Lucky us. Congress remains out of session for its two-week spring break.

Front and center is the long-awaited Mueller Report, a font of jokes for many a late night talk show. But it’s here and it says…it says…. Well it didn’t say much. Maybe the President did something. But we don’t know, is what it says.

The report release is not a game changer in Washington, D.C., with the Attorney General standing by the President and the Democratic House committed to keeping the Trump obstruction story alive. In my view it continues to distract Democrats from the issues that got them the majority such as health care and the environment and at the same time gives the President the opportunity to keep the discussion on an issue he seems to relish and buoys his relationship with his base.

Trade is never far from the market’s mind and it also remains a policy focus of the administration. Trade matters and trade with China especially matters. Nothing but positive news continues to come out of both Beijing and Washington, D.C., on the progress towards a deal between the two economic superpowers. Still, with the Easter holiday weekend break upon us, no final breakthrough is expected in the next few days.

Let us not forget Japan. The US and the Land of the Rising Sun had their initial talks on a long anticipated bilateral trade agreement, after talks were delayed during the first year of the Trump Administration by Prime Minister Abe’s desire to see Trump reconsider his decision to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Abe wised up and realized that there was no alternative to a bilateral agreement between the US and Japan, the final straw for the Japanese being the threat of a new tariff on auto imports. Trump wants Japanese markets open to American agriculture and Japan will need to find ways of reducing the trade deficit imbalance, while at the same time getting guarantees that Japan would not be hit with any proposed tariffs on auto imports into the US.

Last week, I warned about healthcare increasingly becoming an issue. Look what happened.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Congress is far from a budget plan for the new fiscal year that begins October 1. We’ve noted before that that this will come to the fore as soon as the trade issues are resolved.

Trade: After China Comes Japan
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