. >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator. >> a currencylator. >> nobody has ever manipulated currency like china. >> they're devaluing their currency. we do nothing about it. folks, i'm going to do so much about it. it's going to be so easy. >> a currency manipulator. the greatest in the world. >> i like china. they buy condos all the time. but you know what? they are a currency manipulator. >> i will direct my secretary of the treasury to label china a currency manipulator. they are. they know it. >> this was so important to donald trump, he promised that on day one of his presidency, he would label china a currency manipulator. okay. so spoiler alert. trump did not label china a currency manipulator on day one. but on day 83, he did get around to addressing the issue. that's thing 2 in 60 seconds. ♪ let your reign begin. evony, the mobile game. download now. >>> just one week after his mar-a-lago summit with the chinese president, donald trump retracted one of his key repeated campaign promises. in an interview with "the wall street jour

so there really is no justifiable reason for trying to label china a currency manipulator. but yesterday, the president felt the need to link his acceptance of the truth about china's currency to china's efforts with north korea. now, if you're a trump voter, and you want to believe that, what you have to believe is that the promise donald trump made to you to bring back american jobs from china by forcing china to stop manipulating its currency is being abandoned so that china will help stop the madness in north korea.

he had promised to label china currency manipulator on his first day in office, but in that interview currency manipulators for some time. they have actually been trying to prevent further weakening. all of this, as we know, has not helped the reality of the trade relationship between the united states and china, with data out a few hours ago showing that the trade surplus china has with the us has risen yet again. it rose in march to over $17 billion. that is a big rise from february's $10 billion or so. president trump has focused on that in particular, that large trade surplus that china has with the us. it was about $350 billion last year, and he has been pressing chinese president xijinping to and he has been pressing chinese president xi jinping to help and he has been pressing chinese president xijinping to help reduce the gap. do you ever ordered delivery? takeout food, i should say? yes, sometimes. delivered to you by a man or a woman on say? yes, sometimes. delivered to you by a man 01’ a woman on a scooter, right? something like that? that's right. watch this next story. ar

trump will not label china a currency manipulator. mckee and a.chael dard michael mckee, let me start with you. he said "we had tremendous trade deficits with everyone, but the big one is with china, hundreds of billions of dollars for many years. i told them, we will not let that go ahead." when you were in berlin ahead of the baden-baden meeting, who speaks for this administration when it comes to currency? he said at the time it was the president. we got that yesterday in this interview. michael: he pointed to the -- to that at the time that he might label china a currency manipulator, but he figured out china does not meet the criteria. china has been trying to prop up yua forn a couple of years. he is not legal to legally do it, but he is pushing back on the idea that china has traded unfairly. since the chinese injured the wto in 2000, the massachusetts institution of technology argued due to 1000 factory jobs unfair trade practices and china. there is a persistent effect, usually when you lose jobs to trade, people go into other

he promised on day one of his administration he would label china a currency manipulator, but it seems that that trip down to mar-a-lago and his meetings with the chinese president xi jinping real el changed his attitudes about china and its leader. he was almost growing in his praise of president xi. here's more of what he had to say. >> last night separately i spoke with a man that identify gotten to know. i don't know putin, but i do know this gentleman. i've spent a lot of time with him over the last two days, and -- and he is the president of china. you were there, most of you were there, and it was quite an interesting period of time. president xi wants to do the right thing. we had a very good bonding. i think we had a very good chemistry together. i think he wants to help us with north korea. we talked trade and we talk a lot of things, and i said the way ire going to make a good trade deal is to help us with north korea. otherwise, we'll go it alone. that will be all right, too, but going it alone means going it with lots of other nations. but i was very impressed with preside

us president donald trump says his administration will not label china currency manipulator.t is a stunning reversal from one china currency manipulator. it is a stunning reversalfrom one of his key election campaign promises. mr trump told the wall streetjournal that he changed his mind because china has not been manipulating its currency recently, and that doing so jeopardise talks with beijing about how to deal with north korea. earlier i spoke to an economist about whether the us president was softening his trade stance on china. in the past, china has arguably used currency to push its trade policy. they have moved away from that over the past year or so, and i think although the past year or so, and i think althouthock, the past year or so, and i think although jock, donald trump the past year or so, and i think althouthock, donald trump is the candidate a year ago was very vibrant on this point, that is not currently today's situation. again, he is not looking for a fight but he will push them on market access on things like tech, financial services, steel, autos, that

. >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator, the greatest . >> china is a grand master, like a grand master chess player. they're a grand master at currency manipulation. nobody has ever manipulated currency like china. >> label china a currency manipulator. >> label china a currency manipulator. >> they are the greatest currency manipulators ever. >> never mind. the president has now decided to let a deadline pass and will not label china a currency manipulator. i want to start with you because you had an interview with the president this week in which some of these gymnastics occurred. what does he say? situations have changed? circumstances have changed? i've learned a lot i didn't know as a candidate? or does he just shrug and say i'm flex sniible? >> he has reasons. whether you agree with them or think they're valid is another question. i think flexible is an interesting word. i think maybe the more precise one is transactional. china has a currency manipulator. china is a great punching bag when you're trying to energize your base of vo

i need to get your reaction on what president donald trump has been saying about not labeling china a you first heard that, what we thinking for china's economy? >> i think that is very good news, to remove a very important risk facing chinese economies. by thise war triggered currency manipulation charge. of course, all of the economists have a consensus that china is not a currency manipulator. stabilize.ying to actually, the u.s. treasury secretary also said he does not think it is hard to level that. i think this all comes to the reality that china is trying to prevent currency from depreciation. ramy: hop into the bloomberg these charges.an the white line is china's exports to the u.s. the yellow, imports to the u.s. the trade balance is the blue here. what are you thinking in terms of what we will see. in february, there was of rare trade deficit. we will not see that for sure. >> i think definitely we will see more of a trade deficit from china. you can see, it puts growing growing verys fast. exports almost flat. in a way, we're seeing the trend of chinese imports beating expo

. >>> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator. the greatest in the world. >> that was last summer in akron, ohio. in just the past few days, donald trump has made some stark policy u-turns from his positions during the campaign. for starters, on nato, on russia, if not putin, on syria, on china, on that last topic the wall street journal reported the following today, trump says the dollar is getting too strong and he won't label china a currency manipulator. he said this during an interview with the journal, and i quote, i think our dollar is getting too strong and partially that is my fault. because people have confidence in me. but that will hurt ultimately. joining us is our own stephanie whose background in finance means we often call on her to explain such things to us. stephanie, in addition to being the first humble brag in the history of the white house, for all of us who didn't take economics, what does a stronger dollar mean, and more fundamentally, is donald trump right about this? >> well, first of all, you have to est

haidi: do think on that indicator a loan that they were label china a currency manipulator? i don't think that is the case. i think everyone knows that china is trying really hard to keep the renminbi exchange rate stable. otherwise today's exchange rate would have been seven against the dollar, so try no china is g very hard, so i don't think currency manipulation is an issue. access isrket an issue. this chart is a correlation between foreign reserves and the yuan. isare in an era where it domestic factors driving policy, not this need to devalue for competitiveness or global trade competitiveness. >> no, it is not about competitiveness. if you look at, for example, the data from the wto, actually compelling evidence suggesting australiarket share, and new zealand included, is staying remarkably stable, so that suggests chinese products stay competitive, but at the same time, i believe renminbi -denominated assets are extremely expensive, so if you look at real estate in sydney and melbourne, compared to beijing and shanghai, it is no comparison. urge foris this strong con

the president of the united states during the campaign repeatedly said i will label china a currency experts say they stopped doing that some time ago so he couldn't make a factual case now, but listen to the president. essentially saying as commander in chief i'm going to make a deal. i'll take a security issue and economicish eye and i'm going to make a deal. >> china which has been ripping us off, the greatest abuser in the history of this country. president xi wants to do the right thing. we had a very good bonding. i think we had a very good chemistry together. i think he wants to help us with north korea. we talked trade. we talked a lot of things and i said the way you're going to make a good trade deal is to help us with north korea. >> we don't know where this goes but i think it gets lost in so many important moving parts the significance of the current relationship with china, in the sense that in the old days even just in the last administration, when u.s. missile strikes hit syria, china would have condemned them. the security council when they were voting about syrian c

in fact, so much that trump is not labeling china as a currency manipulator. he's talked to me about this for a decade but thoent he said they're not. do you think that china is now successfully manipulating him? >> look. we have been talking to china off and on for years about north korea. thus far, to no effect in terms of deterring the north korean nuclear program. that is the entire hiflstory. if the president thinks his conversations over these last couple of days on thursday and friday of last week have led to a huge break-through on the north korean ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program, i think that we're going to need a lot more evidence than him just saying so. because i doubt it. that's not how the relationship between china and north korea has actually unfolded until this point in time. in fact, the one thing that the chinese have asked the united states to do over the years is to engage in direct talks with kim and trump is refusing to do that now, although he said during the campaign that he would. and so in each one of these instances, it

so there really is no justifiable reason for trying to label china a currency manipulator. but yesterday, the president felt the need to link his acceptance of the truth about china's currency to china's efforts with north korea. now, if you're a trump voter, and you want to believe that, what you have to believe is that the promise donald trump made to you to bring back american jobs from china by forcing china to stop manipulating its currency is being abandoned so that china will help stop the madness in north korea. by trump logic, the president then is giving up american jobs to china, just letting them keep those jobs to get help on north korea. in the campaign, donald trump promised voters that he would force china to control north korea, and, and, he would get american jobs back from china. it was not either or. the strong man would do both. >> you look at north korea. we're doing nothing there. china should solve that problem for us. china should go into north korea. china is totally powerful as it relates to north korea. >> tonight the trump administration is threa

during the campaign he promised to label china a currency manipulator. but now he says the dollars is getting strong. the dollar plunging late today as soon as that wall street journal went up online. cecilia, you covered this online. this would seem to be a reversal. >> this comes after that meeting with xi last week. they seemed to have good chemistry. you'll remember the campaign trail, china was a repeated punching bag for donald trump. an extraordinary flip in both policy and tone. >> all right, cecilia, live at the white house. thank you. >>> next tonight here, we turn to a new report that the fbi got a fisa court order from the judge to monitor one of donald trump's advisers during the campaign last season. the bar is usually very high to these. it was for carter page. tonight, here, our brian ross is back on the case and what carter page said himself. >> reporter: when candidate donald trump was asked to identify his foreign policy advisers last year, he gave five names, including -- >> carter page, ph.d.. >> reporter: tonight, carter page, ph.d.

. >>> my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator, the greatest in the world. >> china's a grand master, like a grand master chess player, they're a grand master at currency manipulation. >> label china a currency manipulator. >> label china a currency manipulator. >> they are the greatest currency manipulators ever. >> today president trump said he would not do that at all. what he said on the campaign, i asked mike rodgers about it, and how he explains the president's change of views. >> president trump said after listening to the chinese president explain the history of china and north korea for about ten minutes he realized it's not so easy. i mean -- is that -- i don't -- i don't know why i'm reacting like this. >> he said the same thing about healthth care. that nobody knew health care could be so complicated. but in fact, everybody knew it was really really complicated. i guess as a republican, do you worry that he has no real positions, that basically he bends one way or the other, depending on who the last person who gave him a 10 minute lecture on the history of

during the campaign he promised to label china a currency manipulator. on day one. tonight, he now says they're not currency manipulators and he said the dollar is getting too strong in his words. the words immediately moved the markets. the dollar plunging late today as soon as that "wall street journal" interview went up online. cecilia, you covered this campaign on china, in particular. this would seem to be a reversal. >> this comes after that meeting with president xi last week. today, president trump said they seemed to have good chemistry. you'll remember the campaign trail, china was a repeated punching bag for donald trump. but tonight what's being viewed as an extraordinary flip in both policy and tone. >> all right, cecilia, live at the white house. cecilia, thank you. >>> next tonight here, we turn to a new report that the fbi got a fisa court order from a judge to monitor one of donald trump's advisers during the campaign last summer. the bar is usually very high for these orders. it was for carter page. well, tonight, here, our brian ross is back on th

he's backing off his promise to label china as a currency manipulator. in late october trump said it would be one of the priorities for his first 100 days. >> i will direct my secretary of the treasury to label china a currency manipulator. china is a currency manipulator. what they have done to us by playing currency is very sad. and i don't blame them. they've been very smart. i blame or politicians for letting this take place. >> as recently as ten days ago, april 2nd, president trump told "the financial times," quote, when you talk about currency manipulator, when you talk about devaluations, they are world champions. and our country hasn't had a clue. yesterday the president told "the wall street journal," quote, they're not currency manipulators. he he seemed to explain his abrupt change by pointing to north korea, telling the journal, we have tremendous drad deficits with everybody, but the big one is with china. i told them, i said, you know, we're not going to let that go ahead. now, i did y, you want to make a great deal? solve the problem in n

. >> and promised to label china as a currency manipulator, let's bring in cnn's matt rivers live from beijing. are we witnessing a warming between u.s. and china? >> reporter: well, at this point there certainly seems to be some agreement around one specific thing that china is doing when it comes to dealing with north korea and that has to do with coal. china is perhaps the biggest coal importer from north korea. a very big source of income for the north korean reg korean reg february said it was going to stop, it was during that press conference yesterday that president trump gave with the secretary general of nato that president trump actually said that china halting those coal imports was a big step in terms of doing what the trump administration wants which is to use their economic leverage over pyongyang to get kim jong-un to stop producing the nuclear weapons. it's increased its trade with north korea by 43%, so on one hand yes, they stopped it with the coal, but in other ways, not, so interesting to see what the president has to say about that? >> thank you. >>> the president

label china to not as a currency manipulator is a result of it -- is a result of receiving china's promiseorth korea. donald trump has reversed a promise he made during the election campaign. and china's growth accelerated for a second straight quarter as investment picked up and retail sales rose. asset investment grew above 9%. march retail sales expanded by 11% with industrial output up 11.6%. here are some of the key traits we are watching. dollar-yen, slightly weaker. crude down. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ michael: this is "bloomberg best." i am michael mckee. janet yellen said the federal reserve should adopt a more neutral policy stance and dialback its stimulus efforts. also on the fed's to do list, trimming its $4.5 billion -- trillion dollar balance sheet. needullard addressed the to bring that figure down. first of all, 4.5 trillion dollars is higher than anyone thinks it should be. someu want to create policy space for the future and at least have the option of doing quantitative easing in the future, you should start getting the balance sheet down to a reasonable size today. anoth

did not label chinese -- china currency manipulator in return for some level of cooperation on the northorea issue. do we know what that entails? >> we're hearing more and more from the administration that to solve ian to try the problem, using leverage whether we are talking about trade or diplomatic relations. we are seeing the administration wants to use china to solve the problem and we are putting all options on the table, including the issue of labeling china a currency manipulator. we saw the tweet from the president over the weekend saying why what i label china a current the manipulator when i need their help on north korea. it seems like the president is linking the trade issue with this issue, trying to move on putting pressure on north korea so the north korean nuclear threat is resolved. vonnie: what can china do very coldovoking relations or worse, and does donald trump really want to back china into a corner like this? >> it is a very difficult question and we heard from the president over the last couple of days say he originally thought that china could solve the problem

dollars getting too strong and he will not label china as a currency manipulator. everything is reacting. he also made comments about janet yellen. president trump meets with secretary general of nato and we will take the news conference live from the white house. says summer could bring turbulence and with it, disappointment. andman behind guggenheim the portfolio is coming up shortly. at where the major averages stand as we head toward the close. taylor riggs is standing by. >> we have seen a small recovery after them up -- russian meeting and we are lower. the as a be 500 is there the session. i want to look at the dollar index. from president trump saying the dollar is strong as of him. he respects yellen but he is undecided on the renomination. he will not label china as a currency manipulator, but the dollar is too strong. all of these headlines coming out and pushing the dollar lower. let's flip to the next screen and look at what we are looking at next. havens, theafe dollar is actually stronger as we head to the you one as well. we're seeing the euro-dolla

. >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china, a currency manipulator, the biggest he world. china is a grand master at current manipulation, no one has ever manipulated currency like china. label china a currency manipulator, they are the currency manipulators ever. >> today president trump said he would not do that at all. what he said on the campaign, i asked mike rogers about it and how he explains the president's change of views, here's part two of our panel conversation. president trump said yesterday after explaining the history of china and north korea for about ten minutes, he, quote, realized it's not so easy. i mean, is that -- i'm -- i don't know why i'm reacting like this. >> you said the same thing about health care. >> it's exactly what he said about health care, that health care could be so complicated. in fact pretty much everybody knew it was really, really complicated. i guess as somebody, as a republican, do you worry, though, that he has no real positions, that basically he bends one way or the other, depending on who the last person who gave him

trump also explained why he's walking back a pledge to label china a currency manipulator. why would i? when they are working with us on the north korean problem. >> i think there's an international consensus now, including the chinese and the chinese leadership, that this is a situation that just can't continue. >> reporter: national security adviser h.r. mcmaster underscored the importance of china this dealing with a nuclear-armed north korea. >> we're working together with our allies and partners and with the chinese leadership to develop a range of options. >> a much stronger state dee department. >> reporter: senator reed supports the president's softer taupe on china and wants diplomacy. >> if they are to a point where they are constantly putting pressure on north korea, there's an opportunity i think to try to freeze their systems and roll them back. >> reporter: on monday, the annual white house easter egg roll will be attended by more than 21,000 invited guests, which is smaller than usual. but trump officials say this is in order to provide a less-crowded, more t

has never been a better or smarter currency manipulation than that by china. >> we are going to label chinamanipulator. >> of course, now he isn't. that is how donald trump felt about china on the campaign trail. present day, he is not going to label them as a manipulator. one of many shifts. here to discuss is steve forbes. >> playing injured. >> respect that. >> i couldn't pitch for the yankees. >> let's wait for mid season. that's when they usually collapse. what we saw with the dollar. explain to us what the effect was of trump saying this dollar's getting pretty strong. >> what it under scores is whether the dollar is weak or strong is not good. we have to stabilize the thing. it hurts investment. >> let me read what you said so we can get our heads around this. yesterday, he told the wall street journal, i think our dollar is getting too strong. partially that's my fault because people have confidence in me. that is hurting. it's very hard to compete when you have a strong dollar and other countries are devaluing. >> i take that in a sense of good news. the border adjustment tax the c

. >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator. >> reporter: but yesterday the president told the "wall street journal," "china does not manipulate its currency to hurt u.s. workers" and his administration will abandon that pledge. as for china and its leadership overall, this was day one of the trump campaign. >> china's killing us. >> reporter: and this was day 84 of the trump presidency. >> as you know, president xi is a terrific person. >> reporter: mr. trump's stance on russia has done a 180 also. >> i don't know putin. but wouldn't it be nice if we could get along actually? >> reporter: yesterday. >> right now we're not getting along with russia at all. >> reporter: on inauguration day president trump outlined his america first philosophy. >> we do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone. >> reporter: but on wednesday mr. trump explained why he launched missile strikes against the syrian regime of bashar al assad. >> that's a butcher. that's a butcher. so i felt we had to do something about it. >> reporter: there have been promises ke

donald trump has explained that the decision not to label china a currency manipulator is a result of receiving help. the comments were the first in response to a failed missile defense. by not labeling the world's second-largest economy as a currency manipulator he has reversed a promise he made during the election campaign. china's growth accelerated for a second straight quarter as investment cap and retail sales rose. china's rebound has produced a prices climb and search in credit fuel investments. credit tomatoes in march but the broadest lending increasing more than estimated. shadow banking, -- shadow banking, something they have promised to curtail. in number of people killed thosenka, let's check out moving in the region. some of the assets. --had the lira searching surging significantly on the back -- let's go back to sri lanka. -- the turkish lira is strengthening further against the dollar, up by a must 2%. the yen is strengthening at a five-month high. i will be back in half an hour. this is bloomberg. ♪ oliver: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i am oliver renick. we

the president said he will not label china a currency manipulator but the u.s. getting too strong. the dollar dropped sharply after comments. mr. trump said he would prefer the federal reserve takes interest rates low. lauren: north korea's nuclear site now appears ready to test another vessel. this all comes as the north is preparing to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder saturday. last year that i tested an intermediate-range missile to celebrate that day. back in 2012 the country launched a long-range rocket. president trump slamming north korean leader kim jong un. >> he is doing the wrong thing. he is doing the wrong thing. it's making a big mistake. >> do you think he is mentally fit? >> i don't know. i don't know him. heoing around thing. lauren: at u.s. aircraft carrier the carl vinson is streaming letters that the korean peninsula. lea: president trumps in u.s. relations with russia may be at an all-time low after secretary of state rex tillerson met with vladimir putin in moscow. blake burman at the white house with more. >

government will not labeled china a current you manipulate her despite repeatedly promising to do son the past. on the campaign trail donald trump was quick to criticize china, vowing to name the country a currency manipulator in his first day in the white house. >> we are going to apply terrorists to any country that devalues its currency to gain an unfair advantage over the amount states. >> in his first day in office came and went without any mention of china's currency manipulation. he completely changed his tune. he told the wall street journal that china is not a currency manipulator. he still raised the concern of china's trade surplus with the u.s. last year the u.s. imported almost $480 billion from china with an x boards making only 170 billion. he added he could accept the trade deficit in exchange for assistance with north korea. the u.s. treasury has a black for currency manipulators. china last made it onto the list in 1994. it was known for buying foreign currencies to push them higher against the wand -- the yuan. >> let's take a look at what's happening on the stock

china, the u.s. did hold off on that currency manipulator label, which are has been since 1994. some words u.s. have for china, saying it has caused long-lasting hardship to american workers. they did urge beijing to let the yuan rise -- right. have seen in being fairly aggressive when it comes to stabilizing the yuan, which has kept in line of what they want to appease the u.s.. we have seen the yuan range down this year in the wake of that. i want to point this out, we did have one year implied volatility for the offshore yuan, called just fell to its lowest back in august 2016. we are at about that level as of last week. next, bill joins us to talk about why pressure is on the entered. we will have consequences for growth way beyond china. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> we are counting down to asia's first major market open. japan's futures are heading continuing toyen head lower. 108 spot. this is daybreak asia, i in a show you. betty liu: tensions rising in korea. arriving after north korea attempted another missile launch. arrive earlyp will next week. joining us now is someone w

i'm going to instruct by treasury secretary to label china as a currency manipulator. ich should have been done years ago. >> now trump is telling the great chemistry he has with the president of china after meeting him at his florida estate. very are going to have a relationship, and i look forward to. >> this may have something to do with his views of china exerting pressure on north korea. >> i said it was obsolete. >> is no longer obsolete. cant is my hope that nato take on an increased role in supporting our iraqi partners and in their battle against isis. >> he said removing bashar al-assad was no longer a priority. that prompted him to order the launch of 59 tomahawk missiles against targets in syria. pitting him against russia, besides ally. as trump has already proved he is entirely capable of flipping again. aboutterday we told you the nasa spacecraft to see me which made an unprecedented plunge to saturday and one of its ranks. my four hours later we can tire , theyhe pro has survived di have been sending back pictures too excited nasa scientist. the pro is s

a wall street journal interview said he would not label china -- sorry -- >> manipulator. >> thank youso you just keep on seeing, the xm bank seems like it is in good shape. his budget director said that this week. you are seeing steps where he is going much more toward being a normal republican rather than what the populous that he was elected as. >> he also said janet yellen may be asked to stay on as federal reserve. he was really tough on bashar al assad calling him a butcher, a monster. how is that going to play? >> this is interesting that this is a president who didn't talk much about human rights abroad. he didn't talk much about values. very much about narrow national self interest. now you get this instinctive sense that he is moved by these images in syria. calling bashar al assad a butcher. over the past week we didn't hear him referring to the word values and really making that a focus which he hadn't done before. that subjects ggests to me that is more flexible than we perhaps thought initially and he is going back to this idea of america upholding international liberal o

yesterday he told the "wall street journal" he would not label china a currency manipulators after heaid that he would do that on day one. other presidents from both parties have done the exact same thing, but rarely so many so early. here's what sean spicer said today about president trump's shifts. >> there's areas where it depends on the outcome. when you look at the issues and you recognize the direction in which they're moving, they're moving in a direction that the president stated clearly. >> you have a list of these? >> a long list. a lot happened yesterday. whether it was deciding not to label china a currency clan -- manipulator, saying nato is no longer obsolete. when is it going to stop and at what point -- what the line will be for president trump not to change his mind -- >> shepard: i'm not sure his base cares. do they care about the issues or just like the way he said it? >> that's a big question. he will be testing the limits of that. there's some issues that he has to start moving on. building a wall. he talked about that a lot but it's not happened. >> shepard: most

i don't think it has to do with keeping one promise of labeling china this or that or backing nato or any of these reversals we've seen over the last couple of days. it has to do with how their family finances feel and whether or not they feel like the nation is a peaceful and prosperous place. those are the two most important drivers for the success of any president. peace and prosperity. if trump can produce those, he'll do just fine. >> e.j., a lot of the rumbling in this white house continue to surround senior strategist steve bannon. you wrote this morning, with things going badly for his presidency in your vol lcolumn, write -- >> you insist he's found tt scapegoat in steve bannon. walk us through it. >> i think that trump they have says everything that's going wrong is his fault. so bannon is the guy he's turning on, because he's decided for the time being, persuaded by jared kushner, and by the way, never get into a fight with the president's son-in-law. but he's decided that jared kushner and some of the other people in the white house are peddling a much more establishment l

middle.move to the donald trump backs away from one of his key campaign promises to label china a currencyulator. it is a latest reversal for president trump on a number of issues such as nato, federal reserve chair janet yellen, and the xm bank. a senior white house adviser is leaving the administration to become the second in command at a high-profile business lobby group chaired by jpmorgan's jamie dimon. later this hour, an interview with lisa jackson. she is the vice president of apple's environment, policy, and social initiatives, also former head of the environmental protection agency.

has not followed through on his threat to label china a currency manipulator. an it is off the table and will it, at the meeting, do you think? >> interesting. standard charter put out a note saying that china will be labeled despite the fact that most economists would say that the opposite is happening that china is making steps and taking big steps to shore up my burning through its fx reserves by putting in place capital controls. others would point to the fact that over the last two decades the renminbi has strengthened against the dollar by 16%. what there is consensus on here and among the western business committee is there is a lack of a level laying field. the u.s. chambers of commerce saying that sectors need to be opened up, they need more transparency and there is a feeling that if trump can push on that, that will be a success rather than focusing on potentially a misinformed or erroneous decision to label china a currency manipulator as some economists see it. matt: thank you for your time. tom mackenzie in beijing having us a preview of what to ex

the american voter he promised that on day one he would direct the secretary of the treasury to label china a currency manipulator. now that he needs china's help with north korea, mr. trump tweeted why would i call china's currency manipulator when they're working with us on the north korean problem. the president also tweeted his irritation with weekend protests calling on him to release his tax returns. he wrote i did what was an almost impossible thing to do for a republican. easily won the electoral college, now tax returns are brought up again? for the record, mr. trump's split decision victory is among the closest in history, in the three states that clench the electoral college for him. mr. trump won by 77,000 votes. out of 128 million cast. chip reid has the taxing debate over the president's returns.. >> ho-ho ho, donald trump has got to go. >> reporter: this weekend protestors from coast to coast called on president trump to release his tax returns. he says he can't release them because he's under audit but tax experts say that shouldn't matter. this was president-elect trump in

on the campaign trail to rally the base and then on china and currency manipulation, he vowed to label china as a currency manipulator and then backing off that. a lot of his supporters voted for him for those reasons. union workers who want him to get tough on china. but that would make it tougher to get china on board with helping the u.s. to pressure north korea to stop its nuclear provocations. that's what the president told the wall street journal. what we're witnessing is the evolution from a candidate to a president. a lot of supporters said we don't take him literally so it's going to be interesting to see the reaction from some of his base today. we'll get to ask him. he has an event later today and then press secretary sean spicer has his daily briefing at 1:00. >> thanks for that. >>> ambassador, let me go to you first because we can talk a lot about what this means to his political base and we will, but because there's so much going on, hincluding the reat potentially of another north korea nuclear test, when there is a lack of skiconsistency andu have russia saying this is just

laughter] oliver: along those headlines, we had the one about trump saying they will not laid -- label chinarence a manipulator. his team said, we are in the office and we are not going to label them the currency manipulator. he has reneged on that. whether that have anything to do with the conversations with the chinese president, hard to say, but very interesting in terms of timing. >> it has been a fun hour. from silicon valley to trump's comments, coming up with the top of the next hour, we will keep talking about this as well as jens stoltenberg and the joint news conference at the white house. we'll have complete coverage. ♪ mark: it's time for first word news. in germany the monica players and their supporters arrived for the champions league quarterfinals. the match was postponed after last night.ions one player was wounded. authorities still don't have a motive or know who's responsible. angela merkel called the attack repugnant. there has been a surprise entry in iran's election. the former president unexpectedly filed to run. that was despite being told by the leader to stay out o

president trump acknowledged china may not be manipulating currency. he says labeling a currency manipulator would be a setback to confront north korea. senate minority leader chuck schumer responded immediately say the president has a lock of real tough action on trade with china. finally the president said he's undecided on renominating fed chair janet yellen. trump said he quote likes and respects yellen and it is too early to decide. the president said now back in september you remember he's a low interest rate guy. the yield fell three basis points. it's moving now in response to the lower levels since after the november election. just a note, guys, we have been talking wall streetedly abo rep trump hasn't said anything about yellen, that was done in the margin or offer or a re-appointment could potentially be out there. so as you said if your intro, yellen not toast. >> yeah. >> in other words the journal said is she toast? he says, no, she's not toast. so i'm dying to know what janet yellen is thinking right now. >> reporter: you might imagine, melissa. >> exact

this was then -- >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulatorre the greatest currency manipulators ever! we have a fed that's doing political things. this janet yellen of the fed. the fed is not doing their job. >> but now the president is making a number of breath-taking reversals. now he says china is not manipulating its currency. fed chair janet yellen, quote, i like her. i respect her. he's willing to keep her. and that so-called export/import bank he mocked last year and has been called crony capitalism by some conservatives, now he says it helps a lot of small companies and it's a very good thing. let's make sense of this, or try to, with cnn chief business correspondent christine romans. and a former senior economic adviser to the trump campaign. so, steven moore, you acknowledge these are breathtaking reversals, i assume. are you worried? are you personally worried that the president is abandoning some really core things about his -- i mean his entire run? >> well, look. donald trump clearly said some bombastic things during the campaig

he promised to label china a currency manipulator on day one. he promised to fight for tax reform passage in the first 100 days. and new infrastructure spending. and to end the common core education standards. to impose new trade tariffs. to fully fund his border wall and of course this. >> the repeal and replace obamacare act. [ cheers and applause ] >> fully repeal obamacare and replace it with health savings accounts. we can do that. >> now, his 100 day list was wildly unrealistic, but it is his list or contract as he put it. now his more modest hope, to get the house, just the house, to try again on obamacare repeal. >> we are doing very well on health care. we'll see what happens. but this is a great bill. this is a great plan. this will be great health care. it's evolving. there was never a give-up. >> let's start with the ridiculous standard as the president puts it. look, it is in some ways an artificial standard. it dates back to fdr. the second 100 days will be just as important. but this president in that speech in get tysburg, they m

. >> i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency >> we're going to label chinaency minuter, whicmirpt.i have no problem with china. what i have a problem is our leaders letting them get away with this stuff. >> martha: tough talk on the campaign trail. the suspension is starting to build ahead of president trump's meeting with president jinping of china. priming the pumps today. signed executive orders on trade. looking to take some chunks out of a trade deficit on what he blames on crooked china's patrol car tell uses. the president further giving the impression he will deliver some hard truths to the chinese leader tweeting that the meeting will be, quote, a very difficult conversation. kevin corke has the details today from the white house. kevin? >> great to be with you, martha. you're right. a couple reasons i think behind those executive orders that you just talked, about look. core values and campaign promises. the president said if he were elected he would defend and support american workers and manufacturers and, frankly, i think that's the best way to

trump never fulfilled his promise of labeling china a currency manipulator. that said, investors are optimistic since trump said he is open to renegotiating the trade agreement with mexico and canada rather than leaving nafta altogether. this isn't the first step in a long and confiscated process after the u.s. imposed a new lumber tariff on canada just last week. >> this is not just a one-sided deal. mexico and canada have a lot at stake. what is been the reaction? w --ha -- what has been the reaction? >> nafta has benefited u.s. companies with billions of dollars. that is why some companies traded higher after we learned the three countries were open to negotiating. currencies like the canadian dollar and the mexican peso which both recovered from wednesday losses. this year the peso is stronger by 8%. the tensions between mexico and the u.s. appeared to soften a little. >> good to talk to you. the boss of automation systems supplier tesla coleman automation has stepped down after a fight with tesla ceo elon musk. that is according to a source familiar with

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one of the core things he said was i am going to label china currency manipulator, most of you thoughtgood idea to say such things, but he said it many times, here it is. >> if i'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china currency manipulator, which should have been done years ago. >> he had it on his contract with his voters first 100 days he was going to do exactly that. meets with president xi jinping, tells" the wall street journal," china not a manipulator. >> okay, context to be introduced. when china was in the trade organization in 2000, they were in fact manipulating their currency. they were growing at 10 or 11%, linked their currency to the u.s. dollar, the dollar was depreciating at a time when it was pegged. that was currency manipulation along the lines of what the president was suggesting while he was a candidate. i think the facts and circumstances on the table now after meeting with president xi, looking at the whole array of things he needs to do in the bilateral relationship, whether it is china or korea, china has thr allowed the currency to float a li

commerce in shanghai told me he's encouraged after the trump administration decided to refrain from labeling china a currency manipulator. >> strictly speaking at the treasury department's labeling a country a currency manipulator, china doesn't satisfy the three, that the treasury department has stated. >> he said fears of a trade war have subsided among american businesses here, though many still expect to see trade skirmishes. >>> still ahead, eli lilly's much anticipated arthritis drug is stopped in its tracks. now investors want to know, what's next. >>> netflix isn't signing up as many new users as expected. subscriber growth in the u.s. and abroad flowed in the fourth quarter. the company reported earnings of 40 cents a share, 3 cents better than forecast. revenue grew nearly 35% to more than $2.6 billion in line with expectatio expectat. afr an initial dip, shares of netflix moved back higher. julia boorstin has more on netflix's quarter and its subscribers. >> netflix continues to grow its subscriber base saying the company is on track to hit 100 million members this weekend. the growth c