Above the Fold

One Trade Deal Down

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA as it’s been dubbed, has finally won bipartisan support and will likely be ratified by Congress and signed by the President in early 2020. As one of his main campaign promises, Trump vowed to get rid of the antiquated NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in favor of a new law that better positioned the U.S., made amends for our new, digital world, and included added benefits and protections for American workers. 

The revised USMCA was signed early Tuesday by U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexico’s undersecretary for North America, Jesús Seade — it still has a few minor hurdles to clear before full adoption. The U.S. currently has a fairly balanced $300 billion trade schedule with Canada, while we are about $80 billion short in our exports to Mexico, with just $265 billion in American goods going south. Experts expect the deal could add several hundred thousand jobs to domestic payrolls, and the tech space applauded the new rules as it enables and protects data movement across borders.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to take quite a bit of credit for the bipartisan version of the bill and declared a “victory” for USMCA, which ironically came just an hour or so after she and Democrats backed two articles of impeachment accusing President Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress (those are being debated as this was written). Most experts believe this impeachment process will not end up with a conviction for Trump, so Democrats will likely have to continue to work with the White House to solve our country’s bigger, more complex trade struggles with China. Let’s hope the two parties can be at least somewhat productive in what promises to be an interesting election year. 

Three Things

1. Chaos Rocks Jersey City – A man and a woman went on a shooting spree in Jersey City Tuesday. Driving a U-Haul truck filled with guns, ammo and bomb-making materials, the two murdered an investigator at a cemetery before targeting the one Jewish market in the area, firing at customers, cashiers and law enforcement. The two suspects, who may be connected to other crimes, were neutralized by police. 
2. Facebook Says “No” to Backdoor – The social media giant rejected requests from Attorney General William Barr to allow a backdoor to its messaging platforms for law enforcement. Facebook will move forward with full encryption of messages across all its apps. 
3. Killing Aichmophobia (It’s a good thing) – It’s fair to say that most of us dislike needles, and many of us have an outright fear of them (Aichmophobia) and dread the flu shot or other necessary injections. While it might not help with intravenous drips, Vaxxas and other companies are developing microneedle patches that are invisible to the human eye, barely break the skin and don’t hurt when applied. Efforts remain in the early stages, but the World Health Organization sees them as a potentially effective delivery system for vaccines. 

Did You Know?

The Link Between Japan, KFC and Christmas

You’re unlikely to find millions of tables adorned with turkeys on Christmas in Japan. In fact, “The Land of the Rising Sun” doesn’t make too big a deal of the Christian holiday, likely due to the fact that Shinto and Buddhism are the prevailing religions of the nation (only about 1% of the population is Christian). 

But the Japanese, mainly in urban areas, do make a big deal when it comes to fried foul from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Back in 1970, Takeshi Okawara, the first owner of a KFC franchise in Japan, had a vision of a huge “barrel” of chicken that would be sold to families on Christmas. A few years later, KFC decided to take his plan national and it caught on big time, propelling sales and Okawara’s career — he ended up as CEO of KFC Japan in 1984, where he remained until 2002. 

Today, the tradition lives on as nearly 4 million Japanese families flock to the southern American chain during the holiday. The Colonel has even become a quasi-Santa Claus, and orders usually need to be made weeks in advance. And that original “barrel of chicken” has evolved to include cake, wine and roasted chicken, if preferred.