The President's Daily Brief - January 11th, 2023. The Taliban Signs a $500M Deal for Afghanistan's Oil and Gas.

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

It’s January 11th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ A good day to you, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve got three briefs for you this morning that are shaping America — and the world. First, leaders from the US, Canada, and Mexico are celebrating trade between their nations this morning. All connected to a free trade agreement called USMCA. But China has found a sneaky way to get in the middle of it — and take advantage. I’ve got the story and solutions coming up. Second, the Taliban just inked a deal worth over $500M dollars to sell its untapped oil and gas. I’ll explain that deal and how it could impact us here in America. Third, we head to southern Africa this morning where two leaders are blaming climate change for their energy troubles. I’ll explain why that’s not true — plus how that excuse will probably become much more common in the future. Finally, we close out the podcast with an update on the Biden Intel Scandal, with more information out this morning on what was in those classified documents that Mr. Biden and his team took from the White House years ago. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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A good day to you, ladies and gentlemen. got four briefs for you this morning that are shaping America and the world. First, leaders from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are celebrating trade between their nations this morning, and it's all connected to a free trade agreement called USMCA. But China has found a very sneaky way to get in the middle of all of that and take advantage. I've got that story and solutions coming up. Second, the Taliban just inked a big deal worth over $500 million to sell its untapped oil and gas. I'll explain that deal and how it could impact us here in America. Third, we head to Southern Africa this morning where two leaders are blaming climate change for their energy troubles.

I'll explain why that's just not true. Plus, how that excuse will probably become much more common in the future. Finally, we close out the podcast with an update on the Biden-Intel scandal with more information out this morning on what was in those classified documents that Mr. Biden and his team took from the White House years ago. But before we get to that, we got to get started with this. Today marks the final of three days in Mexico City where the leaders of Canada, the United States, and Mexico sat down to talk about the future of North America. As I briefed you all on Monday, they talked about illegal migration and drug trafficking and trade. Now, it's that last point about trade that we are going to talk about today because the White House released a statement reaffirming its commitment to something called the U.S. MCA or the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement.

So that agreement used to be called NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement, but it was replaced back in 2018 with the U.S.MCA. But regardless, the two treaties share the same goal. In fact, let me just read you what the U.S. Commerce Department says about this. whole thing. Quote, the USMCA is mutually beneficial for North American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses, end quote. So I want you to keep that in mind that this trade deal is only supposed to benefit North American workers. And keep thinking about that as I refresh our memories about a story that I first told you about back in September. And this story is about how Chinese communists are using this trade agreement to cheat to benefit their workers and their

companies. Plus, based on my experience, they're also using this USMCA to set up a den of spies. So here's what we know, plus what you can do about it. But first, let's start this brief in the city of Monterey, Mexico. It's just two and a half hour south of Laredo, Texas. For decades, there was a ranch just outside of Monterey that belonged to the Santos family. Now, one of the men in that family decided that he wanted to raise something beyond horses and cattle. So in 2016, He built on his farm an industrial park. But not just any industrial park. His idea was that he wanted to attract Chinese factories and companies,

all so that they could take advantage of the U.S.MCA. And that's why he partnered with two Chinese investors, one named the Holly Group, and the other was the Futong Group. So what do we know about these two Chinese investors? Well, we don't know a lot about the Holly Group. On their website, for instance, there's no list of board members or their executive team. But we do know a little bit more about the Fultong Group.

Specifically, the chairman of the board is a man named Wang Zhongyi. Now, if you go to the Fultong Group's website, you will see that Wang Zhongyi is a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, his company's website brags about it, including his relatively senior position within the party and his personal medians with China's president Xi. In other words, Mr. Santos of Mexico managed to find him. at least one very influential communist to partner with. And with those relationships in hand, he set up something that they all called the Hufusan Industrial Park. And once again, this is two and a half hour south of our border. Well, according to Bloomberg News, there are now 11 manufacturing plants and warehouses at this park to include an electronics company, a furniture

company, and an auto parts manufacturer. But they got big plans. Hofusan officials say the They will eventually attract 35 Chinese businesses in total with 15,000 workers, about 10% of whom will be Chinese managers. Plus, listen to this. The Mexican government is building a highway specifically to connect the Hufusan Industrial Park directly to the United States. Which takes us to this question, why would a Chinese company want to set up shop in this Mexican industrial park? Well, imagine that you are a Chinese furniture company. and you've got factories in China. So you've got two options if you want to get your products to America.

First, you can manufacture your stuff in China and then ship it to America. But you are going to have to pay a 25% tariff. Or you can move your entire operation to the Ho-Fuson Industrial Park. And because of the USMCA, you can now ship your furniture to America without any penalty at all, not one single percent of tariff. So that's a big motivator for a lot of. all these Chinese companies to move to Mexico. Profit. But that is not all. The other reason is that it helps China spy on the world. You see, Chinese businesses have no choice but to cooperate with Beijing

and their intelligence agencies if they are told to assist in either the collection or the running of intelligence operations. That's Chinese law. Meanwhile, the Communist Party has broadened the spirit of that law by publishing guidelines that all Chinese citizens abroad need to follow that law as well not just business owners. So here's an example of one of those guidelines. Quote, we must

strengthen guidance of thought and promote the love for the motherland, the Communist Party, and socialism amongst all overseas Chinese citizens and overseas students. In other words, if the Communist Party or their intelligence service tells these companies at Hopusan

to either give cover to say a Chinese spot, or help support intelligence operations, they will, they must. And that is most especially true in the case of the Mexican industrial park because it's owned and operated, at least in part, by the Fultong Group and that CEO who is an avowed Communist Party member. So, folks, that is what is sitting just two and a half hours south of our border. And that is what you should keep in mind as the leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico celebrate this U.S.MCA.

So if I might now pivot to analysis and my counsel to you all, what this means, my friends, is that at a minimum, we have a major loophole in this trade agreement. People from outside of North America are profiting from it when they shouldn't be. Worse yet, these cheaters include Chinese communists who have a legal obligation to help their regime, which includes assisting in espionage. So folks, I'm raising this development and this story again for,

you because there is a new solution that we need to talk about, something that I didn't have to give you when we first talked about this back in September. With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, they have set up a new committee. It's called the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. All right, that has a very long name, but it has a very important goal, which is to investigate Beijing's advancements and unfair competition with the United States. Plus, better yet, the creation of this committee, which happened just this week, passed by a bipartisan vote of 365 in favor to 65 in disapproval.

So if there were ever a time for you to reach out to your House representative, whether it be a Democrat or a Republican, now is the time if you are so moved. Now the man who is leading this new committee is Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and who will be backed up by nine Republicans and seven Democrats. So if you would like to ring the bell on this Ho-Fusan Industrial Park and this probable den of spies, go to house.gov, find your representative, and reach out to them, put this on their radar. You can either tell them about this podcast, or you can forward a link to a Bloomberg article that summarizes it pretty well.

It's actually entitled, Chinese manufacturers get around U.S. tariffs with some help from Mexico. With that, ladies and gentlemen, let's take a quick break. When we come back, I've got two more critical pieces of news for you, so hang tight, and we will be right back. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Levato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th.

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Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip. Right. Kayak. Got that right. Welcome back to the PDB. I've got two more critical pieces of news for you this morning. First up, we head to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has just signed a $540 million deal with China, all to develop their untapped oil and gas fields. So last week, Kabul announced that a Chinese firm would begin drilling and building infrastructure

way up in northern Afghanistan to tap into what is believed to be a fairly modest amount of oil, around 87 million barrels. Now, the Chinese company has agreed to do so signing a 25-year contract with a requirement that they have to invest $150 million a year for three years and then bump that up to $540 million by the year 2026.

But the real hope here for both China and the Taliban is that there is a major gas field near this site that would be far more lucrative than this oil. And there's actually reason to think that that might be true. The neighboring country of Tajikistan currently taps into a gas field right next to this oil field, so it may be that this gas field in Tajikistan extends into Afghan territory. And if so, that would potentially bring in billions of dollars to the Taliban.

And unfortunately, that could mean a new wave of Islamic terror if Taliban leadership decides to fund jihad, either regionally or globally. Now, there is one notable challenge to this project, and it comes in the first of the first. form of a different radical Islamic group, not the Taliban, but something known as ISIS K, or the Islamic State Corosan Group. So these guys number around 2,000 fighters, and incredibly enough, are much more extreme than the Taliban. In fact, they actually try to kill Taliban members because they view those guys as heretics, just insufficiently committed to Islam, which is saying something. Now, interestingly, this Islamic State group also hates children.

China. They view these guys as imperialists, no different than, say, the United States or Britain. In fact, back in December, this group attacked a hotel in Kabul, where Chinese businessmen were staying, killing, or wounding about 30 of them. So we shall see if this latest oil project actually takes off, or perhaps China joins the very long list of nations that went to Afghanistan and then regretted doing so ever since. Next up, let's shift from Afghanistan. and head south, well, all the way down to southern Africa, where I've got an update on two nations that we talked about previously. That would be Zambia and Zimbabwe. And we spoke about these countries back in December as they were and are suffering from massive electricity blackouts.

Now, at the time, I chalked it up to droughts that were affecting local river flows and ultimately hydroelectricity production. And that is true, or I should say, it's part of the story. But it's not all of the story. And you're about to see why. In fact, by the time this update is over, you are going to see why this story is much bigger than just these two nations in Africa. It's ultimately about how climate change politics are going to shape the world. All right, but first, let's refresh our memories here about that last brief that I gave you in December on these two countries. So, what might help us is if we grab those maps, either in our minds or phones or computers, and let's first start in the country of the Congo. It's dead center in the middle of your African map.

And then I want you to look just south. First, you will see the country of Zambia and specifically two border towns, if you look real close, called Andola and Kittwe. Those small cities are the centers of Zambia's copper mines. There is a major deposit there. It actually extends across the border into the Congo. So that means that Zambia is and will be very, very important as the world launches into the dirty green energy revolution with all of its demands for more minerals like copper. All right. Next, move your eyes just to the south and to the east where you will see the neighboring

country of Zimbabwe. Just outside of the capital city called Harare, it's something called the Arcadia Mine. And that's where a Chinese firm is ramping up its production of lithium, which, as PDB listeners know, is a critical component for lithium ion batteries, which are the absolute foundation for everything involving the dirty green energy revolution. In other words, folks, we care about Zambia and Zimbabwe because they are very important parts to the dirty green supply chain, whether we like that or not. Now, when we spoke of these countries last month, I mentioned that they share a lake.

It's called Lake Kariba, and it's the world's largest man-made reservoir. It's also a major source of hydroelectric power for both nations. But water in that lake, at least as of last month, had dropped to about 4.1,000. percent of usable capacity. In other words, the lake was running out of usable water. And that meant blackouts, six hours a day in Zambia, 19 hours a day in Zimbabwe. Well, we've got an update from last month's brief, and unfortunately, it's all bad news. So let's get to it. The lake is now down to 1.6% of usable water storage. In other words, it's basically 99% dry effectively. So that means that Zambia is now extending blackouts from six hours a day to 12. Zimbabwe is doing the same.

And as I feared, that will now include electricity cuts to mining companies. That was announced yesterday by Zambia's utility, Zesco. Now, leaders of both countries continue to blame this crisis on a drought caused by climate change. And that is, in fact, what we discussed in December, the drought. But as it turns out, that's not the whole story. According to Bloomberg News, The river that fills that lake, the mighty Zambisi, is running only a little bit lower than normal as compared to historical averages. So that means that the drought, while real, isn't the main culprit. So what is?

Well, it's that Zambia and Zimbabwe are drawing too much water out. Both countries are overusing their water allotment for irrigation and most especially electricity production. And they're doing that because they don't trust each other. as former Zambian Vice President Guy Scott said they're both afraid that the other will suck out too much water and leave them empty-handed so they're both trying to get out what they can as fast as they can but that just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

and it has the former vice president explained it this way saying that it's sort of like two puppies who are hurriedly slurping up milk from the same bowl because they fear that the other will drink their share now there's nothing left in the bowl So I offer this update for you for a couple of reasons. First, because this electricity crisis in Zambia and Zimbabwe may affect global copper supply

and copper prices, which will ultimately affect consumers like you. Second, and if I can pivot now to analysis and opinion, I think we're going to see more of this. We are going to have global leaders blaming climate change on problems that actually they caused or failed to fix. In other words, climate change. becomes a very easy and very convenient excuse to brush away responsibility and then demand foreign aid. It also helps calm voters as they become very angry about, well, in this case, having no electricity or jobs at their minds.

So I'll keep you posted on developments in Zambia and Zimbabwe because I think that you can see that while these countries are very far away from America, their problems can quickly become ours too. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we conclude your morning brief. But I've got one more thing before I let you go. We'll be right back. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle.

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Your style can make you cash. Start selling on D-pop, where taste recognizes taste. Welcome back to the PDB folks. I've got one more thing before I let you go. We have an update to talk about, regarding the Biden Intel scandal. So that story broke yesterday when we learned that Joe Biden unlawfully possessed at least 10 classified documents at an old office of his in Washington, D.C.

Well, as of yesterday, we did not know how sensitive those documents were or what they contained or how they ended up there, nor did we have a response or a reply for Mr. Biden himself about this scandal. Well, today we do. And unfortunately, on all counts, it is bad for America. America's national security. According to reports from CNN, the New York Times, and Fox News, I can now confirm that the classified documents included top secret intelligence.

That almost certainly means that it came from either the CIA or their human sources, or possibly the NSA, which would mean, let's say, intercepted emails and phone calls. But either way, this leak has potentially put lives at risk and degraded our ability to conduct clandestine operations. Next, we also know this morning that the Biden intel leaks had top secret information on Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Now, that's especially alarming with Iran, as our sources and methods regarding that country are very, very sensitive. Meanwhile, it's also intriguing that Biden held on to Ukraine-related intel because we now know that it corresponds to a timeline when his son Hunter was serving on a natural gas company's board of directors, in Ukraine.

Hmm. Finally, the United Kingdom Intel is interesting to me in that it's probably related to intelligence sharing. So, for instance, a British report on what they know in Iraq or North Korea. Or maybe it's an update on an operation that we're conducting jointly with their spy service. But regardless, it is wildly dangerous to have this stuff floating around if it hasn't been declassified.

And in this case, it wasn't. Biden did not have that authority. Meanwhile, the material was apparently shoved in a closet with some other personal papers. Speaking of Mr. Biden, he has now spoken on this issue for the first time. He said yesterday that, quote, I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office, end quote. He added that his attorneys have advised him to not ask what was in those documents. finally he insisted that he had no idea what could possibly be in any of those materials.

Just total mystery, he said. Well, as you would probably guess, Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing deep alarm about this development. They are calling for an immediate investigation by the Office of Director of National Intelligence. Democrats, however, are dismissing this whole episode as no big deal. For instance, a columnist for the Washington Post said that this one, was simply a case of, quote, finding documents with markings. All right. Regardless, we should have lots to talk about in the coming weeks to include a possible referral of this development to a special counsel at the Department of Justice. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning

brief. As always, we close out the show, reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy. And every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Good day. Some follow the noise.

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