Musk’s role, China critics, Senate leadership and bitcoin
By Reuters
Elon Musk's new role is a big one. He’s going to help make the government run smoother.
Meanwhile, China’s watching all of this closely because many in Trump’s circle don’t trust them.
Over in the Senate, Republicans are choosing a new leader, and Trump’s friends want a shake-up.
Lastly, traders are excited, hoping Trump will be “the crypto president,” which could mean big changes for Bitcoin.
Transcript and summaries below
Transcript
Today, Trump meets with Biden at the White House as Senate Republicans choose their new leader. We have the latest on Trump's cabinet appointments, including Elon Musk and a Fox News host, and how the picks are being viewed in Beijing. Plus, what's fueling the latest Bitcoin boom? Would it surprise you to learn that the story is also about Trump? It's Wednesday, November 13th; this is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Carmel Crims in Dublin and I'm Jonah Green in New York.
President-elect Donald Trump is tapping Elon Musk to shrink the federal government. The billionaire will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency with former Republican candidate Vikram Ramaswamy. Trump says they'll slash excess regulation and restructure federal agencies, and has signaled that the new entity will operate outside the confines of government. Its acronym, DoG, references the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin that Musk promotes.
The move is the latest in a hiring spree that includes Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Trump says he'll nominate Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. The commentator could make good on Trump's campaign promise to fire generals whom he accuses of pursuing diversity policies. Hegseth has expressed disdain for those policies.
Trump is also expected to tap Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and has picked Republican Representative Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser. Rubio, Waltz, and Hegseth are all harsh China critics. So what does Beijing make of it all? Anovi is Reuters' Chief Correspondent in China: "I think Beijing was bracing for a pretty hawkish administration, and I think they got that. What we are learning through our reporting is that China is both better prepared than it was last time around for any potential moves by Trump, but at the same time, it's also in a weaker position, especially when it comes to the economy."
So how have they prepared? "China has, to a large degree, moved to insulate what has been described by some scholars as its Fortress Economy to prepare it to withstand external shocks like tariffs or tech restrictions. They've been replacing, for example, software and hardware in state-owned enterprises and government institutions, removing overseas software and putting in domestic software. They are also investing tremendous amounts of money in things like domestic chip making."
But on the other hand, "the level of tariffs that Trump has threatened on the campaign trail is higher than anything that has been imposed on them so far," which puts China's economy—still very much reliant on exports—at risk. Any kind of tariffs even slightly lower than what Trump is likely to impose would prove a significant shock to the system here in Beijing.
Rubio is currently under sanction by Beijing over his stance on Hong Kong's democracy protests. How does that work if he becomes Secretary of State? If he's confirmed, "the question sort of becomes how does China even meet him? How do they hold talks? And how can they potentially drop those sanctions without losing face?"
Because that would be key—not being seen as caving to the United States right at the outset. So I think those are the questions that we'll see; we don't know how Beijing is likely to respond here, but those are the questions that will need to be answered in the months to come.
Trump will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House today, and before his Oval Office visit, he's also expected to make an appearance on Capitol Hill to meet with the GOP caucus over in the Senate. The Republicans will select a new majority leader to replace Mitch McConnell. Trump has yet to endorse a candidate; however, he is demanding that the new leader back his ability to make presidential appointments when the Senate is not in session.
Politics editor Scott Malone is following the race in Washington: "Scott, who are the top contenders?" Senators John Thune and John Cornyn are longtime stalwarts of the Senate Republican caucus; they have a long history and a long track record in the Senate.
Rick Scott is a relative newcomer to the Senate—relative in terms of Senate math—having been in the job for six years now; that's one term compared to Thune and Cornyn who have been there for 20 years. Really, the difference is that early on in Trump's first term he wasn't immediately embraced by the party, and there were times when certainly McConnell and people like Thune pushed back against him to a degree. They've pivoted and now very much do embrace him; but Scott doesn't have the track record of having done that.
You mentioned that they've pivoted—are they agreeing to Trump's call for a free hand to make recess appointments? All three of them have indicated that they would be willing to go along with that—to allow him to set up his administration quickly when he comes into office.
Elon Musk and other high-profile Trump allies have thrown their support behind this. Do these kinds of public endorsements pressure Senators to vote in a particular way? This isn't like an open House Speaker election where everybody has to come to the floor and declare their allegiances; that means you could have Senators who would go in not vote for Scott, not talk about it publicly, and not get into open conflict with Trump.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are working to confirm as many new federal judges nominated by President Biden as possible before Republicans take control of the chamber in January. Biden has announced another 30 judicial nominees who are awaiting Senate confirmation votes.
Sticking with the courts: A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms in the state is unconstitutional. The state's Republican attorney general has vowed to appeal.
The judge overseeing Trump's criminal hush money case has put off ruling on whether the conviction should be thrown out on immunity grounds. Justice Juan Merchan granted a request by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's office to have until next week to consider how to approach the case in light of Trump's looming inauguration.
Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Zai have cleared a memorial at the scene of the deadliest mass killing in the country in a decade. On Monday, a man angry with his divorce settlement rammed his car into a crowd at a sports center, killing 35 people and injuring dozens. The government took almost a day to announce the death toll, and images and videos of the attack on social media were censored.
Over on markets: A warning to the Trump Administration on climate change from big energy! Top LNG exporter Shaner Energy and ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods are telling the incoming administration not to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump's transition team has prepared executive orders to withdraw for a second time from this climate treaty.
If you're interested in climate change and the economy, do check out this week's episode of my podcast Reuters Econ World; it's out later today and looks at the economic argument for curbing consumption for the environment. You can catch it on the Reuters app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Bitcoin is nearing $90,000; in fact, it's up about 30% since November 5th. Traders are betting on Trump's promises to be a crypto president by lowering regulation and ushering in a crypto-friendly Congress. Reporter Hannah Lang has been looking into what kinds of changes the industry expects from the new administration: "The crypto industry is broadly expecting that the Trump Administration will be more lax on enforcement and overall take a very different approach than the current SEC where they claim that most crypto tokens are securities and need to be registered as such and provide disclosures to investors." The crypto industry disagrees with that sentiment; they claim they've had difficulty really lifting crypto into mainstream acceptance because of some of these guardrails in place.
So they're really hoping for barriers to entry being lowered here; they're hoping for a general tone at the top of the administration on banking. Crypto companies have had a difficult time accessing banking services as U.S. regulators have expressed concern about safety regarding certain banks whose business models are heavily reliant on crypto companies—as well as some accounting guidance at SEC they're hoping will go away—which would enable banks to hold crypto on behalf of their clients.
What are they hoping to see from Congress? There are some people in this industry who are hopeful that with a Republican majority in both chambers—Senate and probably House as well—it really enables legislation to be passed through reconciliation where you could see a crypto bill kind of tacked onto larger spending or tax bills that could pass quickly with a simple majority.
And before we go: Today's recommended read takes us to Lebanon and explores its role in the Arab world's art scene. Lebanese artists are using their work as an outlet as conflict with Israel at home and in Gaza rages. We meet an artist whose work reflects Lebanon's back-to-back crises. A link to this story is in our pod description.
For more on any stories from today, check out reuters.com or use the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, follow us on your favorite podcast player; we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show!
ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:
Donald Trump’s latest cabinet choices and policies are stirring reactions globally, impacting US-China relations, cryptocurrency markets, and political landscapes.
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