had eyes and ears on personal and campaign events that could affect several big questions for investigators. cohen referred to dirty deeds, plural. what else did he cover up? speculation? no. remember the tap

. >> we have much work to do but again, i want to play this -- look, we have to, and bob lighthizer is the best guy in the business for this. we have to make sure there is enforcement on any so-called agreement. reporter: then you have peter navarro, one of the president's top trade advisers, of course, who wrote the book "death by china" who said today, telling charles payne last hour, that he is bullish coming out of saturday night's dinner. navarro also told charles that the whole tariff man tweet was an homage from president trump to the old president, william mckinley, and navarro told charles that the treasury has collected some $7 billion already because of those tariffs. >> i think we've collected $7 billion so far which is -- i think that's real money at this point, and i think what's important here is the function of these tariffs, when the president says he's a tariff man, he also understands one of the most important functions of these tariffs is to make sure that people invest within our borders. reporter: of course, the critics will note that tariff, the tariff money, get

bob lighthizer will be works closely with steve mnuchin, lairky ludlow.navarro. this is the number two much the tweet. president she panned i i want to deal to happen. it probably will, but if knot, remember, dot dot dot. there might be more coming. if there is a third party, we'll certainly bring it to you. susan: market taking this as a negative. stuart: you're right, susan. the market is taking it as a negative. as soon as the first tweet went out, the second tweet, the market took a leg down. they don't like what the president is tweeting with the china deal. ashley: reemphasizing nine at -0 days. stuart: reiterated 90 days and light highser is there, navarro is there. hard-liners. no retreat for president trump. he is saying 90 days. susan: they expect the 90 day limit to be extended. seems like a market negative if that does not come, well-done, susan. china expects it to be extended. president trump suggesting maybe not. got it. >>> at the top of the hour i gave you my editorial on the greens, environmentalists, i'm saying they can't sell their cli

they'll move against you and one thing that the wall street journal notes in this article about bob lighthizer being the negotiator between the u.s. and china is that they suspect that the people in the administration were being too rosy about what they -- what came out over the weekend in part to push up the stock market because they view it as a really kind of most important poll for the president, so people are questioning how -- what really came out of the weekend and whether china really wanted steve mnuchin there negotiating and not bob lighthizer. maria: real quick, nancy, well management business. >> yes, ron is going advise us, state of the art client experience and focus really on educating and investing for women as well. maria: that's terrific, congratulations, thanks very much for joining us and sharing the news with us, nancy tangler joining us there. violence in paris to report, the french government ready to do an about face over fuel increases, powerful women, facebook sheryl sandberg making this year's list, we have the list and number one coming up. over 100 years ago, we we

so as these discussions go on, bob light lighthizer who will be leading the team for the president and negotiation will be asking about verification mechanisms as well. it's not what you sign up to on a piece of paper but whether we have some guarantees that china will carry through on its commitments and actually operationalize it. >> other questions? >> guest: ambassador, tim back of it from samsung, i have a question about 5g and the security implications about it. as a company who's venge billions in bringing these devices together and 5g is going to play a instrumental role in smart cities and autonomous driving and so forth. there's also a lot of discussion about the race to 5g and global implications of that in particular with china. how do you think about that in the security aspects of that as well? >> sen. bolton: well we are all over that issue on a lot of others watching what chine china has done, and thinking about how to protect against it. the justice department has a substantial number of open investigations on matters related to information technology summit i think wi

do i think bob lighthizer would be driving a tough bargain i do do i think it's good for the u.s. do >> but one more, do you think china contains rules in 90 days? >> no. but as the gdp continues to rise and a per capita level it will have to play by the rules which it has not done over the last 17 years. >> we had a decent week last week when we consider the fed has changed its tone the market wanted it back that oil has stabilized. would we not have expected a more decisive rally today? >> i don't know about expected certainly you had the makings for something better i think it was in the an overwhelmingly bullish day it is perfectly fine you had 2-1. all of those signs you look forward to saying was it a renewed urgent buying? no it was getting stocks marked up to levels that seemed to match up with where we are fundamentally. i do think the credit markets were okay today. that's one element of what's been bothering the markets it has not confirmed the recovery >> and he said the spreed between three and five year yields going down to-.6. it is the first time since 2007 are you

that's a 215-page document put together by bob lighthizer, the president's trade rep, which you can'trily do in 90 days, and seeing that the earnings are relatively strong. there's still a great number of uncertainties, so we're going to see a lot of champ in this market starting in 2019. >> one great risk is if president trump were to follow through on the threat he has made from withdrawing from the north american trade agreement -- >> which we saw him talk about. >> if they do that, that would be very destabilizing for the business community. >> perhaps a little more chaos and a bit of uncertainty. thanks so much for joining us. >>> coming up next, the russian investigation. is the russian probe headed for a supreme court showdown, plus the latest on the mystery link to robert mueller. stay with us. t mueller. stay with us they customized my insurance, so i only pay for what i need. i insured my car, and my bike. my calves are custom too, but i can't insure those... which is a crying shame. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ but when i started seein

last night when even the president was saying the point person for me on trade is going to be bob lighthizerare more of a hard liner, maybe indicating a tougher stance on the tariffs. and then overlay the growth concerns so which is most important to you? is it the fed stuff steve was discussing, is it that maybe the tariffs aren't totally out of the picture? >> so we think that the start of the big selloff is skepticism, skepticism coming out of the bond market as talked about yesterday. the belly of the curve inversion. that skepticism came through the trade discussion today, the fed to our knowledge really hasn't come into the discussion today what we do think, what we would say is the yields curve inversion and the belly of the kefsh is somewh curve is a we've had a ceasefire, sort of a warning shot to the fed to see what they will do on the 19 ths to follths -- 19th to follow the dovest langua -- dovish language. >> and i want to know what happens to the stock market. i've heard six months the markets can still go hire after an inversion and what do we consider an inversion? >> the stud