Trump leaves door open to a reworked Pacific Rim deal

President Donald Trump signaled on Friday that he would be interested in negotiating a regional trade deal with the members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — if the terms of the agreement were changed to benefit the United States.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump acknowledged the U.S. already has bilateral trade relationships with some of the 11 TPP members, adding: “We would consider negotiating with the rest individually or perhaps as a group if it is in the interests of all.”

Trump on Thursday brought up the idea of rejoining a renegotiated TPP for the first time, telling CNBC in Davos that he would sign onto the deal "if we were able to make a substantially better deal." Together, the two comments marked Trump's first public efforts to entertain the idea of the U.S. entering into some form of regional agreement with the Pacific Rim countries since he withdrew from the original TPP just over a year ago.

But even as he appeared to warm to the idea of multilateral trade in some capacity, Trump also emphasized the need to enforce existing trading rules, and he pledged to reform the global system, saying that "unfair trade undermines us all."

“The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair economic practices, including massive intellectual property theft, industrial subsidies and pervasive state-led economic planning,” he said. That line targeted China in particular, though he refrained from naming any specific countries throughout the speech.

The Trump administration is already in the process of reviewing China’s intellectual property practices. It has launched a series of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases targeting Chinese products, and just last week the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said the U.S. had “erred” in allowing Beijing to enter the World Trade Organization because of its heavy and continued use of state-led policies and practices.

“These and other predatory behaviors are distorting the global markets and harming businesses and workers, not just in the United States but around the globe,” he said.

Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency aims to replace Obama-era climate, water regulations

The agenda, laid out by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt marks an extension of the agency’s efforts under President Trump to weaken regulations the administration believes harm economic growth, but which environmentalists say are critical to human health.

The US Environmental Protection Agency will replace Obama-era carbon and clean water regulations and open up a national debate on climate change in 2018, part of a list of priorities for the year that also includes fighting lead contamination in public drinking water.

The agenda, laid out by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in an exclusive interview with Reuters on Tuesday, marks an extension of the agency’s efforts under President Donald Trump to weaken or kill regulations the administration believes are too broad and harm economic growth, but which environmentalists say are critical to human health.

“The climate is changing. That’s not the debate. The debate is how do we know what the ideal surface temperature is in 2100?… I think the American people deserve an open honest transparent discussion about those things,” said Pruitt, who has frequently cast doubt on the causes and implications of global warming. Pruitt reaffirmed plans for the EPA to host a public debate on climate science sometime this year that would pit climate change doubters against other climate scientists, but he provided no further details on timing or which scientists would be involved.

Pruitt said among the EPA’s top priorities for 2018 will be to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama’s centerpiece climate change regulation which would have slashed carbon emissions from power plants. The EPA began the process of rescinding the regulation last year and is taking input on what should replace it.

“A proposed rule will come out this year and then a final rule will come out sometime this year,” he said. He did not give any details on what the rule could look like, saying the agency was still soliciting comments from stakeholders.

He said the agency was also planning to rewrite the Waters of the United States rule, another Obama-era regulation, this one defining which U.S. waterways are protected under federal law. Pruitt and Trump have said the rule marked an overreach by including streams that are shallow, narrow, or sometimes completely dry – and was choking off energy development.

Pruitt said that in both cases, former President Barack Obama had made the rules by executive order, and without Congress. “We only have the authority that Congress gives us,” Pruitt said. Pruitt’s plans to replace the Clean Power Plan have raised concerns by attorneys general of states like California and New York, who said in comments submitted to the EPA on Tuesday that the administrator should recuse himself because as Oklahoma attorney general he led legal challenges against it.

BIOFUELS AND STAFF CUTS

Pruitt said he hoped for legislative reform of the U.S. biofuels policy this year, calling it “substantially needed and important” because of the costs the regulation imposes on oil refiners. The Renewable Fuel Standard, ushered in by former President George W. Bush as a way to help U.S. farmers, requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply every year.

Refining companies say the EPA-administered policy costs them hundreds of millions of dollars annually and threatens to put some plants out of business. But their proposals to change the program have so far been rejected by the Trump administration under pressure from the corn lobby.

The EPA in November slightly raised biofuels volumes mandates for 2018, after previously opening the door to cuts.

The White House is now mediating talks on the issue between representatives of both sides, with input from EPA, and some Republican senators from states representing refineries are working on possible legislation to overhaul the program.

Pruitt said he also hoped Congress could produce an infrastructure package this year that would include replacing municipal water pipes, as a way of combating high lead levels in certain parts of the United States. “That to me is something very tangible very important that we can achieve for the American people,” he said.

Pruitt added that EPA also continuing its review of automobile fuel efficiency rules, and would be headed to California soon for more meetings with the California Air Resources Board to discuss them. California in 2011 agreed to adopt the federal vehicle emission rules through 2025, but has signaled it would opt out of the standards if they are weakened – a move that would complicate matters for automakers serving the huge California market.

In the meantime, Pruitt said EPA is continuing to reduce the size of its staff, which fell to 14,162 employees as of Jan. 3, the lowest it has been since 1998, under Ronald Reagan when the employment level was 14,400. The EPA employed about 15,000 when Obama left office. Nearly 50 percent of the EPA will be eligible to retire within the next five years, according to the agency.

Chrissy Teigen live-tweets 'flight to nowhere' after Tokyo-bound plane turns around

Chrissy Teigen live-tweeted her flight experience when the plane she was flying on reportedly had to turn back after four hours.

The All Nippon Airways flight, which was flying out of Los Angeles and headed to Tokyo, had to turn back "due to an administrative mix-up," according to CNN.

A source told CNN that an unauthorized passenger was on the flight. The airline said in a statement that the "cabin crew notified the pilot that one of the passengers boarded the incorrect flight, and the pilot in command made the decision to return to the originating airport."

The airline said it takes great pride in providing "exemplary customer service" but "failed to do so" on this flight.

Teigen, who is often critical of President Trump, live-tweeted the whole experience, calling it a "flight to nowhere" and chronicling the information she had.

"a flying first for me: 4 hours into an 11 hour flight and we are turning around because we have a passenger who isn’t supposed to be on this plane. Why...why do we all gotta go back, I do not know," she tweeted Tuesday night.

"Lmao after all this I will have spent 8 hours on a flight to nowhere. Like we were all just havin a great time up here flyin in the sky watching gran torino time to go home now."

Teigen sent out several other tweets, saying she wouldn't be able to sleep until she found out how the person on the flight figured out "they were on the wrong flight."

"Why did we all get punished for this one person’s mistake? Why not just land in Tokyo and send the other person back? How is this the better idea, you ask? We all have the same questions," she tweeted.

"LAX —> LAX flight complete. Flight time, 8 hours and 20 minutes."

She said police were interviewing all of the people "seated around the mystery person once we got off the plane."

She joked later that she was in a room with "water and a tv."

"The government is using real housewives to keep me quiet !!!!!!" she tweeted, before tweeting out a picture of ramen and a picture of her and her husband John Legend.

In her most recent tweet, she said she was on another flight that was taking off.

"Taking off!!! Please don’t be the same menu please don’t be the same menu," she tweeted.