Good morning, everybody. Good afternoon. In fact, I'm very pleased to welcome you to the IEA for this webinar this afternoon. And of course, it's a particular pleasure for us to be joined today by Valdez Dombroskis, European Commission Executive Vice President and Commissioner for Trade, who has been generous enough to speak to us today about EU trade policy post-COVID. This event is part of the IEA Global Europe Programme of webinars and research, which is generously supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and which the Institute works in cooperation with the department. The Executive Vice President will speak to us for about 15-20 minutes and followed by question and answer session with our audience. And just to say you'll be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. And please feel free to send your questions in throughout the session as they occur to you and we will come to them once the Executive Vice President has concluded his remarks. If I could request you to keep your questions as brief as possible so that we can get to as many as possible during the event. And we would also appreciate if you could provide us with your name and your affiliation and particularly a reminder that today's presentation and the Q&A are both on the record. Please feel free of course to join the discussion on Twitter using the handle at IEA. And we're also live streaming this afternoon's discussion on via YouTube and a warm welcome to all who are joining us from YouTube. Just before I introduce the Executive Vice President, I would like to remind our audience that the IEA will continue to celebrate its 30th anniversary throughout the month of May with the series of keynote speeches such as this afternoon's and panel discussions open to all on the pressing issues which are shaping Ireland and the world. And now let me formally introduce Executive Vice President Baldis Dombrovskis. He was appointed Executive Vice President for an economy that works for everybody in 2019. And as part of the current European Commission of President von der Leyen, he is responsible for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union. He has also since October 2020 held the trade portfolio. In fact, it's as you can see it's an extremely wide brief and just looking at the mission letter for the Executive Vice President from Commission President von der Leyen the tasks outlined there run in fact to about eight pages. He previously served as Vice President for the Euro and Social Dialogue from 2014 to 2019 as part of the Claudionka Commission. And prior to joining the European Commission. He was Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 until 2014. He was an MEP in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009. And he was the Latvian Finance Minister from 2002 to 2004 and Chief Economist at the Bank of Latvia, Monetary Policy Department. In addition to that widespread of very significant experience, the Executive Vice President holds a master's degree in Customs and Tax Administration, which will touch a point here in Ireland as well as a degree in economics and also physics. So with that frighteningly impressive CV Vice President, may I hand the floor to you to tell us about trade policy for the EU after COVID. The floor is yours and you're most welcome. Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, thanks to the Institute for International and European Affairs for organizing this event. And I want to congratulate you on your 30th anniversary as a foremost think tank on EU and international affairs in Ireland. I welcome this opportunity to engage with Irish audience on the subject of EU trade strategy and its importance for your country. Let me say that Ireland is studied closely by other small European countries, including the one I know best Latvia as an example of how to harness open trade and investment for economic development. So Ireland has traditionally been a strong voice at the European table when it comes to defending an open fair rules based trade policy. Indeed, Ireland has based its economic development model on international rules based trade, and now you are one of the most globalized economies in the world. The late Peter Sutherland was the first director general of the WTO, so the Irish voice has been strong in support of global rules based trading system. Accordingly, I'm convinced that Ireland can support the new EU trade strategy launched by the European Commission in February. The new strategy aims to be open, sustainable and assertive. These keywords reflect a number of lessons learned in recent years. So let me go through them one by one. Open, because we will need open trade more than ever to help us to recover from COVID-19 exports already support one in six EU jobs. So Ireland that figure is even higher. We estimate that one in every three Irish jobs is facilitated by extra EU exports. This is among the highest levels in the EU. Ireland also witnessed one of the highest increases in export supported employment between 2000 and 2017 estimated to be at 147%. To build on these strengths, Ireland and the EU should continue to make the most of our global trade relationships. This is fundamental given that 85% of global growth will happen outside the EU in the next decade. Open trade also depends on having the right global rules. This is why we have published a detailed EU agenda for reform of the World Trade Organization, and I'm engaging with a new WTO director general in this respect. But openness in itself is not enough. Trade policy needs to work in synergy with other headline policies reflecting our European ambitions and values. This is why we're putting a strong emphasis on making trade policy more sustainable. We'll pursue a number of concrete actions, including a trade and climate initiative as a WTO, seeking commitments from G20 countries to achieve climate neutrality in trade agreements, making full use of our network of trade deals to work with global partners on biodiversity, pollution, circular economy and sustainable food systems, and making a Paris Agreement commitments and essential element of future agreements. We also plan to propose a carbon border adjustment mechanism in full respect to WTO rules. With these federal relationships, we want to be sure that our partners live up to their agreed obligations on trade and sustainable development, including commitments on climate and liberal rights. To help in this respect, last year we appointed the first EU chief trade enforcement officer. His mandate is to enforce our rights and get the most value out of our trade deals for our exporters including SMEs.  This is important because we want to help to reassure our citizens that European value remains at the heart of trade policy. For example, I have noted some concerns from Irish politicians about CETA agreement with Canada, claiming that it would enable corporations to pursue legal action against states if new legislation impacts their profits. Let me be very clear. CETA fully protects the right of state and local authorities to regulate and this applies in all fields where public policy objectives are at stake. The Belgium government expressed doubts in 2019 and asks the EU Court of Justice to look into the matter. In its opinion, the court confirmed that there was no such risk and also confirmed that the investment court system proposed is fully compatible with the practices of judicial independence and in partiality under the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The investment court system established in CETA is a clear break from the ad hoc system of private arbitration known as the ISDS, which exists in many bilateral investment treaties. The new system not only preserves the government's right to regulate but also makes the procedures to resolve investment disputes fairer, more transparent, independent and in partial. It is important to point this out because the public deserves to help the facts. There is no hidden agenda in EU trade policy. We simply wanted to support our workers and companies, create jobs and work in synergy with our wider objectives. This is why we will take another important steps to be more assertive. We want to strengthen our own capacity to level the playing field and to defend ourselves when our partners do not play by the rules. Last week, for example, we proposed a legal instrument to address distortions by foreign subsidies in our internal market. There are many other proposals being implemented or coming in the legislative pipeline. I'm happy to discuss this in further detail if you wish. Finally, let me point out that the success of our trade agenda depends on strengths of our global relationships. Let me focus on three relationships which are of high relevance to Ireland, the United States, the UK and China. I do not need to explain to an Irish audience the importance of transatlantic relationship. In Ireland, with its economic, cultural and historical links to the US always plays a central role in the transatlantic relationship. And I'm pleased to report that we have seen a marked improvement in our transatlantic relations with the Biden administration. We have mutually suspended the tariffs imposed in the Airbus Boeing dispute in order to see a negotiated solution. We have welcomed the US rejoining the Paris climate agreement, and we see positive perspectives for restoring EU US leadership as an engine for positive global change. Of course, the relationship with the EU and the UK is of utmost interest to Ireland as a EU member state with most at stake in this relationship. When it comes to the UK, my colleague, Vice President Shevcovich is responsible for ongoing negotiations, but from a trade perspective, I can take, I can say this. The trade and cooperation agreement concluded at the end of the last year is still in very early stage of implementation. So we lack trade data to get a comprehensive picture. However, we do see the emergence of some early difficulties. They relate to the withdrawal of the UK from the single market, which is an unavoidable consequence of the type of Brexit pursued by the UK government. Other issues relate to the implementation of the agreement, including the Northern Ireland protocol to address these issues that EU plans to be fully solution oriented and engage constructively with the UK authorities, keeping a calm but firm approach. I would like to reiterate the EU's commitment to making the protocol work, and I would add that doing so relies on joint action through the joint bodies under the withdrawal agreement. Ongoing discussions at the technical level will continue in coming weeks. It is in strong mutual interest of the EU and UK to make our trade relationship work. Finally, let me briefly mention our relationship with China. As you know, last late last year we concluded negotiations on a comprehensive agreement on investment. From the economic perspective, a deal contains many benefits for European companies as it restructures the EU-China partnership to be more reciprocal, balanced and fair. The comprehensive agreement on investment also enshrines sustainable development commitments, including the fight against climate change and respect of core international labour organization principles. And this is the first time China has agreed to such concessions in a deal with a global partner. But the ratification process cannot be separated for a wider political context. The EU sanctions against China for human rights abuses, how led to China's retaliatory sanctions targeting, for example, members of European Parliament. We will view China's actions as unjustified and regrettable, and not helpful for creating the favourable environment needed to pursue ratification. So essentially the future of the deal depends on how broader EU-China relations evolve. To conclude, ladies and gentlemen, I hope I have provided a useful overview of some prominent topics in EU trade agenda, and I will happily answer your questions and comments. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed, Vice President. That was a very comprehensive overview of where the trade situation is at the moment with the EU. Could I just take advantage of my role and ask you with regard to you finished up on the question of the trade and investment agreement with China, which as you mentioned is not proceeding. Can I ask you with regard to the US-China situation and where the EU finds itself in certain situations caught between the two countries where tensions have arisen significantly. Do you have any view that the EU could play some role between the two countries, or in fact what objective has the US with regard to its China policy, but particularly what is the EU position between the US and China at the moment with regard to trade? Well, first of all, if we look at state of play regarding different agreements, US how their phase one deal with China. Recently, also in Asia, there was a regional comprehensive economic partnership agreed the reset. Of course, it's important for EU not to be only a major economy not having any kind of agreement with China, so of course it's important that we at the end of the day arrive at successful conclusion on comprehensive agreement on investment to rebalance our economic relationship. And then if we talk about US-China relations and EU's role on them, well, we must be realistic that with comprehensive agreement of investment we will not solve all our issues in relations with China. There are many concerns which we are sharing with US to give some examples on issues, for example, like industrial subsidies, role of the state owned enterprises and their competitive neutrality, forced technology transfers, intellectual property rights. We are sharing all these concerns. So actually, we are cooperating quite closely with Biden administration to see how we better address those concerns, how we coordinate our work bilaterally, also trilaterally together with Japan, and how we also address those issues multilaterally in a context of WTO reform. So all those work streams are currently being pursued. So actually, we are in very constructive work and exchanges with new US administration on this. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President. I just have a follow up question from Adam Daly in the journal since we're speaking of the China investment. And he asks specifically, do you see a future for the investment deal and what are the, could you speak on the direct benefit such a deal would have for Irish business? That's quite specific, but it's of considerable interest here. Yeah, well, first of all, on comprehensive agreement of investment and its benefits. So, in a sense, it's a symmetric agreement to address a symmetric situation, because currently EU market is substantially more open to Chinese companies and Chinese investments than China's market is to the EU companies. So, therefore, as agreement contains quite a few new commitments from China in terms of market access in different sectors in terms of level playing field. I also mentioned that sustainable development and it actually contains very few new commitments from the EU side. It's basically we are maintaining our existing level of openness. So then, as regards benefits specifically from Ireland, of course, it's for companies in the sectors which are active and having new market access offers from China to evaluate exact benefits. Is it automotive sector or is it sector in services and cloud or private healthcare providers or real estate or financial services, number of other areas where we have new market access openings, for example, by phasing out or withdrawing joint venture requirements or similar requirements. So, but then generally speaking, I would say Ireland benefits from global rulemaking as a small open economy, because it's clearly that especially small open economies can function better in a situation where there is a lot of rules when there are trade agreements which these countries can explore and that goes I would say very much also for Ireland. Well, in terms of the future of the deal already mentioned that from the commission side we continue to work now the technical work is ongoing the legal scrubbing. The next steps concerning the ratification will need to see in a context of broader EU China relationship. Yes, thank you for that. And just as a final one, and it's asking you I think to look into a crystal ball but a question from Politico for Giorgio Leali is, do you feel that if some of the Chinese sanctions against European officials are removed from the China ratification deal might pass through the parliament. Well, indeed, as I mentioned in introductory remarks. That's exactly the now problems that China imposed its retaliatory sanctions, including two members of European Parliament including entire parliamentary subcommittee being sanctioned. So clearly, this is something which needs to be addressed in order to proceed with ratification and eventually in order to be able to successfully conclude the ratification. Thank you. Thank you for that. We have a number of other questions. One from our former finance minister Alan Dukes on the border carbon tax adjustment and Alan asks, has the commission modeled the effects of the border carbon tax adjustment. The proposed increases in in carbon tax and in relation to the trade agreements. Yeah, well as regards carbon border adjustment mechanism as a work is currently ongoing. And of course it's quite fundamental issue when you is moving towards carbon neutrality. We have a commitment to be carbon or climate natural by 2050. It means that of course they cannot continue with giving free emission allowances to energy intensive industries. But if we start to phase them out. Obviously we need to address the issue of carbon leakage to compensate for the cost difference. These are the those jurisdictions where they are less strict environmental rules. So that's a fundamental rationale of the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Well of course what is very important is to ensure that what we are putting forward is WTO compatible and key words there is non discrimination and avoidance of double protection. And since cannot put through this carbon border adjustment mechanism importers as a competitive disadvantage with European producers. So in a sense we need to ensure level playing field here. And it's, I can imagine that also for other, especially advanced economies as they are moving towards climate neutrality and more and more countries are actually committing to that. So they will have to address the similar issue of carbon leakage. So, in any case, there will be further discussions and coordination of approaches needed but in a sense, one can say that the EU is at the forefront of this development. And vice president. I have a specific question from, which is of interest to Ireland, and it's from William level of the Irish whiskey association. And he asks, can the automatic doubling of you tariffs on us whiskey imports on the first of June be avoided or deferred. If implemented this doubling would go very much against the desire for de escalation of transatlantic trade disputes. A question of Irish interest but also of course of wider whiskey producers everywhere. Yeah, well, we are now in intensive discussions with a new US administration. And the issue related to so called 232 tariffs imposed by Trump administration on a steel and aluminum based on national national security concerns of course we are not accepting that US is treating EU as a threat to national security and we hope that's a new and we will correct that. And we are now in indeed in intensive discussions with Biden administration as regards this to see how we can ensure that we actually are addressing in the sector of steel is a core problem which is global steel over capacity and not so much production of steel in the EU or us we know that the bulk of our capacity comes from China. Instead of imposing tariffs at each other. So, we are working on this and of course we are hopeful that we can avoid this next step in terms of our response as regards to 232 tariffs imposed by Trump. Thank you. Thank you for that. From, we have a question from Joanna Sapinska from the Melix market insight and she's speaking about another dispute which is the Boeing Airbus dispute and she asks how advanced for the negotiations with the US on the settlement. Is there still a chance that the talks are finished within the four month deadline, or will more time be needed. Do you feel for an agreement. Well, as regards service going of course the first positive step was that we agreed on a mutual suspension of tariffs. For four months and they're actually halfway through that time and negotiations are also on this area, ongoing very intensively so looking at the future disciplines in the area of large civil aircraft manufacturing. Well, of course we are working with the time timeline of four months in mind. And in the case it's clear that it would be very important to avoid the introduction of the tariff so definitely we must work with aim to avoid this scenario. Thank you for that. Just moving on to an issue that is very much also in the forefront of trade considerations particularly in the context of COVID-19. So I have a couple of questions here one from the Ambassador Belgium to Ireland, and he asks, could the Vice President elaborate his views on EU strategic autonomy in the context of the recovery of European and world economies. Mr. Allen, the digital researcher in the Institute asked what are the implications of open strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty for Europe's digital economic trade. I give you those two vice president. Okay, as regards strategic autonomy or rather I would say open strategic autonomy. We have elaborated on this concept on also in our new EU trade policy strategy, being very clear that we remain open to the world, we remain open to fair and rules based trade. But we are ready to defend ourselves more assertively if third countries or operators in third countries do not play by the rules. So in a sense, we are willing to act multilaterally whenever we can, but we are ready to act unilaterally whenever we must. So this is an approach how we use this in our trade, new trade policy strategy. So then, as regards as a question of what was mentioned, digital sovereignty. Of course, we once again we believe that our strengths is through our engagement with the world and not turning inwards. For example, one of the items which we are currently negotiating and negotiating in the context of the world trade organization is so called e commerce negotiations where you mandate is very clear for example, this is the most unjustified data local localization requirements some kind of a digital protectionism. And it's important as that we maintain this approach that we are open in principle and willing to cooperate with the world. There are some specific issues linked with security or other justified cases that may be a case to restrict certain activities to you only. So this assessment is also now currently ongoing for, for example, in a context of our work on industrial alliances, but as I learned I believe that the openness is actually our strengths. Thank you Vice President. Yes, that is interesting because I think there has been some worry among smaller countries such as Ireland that a strongly enforced strategic autonomy might have negative effects for small country industries, for example, and that it would promote the larger industrial complexes if we moved very far in this direction. Is that a sentiment that you have sensed in your discussions. Well, actually we just recently updated our industrial strategy, learning lessons from the crisis also, for example, assessing the resilience of our supply chains. And the conclusion was actually that our supply chains are quite resilient and there is a very limited number of goods where some action some intervention may be needed to ensure more resilience supplies or EU production capacity. So there are some industries where we want to strengthen our production capacities or the existing alliances like for example, a batteries alliance in the context of electricity mobility, clean hydrogen alliance in the context of developing a hydrogen economy. As you'll see those are issues linked with with European Green Deal, but right now we are proposing to new industrial alliances on semiconductors and on big data cloud and H technologies. And once again, we need to find the right balance there between openness and principle and being restricted in newly justified cases that such as, for example, for the fence or security grounds. Thank you. Thank you for that. Just coming back to the covert 19, which of course we are all still in which we're still involved. And the issue of abolition of patents for vaccines vice president. That is causing some difference of approach between the US and EU and of course the suggestion which came from India which you've had discussions with recently but what is the European view on the question of patent abolition. As we had been clear from the very beginning we are open to discuss this US proposal and see how exactly it leads to the aim which we want to achieve which is a boost in a global vaccine production and improved availability of vaccines to developing countries. Here of course are number of elements which needs to be discussed in including export restrictions. For example, you is exporting almost half of our vaccine production, this is unfortunately not the case with countries like United States or United Kingdom. So we need to discuss actually how these countries are also contributing to accessibility of vaccines in developing countries and we need to see what is a practical way of improving global vaccine production. And there we see that the licensing arrangements are needed between between companies who have the necessary know how and companies which can provide additional manufacturing capacity. So it's not only about intellectual property rights, it's also about having necessary know how having necessary inputs to be able to speedily boost global vaccine production through voluntary licensing agreements or as we have been flagging already since these discussions started if necessary also through compulsory licensing, but in any case we are ready to discuss with US and in a sense expecting them to come in with more elaborate outline of their proposal and how it helps to achieve a boost of global vaccine production. Thank you Vice President yes obviously production of vaccines and any freeing up of that is obviously a very much a discussion that's of considerable interest at the moment. I have a question from economics researcher, which is, what kind of new fiscal policy instruments will be considered as part of the stability and growth pact review. And will the Commission consider a quote golden rule at tying deficit spending exceeding structural budget balances to investment projects. That's definitely a question from an economist to an economist. As regards the review of EU fiscal rules, we have for a time being suspended our public consultation to focus on immediate crisis issues. But we were clear that after the crisis we will sort of say continue our public consultation, gather necessary inputs and come forward with proposals on a possible way forward. So, at some of the issues which we are looking at. First of all, there has been a good input already pre covid from the European fiscal board outlining several ideas. First on the simplification of rules and moving away from directly on observable indicators such as output gaps and structural balances and moving instead for expenditure benchmark with a depth anchor because expenditure is something which governments can directly control. And another proposal for consideration by European fiscal board was what they were calling limited golden rule. So we are also looking at this also now in a context of post covid economic recovery. But in a sense we do not now want to prejudge the debate we will reopen and finish our public consultation gather the use of member states of different stakeholders, and then see what is a way forward. But already now it's important to emphasize that building consensus will be important, because we know that the views of on on on the fiscal rules tend to worry. We need to avoid the station where we are just getting into some kind of divisive discussion that indeed, if we are opening as a fiscal rules we can be confident that we are landing them in a better place where we are now. Thank you Vice President. Do you see challenges in this our opinions very divided or are you hopeful that we will see relatively early results in this area. I would say that remains to be seen we know that normally it's not an easy discussion on the fiscal rules. So, at the same time, we managed as a EU to react in a coordinated way and in spirit of European solidarity to the crisis so hopefully we can build momentum also around those new fiscal rules. And so to say finds the right balance between stimulating say economic recovery and ensuring fiscal sustainability. Thank you. I get a sense from what you say that the covert while initially there may have been difficulties that it has improved cooperation between members of the EU, and that that is is positive for going forward with whatever policies need to be implemented. Well, as regards the cooperation between EU countries, indeed, I think it's very positive that we were able to reach agreements on major economic stimulus packages at the EU level, and with next generation EU for the first time we are using the approach that this recovery package will be based on common EU borrowing in the financial markets. So, of course, now what is important is implementation so to make sure that member states prepare or how prepared good quality recovery and resilience plans, because our idea is not only to ensure economic recovery, but also use this new fiscal stimulus to facilitate say green and digital transformations of our economy, that's why they are green and digital mainstreaming targets for member states recovery and resilience plans, and also strengthen the resilience of your economy. And that's why as a link with a country specific recommendations within your European semester is very important. Yes, as you had mentioned earlier, this is a huge task that's underway at the moment for the Commission to examine the recovery plans, which member states are submitting at the moment. So I could move Vice President to the strategic partnership agreements. I have a question here from Thomas Conway, a politics and economics student at Trinity College and he asks that the EU launched its EU Africa strategic partnership last year. And to what extent have you Africa trade relations developed since, and is there any prospect for establishing a free trade deal with the African continent free trade area. Okay, so first on EU Africa strategic partnership it's reflected also in our new EU trade policy. We actually in terms of new engagements we identify Africa and EU neighborhood as priority areas for for further engagement. As regards our trade cooperation with Africa, it continues to develop and EU is a main African trading partner so we continue to develop our economic partnership agreements which are regional economic partnership agreements or in some cases we have bilateral negotiations with some African countries. As regards specific is a question of continent to continent negotiations. First of all, we are providing lots of support for this initiative of continental free trade area in Africa, so we are providing both technical and financial and political support to this work and certainly will be willing to negotiate continent to continent free trade area, but we see this more as a longer term perspective. Thank you. Thank you for that. Vice President you were in Porto at the last weekend where you had a virtual meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, and that we see that the New Delhi trade talks are being resuscitated. And I wanted to ask you post Porto discussions where very wide range of issues for these talks were laid out on the table. Are you optimistic about such an agreement. Obviously the geopolitical situation has changed and was different from the earlier talks which were going on for many years but in effect came to nothing. Are you optimistic for these present talks. Yeah, well, first of all, it's a very positive outcome from the EU India summit that leaders confirmed that we are launching our negotiations on deep and comprehensive free trade agreement between you and India. We hope that there is a new momentum now political and also geopolitical momentum and we see more willingness on India's side to engage actively and actually make progress on those negotiations. We actually agreed to launch three negotiations so we start negotiations on free trade agreement. Start negotiations on a separate investment protection agreement, and also start negotiations on agreement on protection of geographical indications. So of course as regards the free trade agreement and investment agreement we see that of course they need to be mutually reinforcing. And so we hope that indeed there is now more positive momentum and willingness to move forward. The outline also to Indian side is that there is to generate this momentum there is also importance that we address market access issues, some of which are long standing market access issues because this will help to create the right political environment for moving forward with those talks. Thank you for that. And coming from Ireland I suppose what we would be also interested in where you see the Mercosur agreement at the moment. As regards EU Mercosur agreement, I would like to underline that in terms of tariff reductions, it's actually the largest free trade agreement EU has ever negotiated. And I'm not mistaking the tariff reductions value was somewhere around 3 billion euros a year, but I'm now kind of quoting this figure from from heart so worth double checking but so there is a large significant significance in this agreement EU would also be the first global partner having trade agreement with Mercosur which is a large and quite protected market so it helps substantial first move advantage. And of course we know that there are concerns related deforestation. Actually I now got the corrections for billion euros in annual tariff reductions. Of course we are aware of the concerns regarding deforestation and environmental record in Mercosur countries that's notably in Brazil. That's why we are now engaging with Mercosur countries on additional competence concerning sustainability concerning respect of Paris agreement and deforestation. And it's clear that to be able to successfully move towards Mercosur ratification we need to address those concerns so the reactions from the Mercosur countries are broadly speaking positive but of course we need to negotiate exact nature of the commitments and its legal form so this is a work which is currently ongoing in parallel with a technical finalization of agreement legal scrubbing and all other things which we need to do. Just a short question on that Vice President would you see it when COVID which is obviously some blocking some developments at the moment would you see these negotiations on Mercosur moving forward fairly swiftly when the COVID worst of COVID is over. Well it's now you know somewhat difficult to say or predict exact pace of those negotiations because the EU Mercosur trade agreement negotiations are concluded. So now in a sense we are coming back and saying okay now we expect some commitments on top of this as regards sustainability. So, as I said, we still need to discuss on Mercosur countries both the scope and exact legal nature of those commitments. So, I cannot now give you exact timeline, it may take some time. But in general, there is acknowledgement from Mercosur countries that these commitments are needed if we are to move forward with successful ratification. Thank you for that. And then just bending back towards quite a specific question on EU steel safeguards and again from the Melix market inside Joanna Sapinski on the EU steel safeguard. Is the EU going to extend the steel safeguard that is expiring on June the 30th as requested by the steel industry. Well, this is something which we are currently investigating so there was a request of number of member states to do this investigation on possible extension of steel safeguards so something which we are currently undertaking and gathering all the necessary inputs all the necessary evidence and will base our decision on our proposal for member states on this on the base of evidence which has been gathered so we had actually a large number of inputs if I'm not mistaken more than six haven't input so now we are doing the assessment. So we expect this decision being somewhere well late may presumably but we cannot now tell exact date so decision is not taken at current stage of course you need to see the interest of steel industry will lead to see also interest of downstream industries and there is one factor which we need to keep in mind which are also currently assessing that if we extend the steel safeguards for longer than three years which would be the case. It means that you is opening itself to retaliation by third countries, because then third countries which are affected by these still safeguards can retaliate imposing additional tariffs on EU goods and some countries which are concerned so the two biggest countries concerned in terms of import values are Turkey and Russia had in a sense made some noises on this potential including in steel sector concerning steel products themselves so we need to do also this evaluation of that economic impact on steel industry or potentially on any other industry because in a sense third countries are free to retaliate in whichever sectors they decide so what is potential impact of this retaliation. Thank you for that very insightful answer and the detail given our director general asks you bringing us closer to home. He asks Michael Collins is asking saying the EU is actively looking the UK is actively looking for new trade deals post Brexit. Do you see that the UK has any extra advantages in these negotiations and not being a member of the EU. Well, in a sense, that's exactly the reason why UK now has to actively look for a new trade deals because as a member of the EU and member of the Customs Union. The EU was covered by EU free trade agreements and you have a best network of free trade agreements in the world. So what you case now seeking in a sense is to the extent possible replicates this network of free trade agreements it comes from the very nature of decision of leaving not only is the EU but also the Customs Union. So I don't think there's any like major advantage because from the EU side we have the most comprehensive network of free trade agreements in the world and currently it's not available to the UK so UK needs in a sense to replicate as much as you can. Thank you. And Vice President just a last question then on on the huge area of the WTO and the reform in your trade policy review and in discussions. You laid great emphasis on the EU determination to bring about reform of the WTO. What are you proposing in that regard with the with the WTO to strengthen the WTO because of course huge areas outside the trade agreements that the EU has are actually dealt in the through WTO rules. So what do you feel just finally is necessary to bring about with the WTO. Yeah well as regards WTO reform indeed our new trade policy strategy was accompanied by detailed WTO reform proposal and we think that we need reform pretty much in all branches of the WTO work so as regards negotiating function as regards monitoring and deliver deliberation and also as regards dispute settlement probably restoration of the functioning of the dispute settlement body would be the most urgent issue, but we also more broadly need to bring the rule book of WTO so to say into 21st century. So that it's able to respond to the current challenges including the green and digital transformation of the economy, and it's also better able to respond to some new or not so new already economic developments and shifts coming. For example, from a social economic model of China, because current WTO rule book is not very well, well, it's not very good at addressing these kind of challenges. So it's actually quite a comprehensive reform which we are proposing. And we believe that we know how a good momentum for this was a new WTO director general with a new administration in the US that we could really move forward and so to say bring the WTO rule book into the 21st century. Thank you. And a very final question and I will put it because it relates to Latvia. And it's a question from our Dara Moriarti who's a student of political economy. And he's asking you with coming from an Eastern expansion member state. What are your thoughts about the Eastern states and how they have fitted in into the whole European scene and whether the external incentive model for building a common EU identity works well and does your portfolio have a role in building a broader collective identity. Yeah, well, as regards EU enlargement and how it has worked, I would say, all in all it has worked remarkably well. It has seen a strong degree of convergence of GDP per capita between as a well, so to say old EU member states and new EU member states of course this process of convergence is still ongoing it's important that it continues to be supported at the EU level and it's definitely the case both in the next multi-annual financial framework and also it was reflected when we were designing the EU economic recovery plan. So, economically, I would say that Central Eastern European countries managed to integrate quite well, and also EU is also EU is actually quite appreciated among the citizens and the support for EU is quite high. I would say across the Central Eastern European countries and also trust for EU institutions and for Euro, for example, is quite high. So, all in all, those are positive developments of course it's not without its challenges and its problems and there is a constant work to address them, but I think economically it was very important and I think for many Central Eastern countries, including for Latvia, it was also strategic choice. Where do you want to belong? Do you want to belong to the western democratic world or somewhere in a grey zone between EU and Russia? And I would say that Central Eastern Europe's answer to this was very clear. Yes, thank you. Vice President, if I could just trust us on your patience for one more question, which has come from YouTube and from the Irish Times. And it's, have you any message for the DUP and leadership candidates and those who oppose the Northern Ireland protocol? I started earlier. Any message that you would leave with us on the Northern Ireland protocol for those in Northern Ireland? Well, something which I said already in the introductory remarks that we are from the EU side very committed to the successful implementation of Northern Ireland protocol and ensuring that there is no hard border in the Northern Ireland of Ireland and we will continue to ensure this and of course it requires joint effort of the EU and the UK for this to function smoothly. So Vice President, thank you very much indeed. We greatly appreciate the attention you have devoted to your initial remarks and also for answering the question so comprehensively and in such an informative manner. We wish you well in your very wide portfolio, and I think you can be assured certainly of the support of the Institute and we do hope that we will see you in person sometime in the not too distant future. But in the meantime, thank you most sincerely for joining us. And we wish you well. Thank you. Bye bye.


Hi, my name is Vivek Bhargava. I'm a co-founder of a SaaS platform on consumer intelligence called Profit Wheel. Agile marketing is exactly what a platform does. So the panel today was amazing because we are able to give real-time insights about what your professional customers look like. Based on that, you can take decisions on media buying, on interest selection, on creative strategy. And our whole discussion in the panel was about how real-time insights which are actionable can help in agile marketing. So I think there's a very perfect topic in raise age in generative AI. I think taking creative and mapping it to what's happening right now and acting with agility can really transform brands. So that's exactly what our platform does. And this topic and the conference was exactly on that. It was a wonderful experience. We were a lot of panelists. But every single view was so amazing. I'm going to take a lot of takeaways from this conference by evening. It was awesome to attend it.


As y'all can see right here We may have a classic storyline on our hands Obviously I can't play the audio because of the copyrighted music but as CM Punk made his return Seth Rollins was irate Giving him the middle finger had to have multiple people Hold him back and you can see CM Punk just casually not concerned not worried about it just you know waving them off and This is something that It's gonna have the wrestling world talking about even more Then just seeing punk coming back is is this real? Is this a work or is this a shoot? And I think it's a combination of both because we both what we all know CM Punk and Seth Rollins. They have issues with each other and Seth Rollins does not like CM Punk So this could literally be a combination of a work shoot and I'm here for it Plus there have been other reports Talking about that not many people knew that CM Punk was gonna be here Will show up at Survivor Series tonight and I think this may play into that the fact that Seth Rollins is giving a genuine reaction to not knowing this was about to happen Was good y'all she boy Ross back again with another video. I had to show y'all that clip man because Yo, things are about to heat up in WWE Now I want to give my thoughts and opinions and talk about where they could take this Seth Rollins CM Punk few going forward But we got to get into this particular Tweet from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful and we're gonna get right into it It's gonna play into what I was talking about just previously when people not really knowing exactly That CM Punk was gonna make his return. Here's the tweet right here Here are the details we have as of now CM Punk told at least one person close to him He had an hour-long conversation with Triple H last week WWE staff reps and creative had no idea He walked through the back in a in plain sight minutes before he appeared They had cleared an area out Triple H took over calling the show in the last couple minutes and called for the copyright logo even many in production Didn't know Now the reason why I bring that up because then that would make sense on why Seth Rollins had that reaction One it does fit his character because he does not like him and two it makes sense why he would have that such harsh reaction This wasn't he was legitimately telling him to go f off and it worked And I'm sure that it plays out even more in a sense where this wasn't shown on TV This is only shown by camera footage from people that were at the show. So You can spread that on social media and now the fans are creating the story itself And it works and if you guys watch the press conference Triple H said in himself This was a recent thing. This really just happened the rumors have been there But this really nothing was set in stone and I do believe him. This was a recent thing They finally had a conversation They finally was able to meet make things work out and it happened and it's good that not many people knew It's good that he didn't tell production He's good that he didn't tell none of the other wrestlers because moments like this. You don't tell nobody There's certain moments in wrestling that you you hold it to your chest you don't tell people about it because it gives that authentic reaction and Everyone at that point is like damn. We didn't even know and we work here and Seeing Seth Rollins reaction, that's why I say it could be a work shoot You know, maybe you know, maybe he did tell some people who knows But it works because at the end of the day if it is playing Triple H knows people are gonna post this on social media and stuff They're not gonna get in trouble for it because WWE didn't you know record him given the middle finger, but I like it because it gives some realism and People that's posting on social media They're gonna extend the story in feud now because other people are gonna see that are all week We got to see why we got to see what's going on with Seth Rollins like he really looked like he was upset It's reminding me of the Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins feud how They blurred the lines of what's real and what's not That feud was so good because you knew they legitimately didn't like each other And this is another situation where nothing has been set in stone But we may be seeing potentially Sam punk's first feud we don't know But the seeds have been planted and this may be just an unintentional thing But the fans have planted the seeds by just his reaction Or you can say Seth Rollins planted the seeds with his reaction either way this works I've always said Wrestling works its best when you don't know if it's real or not when you don't know if it's a work or not This is good. I know some people would say maybe wait till WrestleMania season to build up this feud and that's something they could possibly do but at the same time They can also Start teasing and building towards and we got the first instance of that of Seth Rollins Legitimately it looked like wanting to square up with CM Punk So it's gonna be very interesting to see if CM Punk even mentions that it's gonna be very interesting to see if Seth Rollins even mentions that I think they may build up to that point and it's gonna get to that point where they finally have some type of running So probably maybe closer to a royal rumble time, but if they don't This could be his first uh First little feud once again, I think that's a WrestleMania match that you know Should happen at WrestleMania in my personal opinion, but they can start planting the seeds This is good This is fantastic And if Triple H didn't plan for this to happen It still worked in his favor and he still unintentionally cooked up A intriguing matchup that a lot of fans are going to want to see because you know the promo battles Back and forth are about to be Great This is good This is fantastic and I cannot wait to see how things play out So y'all comment down below. Let me know. Do y'all feel like this is a work Do y'all feel like it's a shoot with how Seth Rollins reacted Also, do y'all feel like that Triple H and CM Punk were really the only Feud that knew about the situation do y'all feel like it's a big work And they kind of planned this all out in a sense where a lot of people may be new more Then we expect let me know and are y'all excited to potentially see This great feud between Seth Rollins And CM Punk and when do y'all think they should start building towards this feud do they do they started now Like do they actually go at each other now or do they wait and build it up? Towards WrestleMania season. When should they start their feud because you know what's gonna happen y'all Let me know down below, but I appreciate all of the support you guys shown on the channel road to 150k I'm still in speedy youtube wrestling champion the world. Appreciate y'all kicking me see y'all next one. Peace


Hello, everyone, and welcome. This is Melissa Arma with Stock Swoosh, and I'm here today reviewing the QQQs. I had called a really nice option trade a couple days ago, Thursday morning, actually, before the open. Was on the 8th. Here, the market gapped up in the QQQs, and I called the 170 calls to buy the Qs out to the end of the month, which really gives a very long time. And we almost reached the strike into the close on Thursday. And then we gapped up over the strike. Remember, it was 170, open at 171.10, and immediately was up quite a lot in here, and ran up, now it's more than $3 over the strike, 173.16. And there's weeks left in this, and I think that's one of the things that's so nice about this trade. Obviously, if you did this trade, you were up a lot on Friday. You could be out of it, but the market looks higher. And 175 is the next target here for this. When we hit it, I don't know. I mean, it could be in the next week. It could take more than that. But it's definitely going to hit 175. And I really like the fact that the Qs are stronger right now than the spy, and this has moved over the high. It's going to get to the number a lot quicker. But it was a really nice call. And just to give you an example of the price of something, the cost of something, if you had paid $2, for example, for one contract, which would have been $200, or if you had paid $2, which would have been $2,000, for 10 contracts, or 1,000 shares of the Qs on this day. And you would be up. You would be up actually really, really nicely here into the close. And this is, if you would have gotten out of it, it would have been worth more than four. So you would have had more than 100% return on investment within 24 hours. And in an option trade, that's fantastic. It's just absolutely fantastic. So I think a lot of people out there didn't really realize how quickly the market would make the turnaround. But we did. I just want to review here the fact that we had this drop-off day. Remember this, and everyone panicked in the world. And so we're going to fall off a cliff. People were talking about a correction. I really don't talk like that. I really do not. We just fell. So we fell. And I don't talk about percentages. And I don't use percentages. And that's not part of anything that I do or teach. But anyways, we fell hard in here. And then it was a wait and see to see how we react. Because you really don't know if we're going to continue to drop or not. This bounce in here didn't have any meaning to me at all. And then we rallied up here. But this was the turnaround day. Really for me in the market, it was Valentine's Day. And we held in this, even when we dropped off in here. And the cues were stronger than any of the other ETFs right now, which is very interesting. And here you have a great chart. I mean, you just have a fantastic chart here. It was a brick. Here you see the whole thing. I mean, we're just up, up, up. So we retested the day on the 200-period moving average and took off like a rocket. And we have not looked back. And we made a new high on Friday. It was a great call that I made. And again, how do you make money in the market? You make money in the market by being able to see where somebody's going to go and taking the train before it does it, whether it's up or down. If you see that somebody's going to move higher, then you get in the stock or the market long before the move higher happens. If you see that something is lower, then you short the stock or the ETF before the drop off and the selling comes in. So that is really the easiest way to make money and the best way to make money. It's just that most people cannot predict where somebody's going to go or in what time frame. Very good at not only predicting where somebody's going to go, but even seeing that it's going to happen within the time that I'm predicting it, whether it's in the live day in a few minutes for a target on the day trade, or whether it's in an option trade that I call out in a week or sometimes several weeks like this one was, that I can see it's going to hit a number or go through the number and beyond. So next target for this is 175. Who knows when to get there. Beautiful move in the queues, queues. And the people that are in it that did do this and got out of it Friday, there was perfectly fine. They're up a lot of money, although this really does actually still look higher and was up a little bit here in the post market. It looks like Friday night, 173.25. So we'll see what happens this coming week. Congratulations to everyone that did the trade. If you're interested in signing up for my Golden Gap course, I'm offering a special through tomorrow, Sunday, Sunday, March 11th. If you sign up for the Golden Gap class for the end of March for 24th and 25th, you would receive the options that are free to the end of this calendar year, 2018. Class of class is $5,499. If you want to sign up for the option letter separately, it's an annual subscription. It's one year, whenever you sign up.  So congratulations to everyone and it's been so far, really a very good 2018. I'll just keep it up. I'm in a groove here and I will continue to stay focused. Thanks everyone for watching.


President of the United States. Thank you very much. Good afternoon and welcome to the White House. And greetings to Milio Crye, Executive Director of the American Legion, to General Thomas Turnage, our VA Administrator, to the Director of Boys Nation, Marty Justice, President Gregory Orman of Minnesota, and to your new Vice President, Patrick Ungershake of Missouri, and to a Boys Nation institution, Casey Casey on... By the way, does he still play Reveley on the trombone?  For a few years, we allowed our leaders to forget what a great and creative people we Americans are. And today, as I've said before, on a number of occasions, today America is back. And the future rests not in big, impersonal forces, but with us in our own choices and actions as a people. In all the long history of mankind, no nation has ever afforded its people greater liberty and demanded more for its very survival upon their own diligence than our own. And you, young gentlemen, in this land of the free, you only have to reach for greatness to attain it. There was a Frenchman more than a century ago who came to this country already abroad. They had seen the great progress that this young nation was making. And he came here and he went back. His name was de Tocqueville. And he wrote a book called Democracy in America. There's one line in that that I guess has been quoted more than any author's ever had a line quoted. Because he said that he had searched for the greatness of America when he was here. He'd looked at our teeming harbors. He'd looked at our great manufacturing, our farms, and our cities. And he said he did not find the secret of our greatness. He said it wasn't until he went into the churches of America that he found the answer. Pulpots aflame with righteousness. He said America is great because America is good. And if America ever stops being good, America will stop being great.  I just welcomed the opportunity and thought, I know I've only got a few minutes out here, but I thought that maybe some of you must have at some time or other said, if I had a chance, I'd like to ask him. And you have a chance. There's a microphone right here in front and somebody has a question that they like answered. All right. I ought to be able to do some tricks or something while they're getting to the microphone. Senator Scott Whitaker of Colorado. I happen to believe personally that our continued research and technology and progress are one of our greatest resources. And I realize that at this time that we're pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative program. However, I also realize that these sudden Soviet bargaining and attempts to reach an agreement usually involve a sacrifice in that program. And it seems to be our biggest bargaining chip. And I don't know if that's their motivation out of fear of what we already know or what is to come. I'm wondering how much are we willing to sacrifice in that program to reach an agreement? Well, I would never let it become a bargaining chip in the sense of that if they would do something we'd give it up and not go forward. Let me just put it as simply as I can and you'll understand there are a lot of details that at the moment with negotiations to come and so forth that I don't feel free to say. But I have made it plain from the very beginning that I believe this concept of a defense plan where today our only defense is deterrence.  Well, that's not very sensible for the world sitting, both of us sitting here saying we'll destroy the world. So my feeling about the strategic defense is that if and when our research reveals there is such a credible weapon or a defensive system that is when we should step forth to the world and say that we would be willing to use that to get nuclear weapons eliminated completely in the world we would not monopolize and use it to give ourselves a first strike capability. We would want it to be the cause for eliminating nuclear weapons once and for all. Good afternoon, Mr. President. I'm Mario Mankusa from the state of New York and I feel through meteor exposure we tend to get a one-dimensional view of Mikhail Gorbachev. My question is, Mr. President, what about Mikhail Gorbachev is real in your meetings with him? I think that he, of course, has been raised in all of his entire life in that system. I think he's dedicated to the system, believes in their system, but I think also that he is a modern man in contrast to some that we have dealt with there in times past. He realizes that there are great economic problems and I believe that he can be dealt with, that he knows that there must be some changes if he is to resolve some of the problems that are besetting them. And what our great hope is with regard to arms reduction and he is the first Russian leader that I know of who has ever proposed the actual elimination of some of their own nuclear weapons, that he believes that for the sake of their economy that it might be in their own interest and practical for them to join in reducing these great stores of arms and ending an arms race which is so costly to them that it has been the principal cause of their economic problems. But I found him well completely different than others that I had dealt with. For example, I could just tell one little incident. We were under the impression that if we could come back from the Geneva summit just with an agreement to have another summit meeting that the meeting would have been a success. And on the very first day, just he and I talking and he mentioned something that he wished that I could see in Russia. And I said, we've got a lot of things. I wish you could see. I said, why don't we agree right now that the next summit in 1986 will be in the United States? You've never been there. And he smilingly said yes and you've never seen in Russia and in 87 we'll have the third one in the Soviet Union. Our people couldn't believe that it was settled that easily. So I do think that I realize he's also got problems though. He's just as I have. He's not all alone and able to say this is what we're going to do and have everyone in his government there agree with him. I think he gets some arguments now and then. So, yes. Senator Cook from North Carolina. Yes, Mr. President. What exactly does tax reform mean to us since there's been so much talk about tax reform? What does tax reform mean to you? I think it means a great deal for your future. You'll remember my predecessor once called the income tax system the greatest disgrace in our country. Here is a law that was passed 1913 put in the Constitution only 16 words and it now takes a shelf 57 feet long to hold all the tax regulations and rules of the internal revenue code. And that's why we've not only needed a tax code that is fair but a tax code that is also simpler so that most people that they don't have to hire legal advice to help them make out the tax. It's the only fiduciary thing that you will have facing you in your life or has been under the present system in which someone tells you that you have to figure out how much you owe and even their own employees don't know the rules and regulations enough to help you. If you make a mistake in how much you owe you got to pay a penalty of fine and maybe interest in order to square yourself and so what we're coming up with is a tax program that gets back to the beginning in which the rates were very low put the rates down low and to do that then eliminate many of the numerous loopholes that were put in the law because the tax had become so unjust and so high that people lowering the rates they'd put in other loopholes and say well if you spend money on this you don't have to pay tax on this and what we created were what we call some loopholes in which certain people and even businesses could figure out ways to avoid paying any tax or much tax at all that won't be true in this new tax system when it's adopted and the rates will be low and it will be fair. A million people at the lowest end of the earning scale will be dropped from the tax rolls completely. Come on. Mr. President and Christopher Tass from Michigan, we see drugs becoming a great threat to our nation. What can we do to oppose this threat? Now, who becoming? Drugs, excuse me, drugs. Oh! We see drugs becoming a great threat to our nation. What can we do? That they believe that drugs are the number one problem in the United States. They put it above nuclear war or the desire for peace or unemployment or anything else several times more than that. Seventy-one percent of the people said our greatest problem today is drugs. I can tell you now you know I'm sure that my wife Nancy has been out in front in the in what I think is going to have to be the answer. We can do everything for enforcement that's possible to try and intercept the drugs and keep them from coming in to be sold. But with a country like ours and borders as great as ours and the sea coasts and all, there's no way no matter what effort we do that we can totally shut off the supply of drugs to those who want them. So the real answer is going to have to be let's turn the customers off. Let's persuade the customers to abandon the drugs. And as a matter of fact right now are in the midst of talking a plan there's a great deal going on and as you know the organization is nationwide now among young people and children of Just Say No and that came out of an answer to a question that Nancy gave in Oakland, California speaking to young people like yourselves and someone had asked a question about what could they do and she said Just Say No. Well now there's a nationwide organization that's going to call Just Say No but we are right now planning a nationwide effort to go at this program mainly from the we'll continue the effort to cut them off the drugs. But to go at this from the standpoint of persuading you that it is in your best interest that Just Say No the drugs. Mr. President I'm afraid we have time for only one more question. One more question right there. Sorry, you can see I'm not really the boss around here I think. Thank you Mr. President. I'm Robert Tarkov from the Great State of California and I'd like to ask you about the recent POW MIA controversy. Do you feel in your opinion that the Southeast Asian governments are making an honest effort to find any remaining living POWs that we may have there from the Vietnam War? I have to tell you that I believe they've come further than they ever have and we have had meetings with the Vietnam government now about this and apparently there is better cooperation than we've ever had but we at the same time are making every effort that we can when there is a report as you so often get that someone says they've seen someone or they've seen prisoners here or there. We still go out of our way to track those down and find out the truth about it and we're going to continue everything that we can do not only in meeting with them but in this same thing to track down and find it get the final story on the missing inaction of the former POWs. This isn't the first war where this has happened the other wars in the past as some of the gentlemen who sponsored this thing that brings you to Washington there have well that's why we have graves to the unknown soldier that have never been identified in our past wars but it is true that there has been they were refusing to give us information and more and more they have at least been providing us with the information on the missing and those that can be identified as dead but we're still going to keep on in the event so far we have never been able to track down evidence when reports have been made of actual remaining living POWs still held there but when we we're tracking down every lead that we get to be sure that that is so and if there are some left we'll do whatever is necessary to bring them back I'm sorry that I can't take some more here I shouldn't have talked so long at first but I want to again I've been familiar with this particular program for a long time I'm grateful the American Legion for sponsoring it and I hope that you found it productive and haven't been too bewildered here in the Puzzle Palaces on the Potomac sometimes those of us who are here all the time get a little bewildered but there are a lot of people trying very hard to make things right God bless all of you thank you for being here Mr. President on behalf of boys of the nation 1986 we'd like to present you with our legislative action these are bills or proposals that have appeared before our senate I hope that you can benefit from these and see the views and the concerns of American youth today and on a more personal note I'd like to thank you for a truly excellent job done in office and tell you that the hearts of the youth of America are behind you thank you thank you all very much I will look at these with great interest just a week or so ago I was reading those resolutions that have been passed by girls nation and I look forward to this and I should get something like this from Congress thank you all


What's up people? My name is Dapo Willis. Now guys, this whole quarantine thing is driving everybody insane. So I decided to put together a series called the Quarantine Series, right? How to make money from your homes while everybody is stuck indoors. That's exactly what the series is going to be about. Now guys, I understand everybody is frustrated. Like I was going through my Twitter timeline and people are getting laid off. Guys, you have to understand something, right? Companies cannot do business, right? Everybody's stuck in their houses. A lot of these companies require physical transactions to make money. So if they're not making money, if they're not making a revenue, they don't have money to pay people. They don't have money to pay people. People are getting laid off. Guys, from what I'm seeing in the US economy, the jobless numbers are going to hit as much as 30 million. This is unprecedented. It has never happened in the history of the US economy. Now the US economy is one of the most equipped and one of the most sophisticated and one of the most developed economies in the world. Now you can imagine if the US economy is going to hit as hard as 30 million jobless people, you can imagine what's going to happen to the rest of the world. Now guys, I don't want you guys to panic because as long as you follow me on YouTube, Instagram, whatever, as long as you consume my content, I'm going to be showing you guys avenues as to how you can make money from your homes. So I don't bring you panic. I don't bring you stress. I don't bring you worry. I don't bring you fear. You have nothing to worry about. What I bring to you today is strategy. I'm bringing to you strategies in which you can make money from your homes. All right guys. So that's exactly what I'm going to be talking about in this video. All right guys. So the first way you can make a lot of money. Well, I won't say a lot of money, but the first way you can go about making money during this whole quarantine shutdown is known as trading the market. Now guys, as all most of you know me, I'm predominantly an FX trader. Like I've been trading the FX market for years now, for about nine years now. And one thing I did realize is the fact that the market is still moving. You have to understand that there's a lot of money in the market. Traders as much as they cannot go to the New York Stock Exchange to trade, they're still trading from their homes, from their laptop, from their laptop. They can literally still trade from their homes. So guys, as long as traders are trading, as long as there's money going in and out of the market, the market is still moving. And guys, you can literally use it to your advantage. If you do not know how to trade, I suggest you either hit me up on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel. I'm always teaching people how to trade on all my social media platforms. So guys, the first way you can go about it is trading the market and guys, more than ever, the market is providing us opportunities. You have to understand that the S&P 500, which is basically the health, so the S&P 500 is the number one index in the US economy. So it is an average of the top 500 US stocks. Now, anytime any bad news hits the US economy, anytime any bad news, be it the US and Iran going to war, once there's instability in the world, in the global economy, the first market to get hit is known as the S&P 500. So guys, what I have been literally doing recently is I've just been going on the US stock market and I've been shorting the S&P 500 and I've been making a lot of money because you have to understand that as traders, we make money when the market goes up and we also make money when the market is coming down. So we are literally immune to this whole coronavirus thing. Now guys, I'm not trying to be insensitive about this. All I'm trying to say is if indeed a recession comes, all my dear traders, all my followers, you have nothing to worry about because I'm going to be showing you guys trading opportunities, trading opportunities that you can take advantage of and you can use these opportunities to make a lot of money for yourself. So the economy going up, we're making money, the economy coming down, we're still making a lot of money. Like I said earlier guys, follow me on, I think YouTube is the best way for you guys to know about more trading content from my channel. YouTube is the best place for you guys to find out more about trading when it comes to my analysis and how I'm educating people. Facebook not so much, Instagram not so much. So wherever it is you watch this content on, I suggest you head over to my YouTube channel if you want to take advantage of the market moves that are happening right about now. Guys, a lot of money is being transferred in the market now and I'm making an absolute killing. Literally the dollar is weakening, the American stock market is weakening. All you need to do is literally come in the market, look for an area, a nice area to short sell the market and you make a lot of money in the market. All right guys, so the second way you can go about making a lot of money during this whole quarantine season is coming from the internet and providing value. A lot of you guys are good at so many things. I always say this thing every single time I'm talking about side gigs and making money online. Come on the internet and provide value. Like what I'm doing right now is I'm providing value, right? Whatever thing it is you're good at. I'm a specialist in FX trading. I'm a specialist in online marketing. I'm a specialist in business in general. So I come on here and I provide value to you guys talking about how you guys can move ahead with your life in the business world. Same thing for you as well. You can be good at whatever it is. You can be good at freaking making potato buns. I sampled this example in one of my previous videos. Anything it is you guys, anything you can do, you can dance, you can cook, you can animate, you can you know, whatever thing it is you're good at.  Guys, the good thing about this whole coronavirus thing is that a lot of people because a lot of people are indoors. The emission numbers have drastically reduced. There's not a lot of carbon monoxide in the air. So nature is coming out to breathe. The trees are breathing. The birds are breathing. Like literally the emission has reduced by 30%. So this whole sorry, I'm digressing a little bit. So this whole coronavirus thing might just work to our advantage because I think this is just the this is just a way of the world just saying hey guys, you guys just need to stay indoors. I need to reset. I need to catch my breath. There's too much smoke going on everywhere. I just need to catch my breath. Literally the birds have been chirping. They're so happy. They're so excited because everybody is indoors. Anyways, back to what I was saying. Now, guys, so come online, provide knowledge, provide value and people will pay for this. You have to understand that people are stuck at home. They're born more than ever. In fact, personally, I'm going to be releasing video content twice a day because a lot of people are stuck at home. They're bored. They want to learn new stuff. Now they can pay attention to whatever value you have to offer. And do you know what you do when you provide value, you provide value, you provide value. What do you do next? People start to pay you for your value. So now is the best time for online consultants to make a lot of money. Guys, if you know how much I'm making from all these courses, you will not even believe it. It's the truth because I'm providing like the courses that I put out, you can ask all my students, I like I throw out a lot of value. I'm constantly pumping out value. And if you're good at anything, now is the best time to put your skills out there. Guys, you need to understand that so many kids are stuck at home.   And then you can charge people, even if it's $1, $5, $10, $15 bucks. If you have 100 people on your service, that's a lot of money right there. So guys, do yourself a favor, do yourself a favor and ensure that you're providing value on the internet and people will reward you for your service. So guys, the third way you can go about making a lot of money during this whole current time period, during this whole current time season is by applying for customer service roles. Now, guys, you have to understand something, right? Businesses are getting bombarded with more phone calls than ever. Netflix, One Remit, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, all these companies are getting bombarded with phone calls more than ever. Why? Because a lot of people are putting pressure on their services, their networks are breaking down, especially technological companies. So now more than ever, they need customer service reps. What you can do is go on Upwork.com and type up customer service roles and everything is going to pop up www.upwork.com and apply for customer service roles. Guys, all you need is freaking internet connection, just be able to speak fluent English. It doesn't need to be in English because there are a lot of Spanish and French and Russian people, wherever it is you're watching this thing from, look within your locality. There are a lot of technological companies that need customer service representatives to help them. You can do this from your home because all you need is your laptop, some freaking internet connectivity and your earphones connected up, apply to these roles and they will give you a job. Guys, they're paying as much as $15 an hour.  Now guys, customer service reps are in such high demand now. It is absolutely unbelievable. All right guys, so the fourth way you can go about making a lot of money during this whole quarantine period, during this quarantine season is something called freelancing. Now guys, you have to understand that online businesses are still popping. We are still making a lot of sales. I'm still making lots of, every day I wake up to a lot of sales. And for the fact that online businesses are still moving and that they're still working, it means that online businesses still require support. So as a freelancer, you can still work. Like this video is going to get edited, but my video editor, who's a freelancer, she lives in Kenya, shout out to you Ruth. Okay, she's still making a lot of money because I'm still working. Online businesses are still working. Podcasts are still working. If you're a graphic designer, my graphic designer is going to design the thumbnail for this video. He's still getting paid. So if you're a freelancer, now is the best time to put your skills out there. Go on Upward.com. Go on Fiverr.com. Online businesses still require support. So as a freelancer, now is the best time to apply because, guys, you're still going to get employed. All right guys, so do not worry about anything. Just try. Just put yourself out there. Go on Upward. Apply to those jobs. Guys, you have to understand that this is the only, only opportunity you have. Jobs, literally, chances are that, the reason I'm saying this is that chances are that after this whole quarantine thing is over, we're most likely going to go into a recession period, guys. We're definitely going to go into a recession period. And a lot of people are going to get laid off from their jobs. So guys, why don't you look for an online job?   And then this is exactly how you can create an extra source of income for yourself. So Upward.com, Fiverr.com, a very decent way to make money online. Now, guys, the last but not the least is selling online. Okay, so guys, selling online, be it an e-com store, whatever thing it is you're selling online, you have to understand that people are stuck at home. People are bored. People are buying. Some people still have a lot of money for a lot of... You have to understand that there's still money in the system. Just because people are not going out doesn't mean there's no money. People still have money in their bank accounts. Donald Trump is about to release two trillion dollars to the US economy. There's only so much food people can buy. So people are still buying stuff online. So I challenge you guys, go ahead, create an e-com store and sell essential items on your e-com store. I'm seeing people already taking the initiative, right? Trendy face masks, tripod stand, things that people are going to need at home. Toys for kids, okay? Things that people are going to need at home. Sanitizers, face, trendy face masks, all this kind of cool stuff that people are going to need at home.  This is what you need to really think. Look for things that people are going to need at home, okay? Build the e-com store, list your products on there, list your products on there, run some Facebook ads to it and then this is exactly how you make a lot of money during this whole current time period. So guys, I'm just going to quickly run over this. So guys, the first way, like I said earlier, is trading the markets. Come on here, look for tradable opportunities. Second way is providing value, providing knowledge like I stated earlier. The third way is becoming a customer service representative. A lot of companies are looking for people to help them handle their queries. Guys, literally for the past five days, my money has gotten stuck in world remit, right? So I've been trying to send money to a different part of the world and I've been trying to get in touch with world remit. Where is my money? Where is my money?  This is what they say. Because of COVID-19, we don't have that many customer service reps. So you just have to wait in line. Guys, they need customer service reps more than ever, okay? So apply to all these companies, all these companies that need customer service reps and they will hire you. So guys, that's the third way you can go about making money online actually. Yeah, third way. So the fourth way is freelancing like I stated earlier and the fifth way is selling essential items online.  Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel but I just wanted to show you guys something, right? Do not be scared, okay? Do not panic. Do not be scared, do not be panicked. For as long as you know me, right? For as long as you consume my content, I am here for you. I will continue to provide you guys waste and avenues that you can explore and the ways and avenues you can explore to make money online. Do not worry about your mortgage, don't worry about your rent. I will be helping you and showing you strategies that you can still use to make money during this quarantine period. Alright guys, stay safe, don't forget to use your sanitizer and I love you guys very much. Guys, I'll catch you in my subsequent videos and peace out. Adios.


Well, we got some news that was, um, I guess you could say unexpected, uh, Bernie Sanders after previously definitely saying he's not going to run for president again is reportedly not ruling out a run in 2024, assuming Biden does not seek a second term. So as Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post explains, Senator Bernie Sanders is open to running for president in 2024 if president Biden declines to seek reelection according to a campaign memo, a top political advisor distributed to allies on Wednesday that was shared with the Washington Post. In the event of an open 2024 Democratic presidential primary, Senator Sanders has not ruled out another run for president. So we advise that you answer any questions about 2024 with that in mind, says the memo from Fah Shakir, a close Sanders advisor who was his campaign manager when he ran in 2020. The memo was shared by a person with direct knowledge of his contents on the condition of anonymity because it was not released publicly and confirmed to buy a second person with direct knowledge of the contents. Shakir did not immediately respond to a request for comment while it's frustrating this private memo leaked to the media. The central fact remains true, which is that Senator Sanders is the most popular office holder in the country, said Sandra spokesman Mike Casca when asked for comment. Casca and the memo based that assertion on a recent poll. So my understanding is this is a memo that they send out a questionnaire rather than they send out to candidates who are potential endorsement prospects. And one of the questions is, well, if we endorse you would you endorse us in the event Bernie runs in 2024. Now, of course, there's a huge caveat here. This will all hinge on what Biden chooses to do. If he chooses to run in 2024, then the nomination is his. I mean, you can technically wage a campaign, a primary campaign against a sitting president. But primary campaigns against incumbent presidents are very, very difficult to pull off. And it's almost a waste of time.  They shouldn't just automatically have the nomination of their party again. But the reality is that it would be difficult to pull off. So if Biden says I'm running again, then that will basically close the door to Bernie 2024. But it's not a foregone conclusion that Biden will in fact run again. Now, there are reports suggesting that he's telling allies he fully intends on running. But 2024 is still a couple of years away and a lot can change between now and then. So before I talk about whether or not I think this is a good idea for Bernie Sanders to run again, let me just say in the event Biden were to run again, what specifically would he run on? I mean, in 2022, they're grasping at things to boast about. I mean, the good things that they were previously bragging about, which were objectively good. The child tax credit, the $1,400 checks, which were supposed to be 2,000, but were helpful nonetheless. Those are things that have come and gone. The child tax credit expired. So what exactly are you going to pitch to voters? Why should they come out and vote for you? How are you going to galvanize young people? And the answer is I don't think he can. I mean, Biden has proven that the centrist way, the third way has failed. Now, the thought I'm assuming from the Democratic Party was that look, we have to be more moderate because that's how we win. Because if we're too liberal, if we're too woke to socialist, then the Republican Party is going to attack us and call us communist. Now, Biden in no way, shape or form has governed as a lefty. But what are Republicans calling him? A communist and predictably so. So this whole strategy of trying to appeal to Republicans trying to build bridges and extend all of branches to your political opposition. It has been a demonstrable failure. Biden's approval rating currently has still not rebounded. And his approval rating was at 33 percent, according to at least one pollster. Now, this is a reputable pollster. It's Quinnipiac and it seems to be an outlier. But still, that should be startling to the Biden administration, nonetheless, because that's almost that like George W. Bush levels when he was leaving office after the Iraq War.  It's been a palpable momentum killer. So what are you going to do? You're going to bring forward some Gen X version of Joe Biden. People to judge or Kamala Harris and say, oh, well, we're going to do the same thing. I mean, I don't even know what Biden is fighting for. He ran on a public option isn't even fighting for that. His signature agenda build back better. It seems like the left fought for it more than Biden fought for it, even though that's not what the left wanted. They wanted to expand or Biden's plan was to expand Medicare. The left wanted Medicare for all. They fought for his agenda more than he did. And he didn't even get that accomplished because he couldn't bring people like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Simba to the table. And perhaps, you know, there would have been no way to get them to play ball. You could use the carrot or the stick approach. I've talked about strategies that he could implement that he chose to not deploy. But even if he failed, that's when you break out the pen. Where's my pen? It's good for visual aid. You break out the pen, you start signing executive orders. He still hasn't done that. So what have you done? And so the answer is he hasn't done enough. He's failed. He's proven us lefties right. So the question is, who's next? Who's going to be the person to carry Bernie Sanders mantle? And I've thought about this now for two years, and the answer is no one. The answer is no one. There's just nobody with the experience and political savviness that Bernie Sanders have has. I mean, they're members of the squad who are potential presidential prospects. But the problem is that I don't want someone to just run because they have good policy ideas. That's certainly important, of course. But in addition to policy ideas, you need to know how to accomplish that agenda. You need to have experience as a lawmaker. And Bernie is the only one with the knowledge and somebody who I think would actually fight, even if things don't look good. So when it comes to this question of should Bernie Sanders run for a third time? If you asked me at the end of his campaign in 2020, my answer was a definite no because I can't take the heartbreak again. I can't take getting my hopes up and thinking that maybe this country would go in a better direction and then seeing my dreams crushed before my very eyes. Like, I can't stomach that again. But with time after sitting on it, I can't stomach the perpetual dread that I feel knowing that this country will never change at the current trajectory that it's headed on. If we have Pete with a judge in power, Kamala Harris in power, nothing fundamentally changes. We're going to continue to go back and forth. GOP, Democrat, GOP, Democrat, I've explained this cycle before. It's a death spiral where, you know, after Americans remember how terrible and psychopathic this death cult known as the Republican Party is, they vote for Democrats once again. But then once they realize how incompetent and factless Democrats are, well, they get demoralized and they stay home, Republicans win again. And then once Americans are reminded yet again how psychopathic the Republican Party is, they come out and vote for Democrats again. And every single time we see this cycle happen, we're circling the drain.  And the way that I see it, Bernie Sanders is the only person capable of breaking the cycle. I'm not saying that if he were to get elected, he'd be a panacea. I'm not saying that he will definitely be the next FDR. But what I am saying is that he's the only politician who I'm confident would actually try. Now, Bernie Sanders is not perfect. I don't think that he has he has the assertiveness that you need to be a politician, right? I think that he tries to cow it out to the Democratic Party. And I think that that hurt him a lot in 2020. I think that if you run as an outsider, if you run as somebody who isn't trying to just play the establishment game as he did in 2016 more so, I think that that's how you're successful. But talking about strategy or not, that's not necessarily what I want to tackle currently. The question is, should Bernie Sanders run again? Yes, he should. Yes, he should.  We have to get off of this Bill Clinton mindset of trying to be centrist, trying to be ideologically directly in the middle between the far right and corporate Democrats. It's just not working. The country is deteriorating. Our planet is dying.  Now, that's not to say people had better lives and they had, you know, education, healthcare, all of a sudden racism would go away and homophobia would go away. But what I'm telling you is that people would overall be less susceptible to far right radicalization if they saw that they had a government or a president who actually cared about them, because there would be less inclined to listen to dogmatic idiots like Donald Trump and other far right ghouls, demagogues, if they knew that Bernie Sanders was trying and fighting. Now, Bernie Sanders is consistently the most popular politician in America. And that's weird. I feel like I don't understand how that works because Americans can, on one hand, fall for the GOP's culture war bullshit except transphobia, except all of these bad ideas, but still think that Bernie Sanders is good. I don't know how Bernie Sanders does that, but he does have crossover appeal and he doesn't actually compromise his policies or morality to have this crossover appeal. I think that people just see him as a normal person who's fighting for a better future. So Bernie Sanders should absolutely run again. I would be in favor of it. Am I saying that I think he could win? Uh, no, I think that, you know, I'm not going to get my hopes up again. But does it give me a tiny, teeny tiny infinitesimal amount of hope at the prospect of Bernie Sanders running again and possibly doing a little bit to change this country? At least set us on a different trajectory. Yeah, it does give me hope. I can't remember the last time that I've been hopeful. It just feels like currently that, you know, our fate has basically been determined. We've decided to put profit over people.  And living with that reality is really almost unbearable to me. Like I can't take it. So even if my dreams and hopes will be crushed yet again, if he loses for a third time, is it worth it to have just like a year during the primary of hope, just a tiny bit of hope?   I'd be all on board with Bernie 2024. Again, not saying I'd get my hopes up, but would I fight to make him the president?  Bernie's the one person.  He doesn't have to do this. He doesn't have to subject himself to the abuse from the media or the smears from the Democratic Party establishment. He doesn't have to do this. But if he wants to, I will back him because I care about this country.  But all he needs to do is change the direction and show Democrats doing popular things, helping people, fighting the GOP. That's a winning strategy. If he could just show the next generation of congressional Democrats what to do, then I think that that's more than I can ask for.


And still on entertainment news, veteran actor Romanus Amuta, popularly known as Nazi in the foremost soap of the 1980s, new masquerade is dead. Amuta, who hailed from Okana in Udi local government area of Enugustate, died after a protracted sickness on February 9th at the age of 79. The first son of the deceased, Chukuma Amuta, who confirmed the death described the actor as a caring father who did his best to raise his children. He is survived by his wife, Cordelia, and six children.