produced by the Council of American Ambassadors on American Ambassadors Live!
THE TOP THREE
1. The United States officially withdraws from INF Treaty

What's going on
The United States has officially withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia because of Russian violations of the agreement. In October 2018, President Trump announced that the United States would terminate the treaty, and in early February 2019 the United States gave Russia the required six month's notice of its intention to withdraw.
What Ambassadors are saying
”The United States could not remain forever in a treaty that Russia violated. However...Washington will get blamed for the treaty's end. There was a smarter way. First, U.S. officials should have informed their European counterparts in early 2018 that the United States would have no choice in 12-24 months but to leave the treaty if Russia did not correct its violation..." -Ambassador Steven Pifer, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Read the rest on American Ambassadors Live!
2. President Trump announces new tariffs on China

What's going on
On Twitter, President Trump announced yesterday another round of tariffs on China that will go into effect on September 1. The new tariffs will impose a 10% tax on $300 billion of Chinese goods. The announcement follows in the wake of inconclusive trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials in Shanghai.
What the Ambassadors are saying
"The United States is a consumer economy with outsized purchasing power and even if these tariffs took a long-term bite out of China, that doesn't mean that manufacturing and the production of goods is going to return to the United States. It's quite the contrary. We know from the experience we have that global supply chains will be adjusted and America's trade deficit globally will remain the same and will likely increase." -Ambassador David Adelman, former U.S. Ambassador to Singapore CNBC
3. Hong Kong protesters charged with rioting

What's going on
Protests over a proposed extradition bill continue in Hong Kong. On Wednesday more than 40 people were charged with rioting after participating in pro-democracy protests. These were the first charges to be announced since protesting over the extradition bill began. Chief Executive Carrie Lam has pronounced the extradition bill to be "dead," but she has not officially declared its withdrawal.
What Ambassadors are saying
"These last eight weeks of protesting have brought to the world what’s happening there. Which is unfortunately, I feel, a more fast move towards Hong Kong being absorbed by China. Right now it lives under what’s called a one country, two systems way of life, but increasingly there’s an encroachment on that Hong Kong way of life. These protests began when the Hong Kong government sought to introduce an extradition law that would allow all people in Hong Kong to be extradited to China and I think the world knows what rule of law in China looks like today versus democracies of Canada and the United States. When you look at those really striking visuals; tear gas, rubber bullets, you see, of course all walks of life, but you see a lot of young people and one can really have tremendous empathy, tremendous sympathy, for the Hong Kong young people fighting for their way of life." -Ambassador Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, Fox Business
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