There has never been such a clown show.

Lighthizer, desperate, tries to lecture his boss, and then renames his "Memorandum of Understanding" a "Trade Agreement".

Why? Because Trump thinks the agreement is binding if it is called "Trade Agreement" and not binding if it is called "Memorandum of Understanding":

Jennifer Jacobs and Justin Sink: Trump's Trade Chief Lectures His Boss and Gets Earful in Return: "Negotiators have been drafting MOUs.... Trump told gathered reporters that the memorandums would 'be very short term. I don’t like MOUs because they don’t mean anything. To me, they don’t mean anything'.... Lighthizer then jumped in to defend the strategy, with Trump looking on. 'An MOU is a binding agreement... detailed.... It’s a legal term. It’s a contract'.... But the president, unswayed, fired back at Lighthizer. 'By the way I disagree', Trump said. The top Chinese negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, laughed out loud...

...“The real question is, Bob,” Trump said, “how long will it take to put that into a final binding contract?”... Lighthizer eventually deferred to his boss. “From now on we’re not using the word memorandum of understanding anymore. We’re going to use the term trade agreement,” Lighthizer told reporters. “We’ll have the same document. It’s going to be called a trade agreement.” He then turned to Liu to ask if the Chinese would accommodate the new terminology, winning a nod from the Chinese leader. “Good, I like that term much better,” Trump said, before again complaining that memorandums of understanding were not that meaningful...


#noted

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