AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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Newsweek

"Hunter Biden Dealt a Blow in Tax Case"


Story by Kaitlin Lewis

2 APRIL 2024

A federal judge rejected Hunter Biden's requests to dismiss his nine-count tax indictment in California, according to court documents.

Hunter, son of President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.

His lawyers had argued in their motions to dismiss the charges, saying that prosecutors "bowed to political pressure to bring unprecedented charges," and specifically took issue with Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee leading the prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi denied all eight motions filed by Hunter Biden's legal team, petitioning him to reject the charges.

The case is set for trial on June 20.

The Context

The indictment against Hunter Biden, 54, includes three felony counts of tax evasion and filing a false return, along with six misdemeanor charges of failure to return.

If convicted, the president's son could face a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison.

The tax-related charges are the second indictment filed against Hunter Biden, who is also facing three federal gun charges in Delaware.

He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

What We Know

Hunter Biden's defense team had presented multiple arguments to dismiss the case, including that an immunity agreement — which fell apart in July — covered him from facing further prosecution in the tax case.

Attorneys also filed a motion that sought to dismiss the indictment while arguing that Weiss was "unlawfully appointed" to the case.

In his 82-page decision, however, Scarsi dismissed all arguments presented by the defense, including writing in one of his conclusions that Weiss was "lawfully appointed" to Biden's case.

Biden's lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Monday night, "We strongly disagree with the Court's decision and will continue to vigorously pursue Mr. Biden's challenges to the abnormal way the Special Counsel handled this investigation and charged this case."

Views

Federal prosecutors last month crafted a rebuttal in which they called Hunter Biden's arguments to have his charges dismissed a "house of cards" and characterized the reasoning as a "conspiracy theory."

"The defendant concocts a conspiracy theory that the prosecution has 'upped the ante' to appease politicians who have absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution and are not even members of the current Executive Branch," the prosecutors wrote.

The retort also pushed back on Biden's claims that Weiss' appointment was unlawful, writing that "these arguments are meritless and should be denied."

Newsweek reached out to the DOJ's press office for comment Monday night.

What's Next?

Hunter Biden's tax evasion case will now head for trial on June 20, just 17 days after his federal gun case is tentatively scheduled.

The president's son is also getting pressed by House Republicans, who have launched an impeachment inquiry into allegations that President Biden benefited from his son's business dealings while serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama.

The investigation has yet to produce evidence that President Biden was directly involved in his son's business affairs.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/hu ... 5ade&ei=75
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REUTERS

"Intel discloses $7 billion operating loss for chip-making unit"


By Stephen Nellis

April 2, 2024

April 2 (Reuters) - Semiconductor company Intel disclosed increasing operating losses for its foundry business on Tuesday, according to a regulatory filing.

Intel said the manufacturing unit had $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, a steeper loss than the $5.2 billion in operating losses the year before.


The unit had revenue of $18.9 billion for 2023, down 31% from $63.05 billion the year before.

Intel shares were down 4.3% after the documents were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

During a presentation for investors, Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said that 2024 would be the year of worst operating losses for the company's chipmaking business and that it expects to break even on an operating basis by about 2027.

Gelsinger said that the foundry business was weighed down by bad decisions, including one years ago against using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines from Dutch firm ASML.

While those machines can cost more than $100 million, they are worth it because they are such an improvement over their predecessors.

Intel has now switched over to using EUV machines, which will cover more and more production needs as older machines are phased out.

"In the post EUV era, we see that we're very competitive now on price, performance (and) back to leadership," Gelsinger said.

"And in the pre-EUV era we carried a lot of costs and (were) uncompetitive."

Intel plans to spend $100 billion on building or expanding chip factories in four U.S. states.

Its business turnaround plan depends on persuading outside companies to use its manufacturing services.


As part of that plan, Intel told investors it would start reporting the results of its manufacturing operations as a standalone unit.

The company has been investing heavily to catch up to its primary chipmaking rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/technology/inte ... 024-04-02/
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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REUTERS

"Biden administration approves eighth US offshore wind project"


By Valerie Volcovici

April 2, 2024

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday approved the country's eighth commercial-scale offshore wind project, which will be built off the coast of Massachusetts, bringing online electricity to power more than 900,000 homes.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

The New England Wind Project approval brings the U.S. one-third of the way to President Joe Biden's goal of permitting 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030 - a key part of the president's climate change agenda.

CONTEXT

The project comes just a week after the Interior Department approved another offshore wind project in New York.

The approvals this year follow a series of attempts by companies including Equinor, BP, Avangrid and Shell to cancel or seek to renegotiate power contracts for commercial-scale U.S. wind farms due to supply chain concerns and high materials costs.

KEY QUOTE

“The Biden-Harris administration has built an offshore wind industry from the ground up after years of delay from the previous administration," said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

THE DETAILS

The New England Wind project, located around 20 nautical miles south of the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, is expected to generate up to 2,600 megawatts of electricity.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 024-04-02/
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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REUTERS

"White House makes last-ditch push for internet subsidy program"


By David Shepardson

April 2, 2024

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - The White House plans to renew a push in April to convince Congress to extend an internet subsidy program used by 23 million American households just weeks before it runs out of money, officials said.

In October, the White House asked for $6 billion to extend the program through December 2024, but Congress has not funded it, potentially putting millions of households at risk of losing their internet service.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel told lawmakers in a letter that April is the last month participants will get the full subsidy, with partial subsidies in May.

Congress previously allocated $17 billion to help lower-income families and people impacted by COVID-19 gain broadband access through a $30 per month voucher to use toward internet service.

"We have come too far to allow this successful effort to promote internet access for all to end," Rosenworcel said on Tuesday.

"Despite the breadth of this support and the urgent need to continue this program to ensure millions of households nationwide do not lose essential internet access, no additional funding has yet been appropriated."

The FCC froze enrollment on Feb. 8 for new users.

The White House says the plan, known as the Affordable Connectivity Program, helps users save over $500 million per month on their internet bills.

Verizon, Comcast and AT&T have all called for Congress to extend the program.

Bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Peter Welch, JD Vance, Jacky Rosen and Kevin Cramer would provide $7 billion for the program.

A bill to fund the program for one-year has been introduced in the House and is backed by 216 members.

The FCC cited a survey that if the program ends, more than three-quarters of the households in the program "would experience service disruption or would have to change their existing plan or stop service altogether."

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonali Paul

https://www.reuters.com/technology/whit ... 024-04-02/
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REUTERS

"California Democrats urge Biden not to scrap chips R&D funding"


By David Shepardson and Alexandra Alper

April 1, 2024

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Alex Padilla, both Democrats, urged the Biden administration on Monday to reverse its decision to cancel a subsidy program for building and expanding semiconductor research and development facilities.

The U.S. Commerce Department said late Friday it would scrap plans to fund the program from the $52.7 billion Chips and Science Act due to "overwhelming demand" for funding awards to subsidize chips production.


President Joe Biden, a Democrat who faces a close re-election battle against Republican Donald Trump in November, is aiming to boost domestic output as part of efforts to reduce reliance on China and Taiwan.

Newsom and Padilla called on the agency to undo its decision, arguing "without robust support for commercial R&D we risk our global leadership and ability to outpace our foreign competitors in the semiconductor industry."

The push comes as the department faces numerous demands for chips funding.

"We urge the Department of Commerce to reconsider its decision and ensure investment in commercial R&D through the CHIPS Act to drive innovation and support the resurgence of domestic semiconductor manufacturing," Newsom and Padilla added.

The Commerce Department said in response it was "continuously evaluating programmatic priorities to maximize the impact of available CHIPS funds," citing a recent decision by Congress to dedicate $3.5 billion to make chip production facilities safe for military use production.

The Commerce Department never disclosed the amount planned for the R&D awards but a source told Reuters that department officials had discussed awarding $2.5 billion or more.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said last month leading edge chips companies have requested more than $70 billion but they are dedicating $28 billion to those projects.

Another $11 billion is dedicated to research and development, but that "cannot replace direct commercial investments," Newsom and Padilla said.

Last month, Biden awarded Intel nearly $20 billion in grants and loans for chips projects.

Some of that money will go to Intel's R&D hub in Hillsboro, Oregon.

In February, Commerce announced it was launching the $5 billion National Semiconductor Technology Center to create a private-public consortium to conduct research and prototyping of advanced semiconductor technology.

California-based semiconductor toolmaker Applied Materials Inc, which said last year it planned to spend up to $4 billion in a research center in the heart of Silicon Valley, had been seen as a strong candidate for a research award.

California has invested billions of dollars through a R&D Tax Credit and California Competes Program to support the growth of semiconductor companies with large R&D operatives including NVIDIA, Applied Materials, and Lam Research, Newsom and Padilla said.

Reporting by David Shepardson and Alexandra Alper; editing by Costas Pitas

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/califo ... 024-04-01/
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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Reuters

"US judge receptive to Trump documents claims in warning sign for prosecutors"


Story by Andrew Goudsward

2 APRIL 2024

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge overseeing the criminal case that accuses Donald Trump of mishandling classified documents has signaled an openness to the former U.S. president’s defense claims, in a sign that prosecutors might face a difficult road ahead.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, has asked Trump and prosecutors to propose jury instructions based on two legal scenarios that favor a claim from Trump that national security lawyers said have little relevance to the charges.

Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case, face a Tuesday deadline to respond to the judge’s order.

The dispute is another instance of Cannon lending credence to Trump's legal arguments about highly sensitive records taken to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida when he left the White House in 2021.

While Trump has clashed with judges in many of his legal cases, Cannon has been receptive to his defense in ways that could alter the course of the documents case.

“You have a court who is more favorable to the views of one party versus the other, and you’re seeing orders and decisions that are reflective of that,” said Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security official.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of knowingly retaining secret records related to the U.S. national defense and obstructing efforts by the U.S. government to retrieve them.

The prosecution is one of four facing Trump as he seeks to unseat Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Trump has cast the cases as part of a politically motivated effort to damage his campaign.

At issue in Cannon’s recent order is Trump’s claim that he treated the documents as personal under a 1978 law that allows former presidents to keep records that have no connection to their official responsibilities.

Trump’s lawyers argue his decision to keep the records shows that he deemed them to be his personal property.

Prosecutors have said the documents could not be construed as personal because they relate to U.S. intelligence and military matters.

The records law could not authorize Trump to keep classified papers, they said.

Cannon expressed skepticism at a March 14 court hearing that Trump’s claim requires the charges to be tossed out, but said it may prove “forceful” at a future trial.

She later ordered dueling sets of proposed jury instructions, assuming either that the government would have to prove the records belong to the government, or that neither the judge nor the jury could question Trump’s stance that they are personal.

“Both of them are completely irrelevant,” Kel McClanahan, a national security lawyer who has represented members of the U.S. intelligence community, said of the competing scenarios.

“And both actually favor the defendant.”

Mark Zaid, a defense lawyer who has worked on cases involving classified information, said he is unaware of an instance when a document produced by a federal agency was declared a personal record by a president.

Allowing a jury to consider those claims would “give Trump a fighting chance in a jury trial that would never likely exist in another case,” Zaid said.

A trial date remains uncertain.

Cannon has not yet ruled on competing proposals from Trump and prosecutors to delay the currently scheduled May 20 trial until later this summer.

Cannon has escaped the ire Trump has directed at judges overseeing his other legal cases, who he has frequently accused of bias and criticized in personal terms.

Cannon ruled in Trump’s favor in a legal challenge to the investigation filed before charges were brought, which was later reversed by a federal appeals court.

She has signaled support for some of Trump’s other arguments, including his request for more records from the Biden administration to attempt to build a case that the investigation was politically motivated.

In a setback for Trump’s defense, Cannon last month rejected an attempt to invalidate the central charge against him – willfully retaining classified information.

Cannon said Trump’s lawyers could raise the issue later, noting it raised arguments “warranting serious consideration.”

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Andy Sullivan)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... a40a&ei=81
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Re: AMERICA'S FIGHTING BULLDOG JOE BIDEN

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR APRIL 3, 2024 AT 10:38 AM

Paul Plante says:

And before we go back to FEDERALIST No. 10, The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection, from the New York Packet on Friday, November 23, 1787 by Jemmy Madison to the People of the State of New York, where we were told by Jemmy that in his estimation, there are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects, with the two methods of removing the causes of faction being on the one hand to destroy the liberty which is essential to its existence, which is what we are seeing this autocrat Biden trying to do with all of his “WOKENESS” and EXECUTIVE ORDERS, while the other, also being employed by Joe Biden, is to give, or in this case, force each and every one of us to have the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests, all dictated to us by the dictatorial Biden regime in the IMPERIAL CITY of Washington, D.C., from which city Joe Biden rules the world with an iron fist, to see that iron fist closing here in America, let’s go to a Reuters article titled “White House’s Brainard says corporate profits remain elevated” on March 28, 2024, where we have Joe trying to assume total control over how much profit any given business in America in entitled to, according to Joe, to wit:

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) – White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said on Thursday corporate profits remain elevated, after U.S. consumer sentiment rose unexpectedly in March to the highest in nearly three years on hopes inflation will keep softening.

Brainard said the Biden administration still has work to do to lower costs – a high priority as President Joe Biden grapples with voter attitudes about stubbornly high prices and mounting housing costs.

“We have more work to do to lower costs for American families … with corporate profits still elevated, President Biden will continue to call on companies to pass their savings on to consumers,” she said.

end quotes

As to Joe’s lame efforts to control the economy, let’s go to a Reuters article titled “US inflation moderating; consumer spending underpinning economy” by Lucia Mutikani on March 29, 2024, where we have this dose of reality to consider as we head into November and the presidential elections, to wit:

Data for January was revised higher to show the PCE price index climbing 0.4% instead of 0.3% as previously reported.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, jumped 0.8% last month.

But much of the spending was funded from savings as income rose 0.3% after accelerating 1.0% in January on the back of a Costco Wholesale Corporation special dividend.

Income at the disposal of households after accounting for inflation and taxes fell 0.1%.

end quotes

INCOME AT THE DISPOSAL OF HOUSEHOLDS IN AMERICA FELL UNDER BIDE-O-NOMICS!

Don’t believe Joe’s lies to the contrary!

As to BIDENFLATION, let’s go to a Reuters article titled “US manufacturing on the mend; rising raw material prices pose obstacle” by Lucia Mutikani on April 1, 2024, where we have this news from that front, to wit:

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) – U.S. manufacturing grew for the first time in 1-1/2 years in March as production rebounded sharply and new orders increased, but employment at factories remained subdued amid “sizable layoff activity” and prices for inputs pushed higher.

While the manufacturing rebound is a boost for the economy’s growth prospects, the rise in raw material prices suggested goods inflation could pick up in the months ahead.

Nonetheless, inflation at the factory gate picked up.

The survey’s measure of prices paid by manufacturers rose to 55.8 from 52.5 in February, indicating raw materials prices increased last month.

Twenty-four percent of companies reported higher prices compared to 18% in the prior month.

end quotes

So more BIDENFLATION misery is on the way from there.

And how about the price of a gallon of gas?

On March 22, 2024, I paid $3.87 for a gallon of 89-octane gas, up from $3.72 a gallon the time before.

So why then is gas going up?

Because Joe Biden has his puppet province Ukraine and its tin-pot dictator Vladimer Zelensky bombing Russian oil infrastructure with drones, as we see in the Reuters article titled “Oil settles up on supply threats, hits 2024 highs during session” by Laura Sanicola on April 2, 2024, where we have as follows on that score, to wit:

April 2 (Reuters) – Oil prices settled higher on Tuesday after a session in which Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities and escalating conflict in the Middle East pushed the Brent benchmark above $89 a barrel for the first time since October.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May settled up $1.44, or about 1.7%, to $85.15 after touching a peak of $85.46, also the highest since October.

A Ukrainian drone struck one of Russia’s biggest refineries in an attack Russia initially said it repelled.

A Reuters analysis of images showing the impact of the attack suggests it hit the refinery’s primary oil refining unit, which accounts for about half of the plant’s total annual production capacity of 340,000 barrels per day (bpd).

“The likelihood that continued restricted Russian product exports could further tighten US petroleum supplies has suddenly forced re-calculation of U.S. (oil) balances across the rest of this month and possibly beyond,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC.

end quotes

So, expect to be further behind in your finances thanks to BIDENFLATION caused by BIDE-O-NOMICS as we move through the months ahead to November and the election, which takes us another Reuters article titled “US construction spending falls for second straight month in February” on April 1, 2024, where we learned as follows:

WASHINGTON, April 1(Reuters) – U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in February as strength in single-family homebuilding was more than offset by weaknesses in nonresidential and public projects.

The Commerce Department said on Monday that construction spending dropped 0.3% after an unrevised 0.2% decline in January.

Spending on private construction projects was unchanged for a second straight month in February

Outlays on private non-residential structures like factories dropped 0.9%.

Spending on manufacturing construction projects fell 0.6%.

end quotes

So where then is this HUGE BOOST to our economy from all these INSANE GREEN DREAM construction projects that Joe Biden is pouring HUGE FEDERAL DOLLARS into?

Which takes us to a Reuters article titled “Intel discloses $7 billion operating loss for chip-making unit” by Stephen Nellis on April 2, 2024, where we have this bit of reality to consider, to wit:

April 2 (Reuters) – Semiconductor company Intel disclosed increasing operating losses for its foundry business on Tuesday, according to a regulatory filing.

Intel said the manufacturing unit had $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, a steeper loss than the $5.2 billion in operating losses the year before.

Intel shares were down 4.3% after the documents were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

During a presentation for investors, Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said that 2024 would be the year of worst operating losses for the company’s chipmaking business and that it expects to break even on an operating basis by about 2027.

Gelsinger said that the foundry business was weighed down by bad decisions, including one years ago against using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines from Dutch firm ASML.

Intel plans to spend $100 billion on building or expanding chip factories in four U.S. states.

Its business turnaround plan depends on persuading outside companies to use its manufacturing services.

end quotes

INTEL’S BUSINESS TURNAROUND PLAN DEPENDS ON THEM PERSUADING OUTSIDE COMPANIES TO USE THEIR MANUFACTURING SERVICES!

Think about what is being said there, as we then go to a Reuters article titled “Intel latest to get US funds for chips, more grants and loans planned” on March 20, 2024, to9 wit:

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) – Intel Corp on Wednesday was the latest semiconductor company to be awarded billions of dollars in grants and loans from the U.S. government in President Joe Biden’s effort to supercharge domestic chip output.

end quotes

JOE BIDEN’S EFFORT TO SUPERCHARGE DOMESTIC CHIP OUTPUT WHICH JOE KNOWS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT!

Yes, people, good old Stalinistic CENTRAL PLANNING at its finest!

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REUTERS

"Intel discloses $7 billion operating loss for chip-making unit"


By Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney

April 3, 2024

April 2 (Reuters) - Intel on Tuesday disclosed deepening operating losses for its foundry business, a blow to the chipmaker as it tries to regain a technology lead it lost in recent years to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Intel said the manufacturing unit had $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, a steeper loss than the $5.2 billion in operating losses the year before.

The unit had revenue of $18.9 billion for 2023, down 31% from $27.49 billion the year before.

Intel shares were down 4.3% after the documents were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

During a presentation for investors, Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said 2024 would be the year of worst operating losses for the company's chipmaking business and that it expects to break even on an operating basis by about 2027.

Gelsinger said the foundry business was weighed down by bad decisions, including one year ago against using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines from Dutch firm ASML.

While those machines can cost more than $150 million, they are more cost-effective than earlier chip making tools.

Partially as a result of the missteps, Intel has outsourced about 30% of the total number of wafers to external contract manufacturers such as TSMC, Gelsinger said.

It aims to bring that number down to roughly 20%.

Intel has now switched over to using EUV tools, which will cover more and more production needs as older machines are phased out.

"In the post EUV era, we see that we're very competitive now on price, performance (and) back to leadership," Gelsinger said.

"And in the pre-EUV era we carried a lot of costs and (were) uncompetitive."

Intel plans to spend $100 billion on building or expanding chip factories in four U.S. states.

Its business turnaround plan depends on persuading outside companies to use its manufacturing services.

As part of that plan, Intel told investors it would start reporting the results of its manufacturing operations as a standalone unit.

The company has been investing heavily to catch up to its primary chipmaking rivals, TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/technology/inte ... 024-04-02/
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REUTERS

"Exclusive: Targeting Chinese chips, US to push Dutch on ASML service contracts"


By Karen Freifeld, Alexandra Alper and Toby Sterling

April 4, 2024

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration plans to press the Netherlands next week to stop its top chipmaking equipment maker ASML from servicing some tools in China, two people familiar with the matter said, as the U.S. leans on allies in its bid to hobble Beijing's tech sector.

Alan Estevez, the U.S. export policy chief, is scheduled to meet in the Netherlands next Monday with officials from the Dutch government and ASML Holding NV to discuss the servicing contracts, the people said.

Washington may also be seeking to add to a list of Chinese chipmaking factories restricted from receiving Dutch equipment as part of the discussions, one of the people said.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed the upcoming meeting but did not elaborate on which topics would be on the agenda.

"The Netherlands always has good discussions with our partners."

"The meeting of officials on Monday is one example of that," the Ministry told Reuters.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes the U.S.'s "overstretching" of the concept of national security and use of "pretexts to coerce other countries into joining its technological blockade against China."

The Commerce Department and ASML, whose shares briefly fell after the news, declined to comment.

The meeting is Washington's latest move to convince allies to join U.S. efforts to further crack down on Beijing’s ability to produce cutting-edge chips.

Last year, sanctioned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei shocked the world with a new phone powered by a sophisticated chip.

The Huawei Mate 60 Pro was seen as a symbol of the China's technological resurgence despite Washington's ongoing efforts to cripple its capacity to produce advanced semiconductors.

Chip-related exports to China are vital for its economy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping complained to Biden this week about U.S. efforts to block certain U.S. technologies, including advanced semiconductors, saying it hindered China's development.

Restrictions on servicing ASML machines could be particularly painful given the large and expensive tools require constant maintenance.

China was ASML's second-largest market by sales last year (29%), after Taiwan.

Last year, Japan and the Netherlands joined a U.S. effort to keep certain chipmaking technology from China for national security reasons.

The Dutch government began restricting certain deep ultraviolet (DUV) equipment for Chinese customers and partially revoked one license, impacting a small number of customers in China, according to ASML.

But the Dutch restrictions did not go as far as U.S. rules, which barred American firms from servicing equipment at advanced Chinese factories.

Estevez has said publicly that the U.S. is asking allies to stop local companies from servicing certain chipmaking tools for Chinese customers.

"We are working with our allies to determine what is important to service and what is not important to service," Estevez said at an export control conference last week.

In October, the U.S. issued a regulation to keep more ASML DUV machines from certain Chinese chip factories because American parts in those tools gave Washington the power to regulate their export from overseas.

Officials may broach expanding the list of Chinese factories at the Monday meeting, one of the sources said.

Last week, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Beijing.

Xi warned against setting up trade barriers.

Rutte said Dutch restrictions aim to disrupt business as little as possible.

However, Rutte said China's support for Russia, which the Netherlands views as its top national security threat, is a major impediment to relations – a signal that exports of goods with potential military uses to China will be scrutinized.

Rutte is a top candidate to become NATO's next secretary general.

Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York, Alexandra Alper in Washington, D.C., and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Lisa Shumaker and David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-urg ... 024-04-04/
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REUTERS

"Yellen faces tough road on China's vast overproduction problem"


By David Lawder

April 4, 2024

GUANGZHOU, China, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China's southern factory hub of Guangzhou on Thursday with a tough message to Chinese officials: you're producing too much of everything, especially clean energy goods, and the world can't absorb it.

China is unleashing a flood of electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, solar panels, semiconductors and other manufactured goods into global markets, the result of years of massive government subsidies and weak demand at home.

Global prices for many goods are tanking, pressuring producers in other countries.

"We see a growing threat of money-losing firms that are going to have to sell off their production somewhere," a senior U.S. Treasury official said of overproduction in key Chinese sectors.

In a series of meetings with top Chinese economic officials from Friday through Monday, Yellen will seek to convey her view that the excess production is unhealthy for China and that there is a growing drumbeat of concern about it in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Mexico and other major economies.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said Yellen would explain: "If there are trade actions around the world, it's not an anti-China thing, it's a response to their policies."

But Beijing appears to be doubling down on investing in more manufacturing capacity in favored high-technology sectors, a stance that is also increasingly at odds with Europe.

"I do think the stage is set for renewed tensions with China," said Brad Setser, a former U.S. trade and Treasury official.

Setser added that Yellen's warnings about Chinese overproduction may be an initial step by the Biden administration towards new tariffs or other trade barriers on Chinese EVs, batteries and other goods.

En route to Guangzhou, Yellen declined to say whether she would raise the threat of new tariffs in her meetings in Guangzhou and Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Guangdong Province Governor Wang Weizhong, who has also presided over hundreds of billions of dollars worth of recent new projects.

But she said the Biden administration was determined to develop American supply chains in EVs, solar power and other clean energy goods with investment tax credits and would not "rule out other possible ways in which we would protect them".

In March, China's leadership pledged to follow through on President Xi Jinping's new mantra of unleashing "new productive forces" in China by investing in developing technology industries including EVs, new materials, commercial spaceflight and life sciences - areas where many U.S. firms hold advantages.

Yellen will also argue that China would be better off focusing spending on supporting households and boosting chronically weak consumer spending.

FACTORY FIRST

The results of China's prior investment binges are staggering.

Including EVs and combustion-engine cars, China by the end of 2022 had the capacity to produce 43 million vehicles annually, but its plant utilisation rate - a measure closely linked to profitability - was just under 55%, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Bill Russo, the Shanghai-based founder and CEO of advisory firm Automobility, estimated that this translates to excess auto production capacity of about 10 million vehicles a year, or roughly two-thirds of North American auto output in 2022.

And new entrants are still coming into an increasingly cut-throat Chinese EV market.

Mobile phone maker Xiaomi on Tuesday launched sales of its sporty Speed Ultra 7 EV, drawing an estimate from Citi analysts that each unit sold would lose $10,000.

SOLAR DOMINANCE

The situation in China's solar panel sector may be worse, where overproduction pushed prices down 42% last year to levels 60% below the cost of comparable U.S.-made products.

Major Chinese producers are continuing to build factories, backed by provincial and local subsidies.

At the end of 2023, China had the capacity to build 861 gigawatts of solar modules per year, more than double the global total installed capacity of 390 million gigawatts.

Another 500-600 gigawatts of annual capacity is forecast to come online this year -- enough to supply all global demand through 2032, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.

Chinese officials are expected to push back and argue that the excess capacity results from an unexpected downturn in demand following a property crisis and a rocky exit from COVID-19, said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"I can foresee a conversation that goes around in circles," he added.

Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Stephen Coates and Devika Syamnath

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 024-04-04/
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