BNN - Thursday, May 23, 2024 - 05:00 p.m. (ET) - Segment #1

>> From the world of politics to the world of business, this is "balance of power." live from washington, D.C. joe: from bloomberg's washington dc studios to our tv and radio audiences worldwide, welcome to "balance of power." I am joe mathieu. President biden rolls out the red carpet for the kenyan president as the official stayed to visit continues at the white house. Reinforcing their alliance. In a joint news conference, we will look at the takeaways and ahead to tonight's state dinner with our political panel. Pressure escalating in gaza as the struggle continues to get humanitarian aid into the right hands. David miliband joins us to talk solutions this hour. Worldwatch's china conducting military drills around taiwan as a so-called punishment for swearing in its new president. Congressman raja krishnamoorthi weighs in on what this means for u.s.-china relations. Thank you for joining us on the thursday edition of "balance of power." live from washington here on bloomberg tv and radio. We begin at the white house and the visit of kenyan president who held a news conference with president biden. This book about the strength of the partnership between the two countries. Here is president biden from earlier in the day. President biden -- >> We are celebrating 60 years of a solid relationship between kenya and the united states. We have shared values which we cherish, and by freedom, democracy, the rule of law. Respect for human rights. And we are very proud of the relationship we have built. Joe: that is where we start from the oval office here to our table at with washington bureau chief peggy collins. Something festive about the day of the state visit and a state visit in the air around the white house and washington. There was serious business to be had. The first visit of a national nation. The president did make news, president biden designating kania a major non-nato ally. This into perspective. >> It is significant they have done a lot of outreach to africa over the past year. Vice president harris has visited, now the state dinner. There are a couple takeaways. The administration really does see africa as key to their foreign policy initiatives. There is a lot of economic growth potential in africa forecasted for the years and decades ahead. It is also a key counter to china. And/ out of our policy has been around in terms of foreign policy and geoeconomics have centered around the relationship between the U.S. and china. Africa is at a crossroads between both of those. We are seeing the biden administration recognize the economic growth potential, but also the ability to strengthen the ties we have two nations there in order to shore up our supply chains and our economic growth as well. Joe: it's interesting the way you framed that. There were many audiences for that news conference today and for what we saw as their oval office meeting, which extended well beyond the allotted time. China was watching. African nations were watching. So were our allies elsewhere around the world. There were other deliverables. $250 billion in new lending, new tech cooperation, that would see money from the chips act going to an african nation for the first time. Was there enough to show for this visit when it came to the takeaways versus the photo opportunity? Peggy: it's interesting you brought up the chips act. They did make an announcement about how we are going to try to put money into africa around semiconductor chips, technology, to shore up supply chains. So much of the conversation of chips has been about near shoring them. This is saying hey, we can shore up our supply chains in places like africa to lessen our dependence on places like taiwan, but also to counter china on this incredibly important technological area. You mentioned that -- debt. Where the U.S. is saying, hey, we need to provide more lending and make sure poorer countries are not going so far in debt that they can't get themselves out of it. Joe: is the private sector the answer to that? The president gathered executives from fortune 500 companies. We have alphabet there, private capital representatives in the room, industrial companies. There was even an infrastructure deal with a virginia company that was announced today. . Is that the answer to debt from

belt and road, or is it government -- U.S. government aid as well? Peggy: I think a lot of people would say you need both. That the private and public partnership will be the wave of the future for a lot of these big problems that need solutions. I do think the private sector to lend to more risky countries or areas, they definitely need some type of government floor, for lack of a better word, to feel the government can back them up and help them to take more risk. Other people will say the private sector should just step in more because of the potential for growth. Joe: it will be lining up for the big state dinner, the test on the south long. Did you see the menu? Looks pretty great. Peggy: we could go over and see if we can get a last-minute ticket. Joe: I'm done at 6:00. No ice cream on the menu. Fascinating for the biden white house. Peggy collins, thank you for your great reporting and leadership in the washington bureau. As we turn to capitol hill, the senate failing to pass a border bill for the second time this afternoon. Senator chuck schumer blasted republicans afterwards. Sen. Schumer: we are here again, just like three months ago. Senate republicans rejected the strongest and most comprehensive bipartisan border security bill congress has seen in a whole generation. It is a sad day for the sun. A sad day for america. Joe: let's bring in gregory corti. I know you're shocked this could not pass. Are we saying this is just a messaging bill? >> If you look at senator schumer, he clearly knew this was a doomed exercise. But there is a purpose. Same bill that they brought up some months ago. What we saw in our bloomberg news poll we do with morning consult of swing state voters, after they did this last time, is that they did make some inroads in shifting some of the blame away from president biden and I'm in congress on this immigration issue, of these droves of people coming over the u.s.-mexico border. Not diminishing the democratic blame but adding to the republican blame, and making it a bipartisan problem. Once they have used that trick once, it is hard to get it to work again. I would not rule out senator schumer or perhaps someone else trying once again to highlight that it is really trump, former president trump and republicans who are being the obstructionists here, despite the fact that this is the issue that they want to run on in november. Joe: it's the reason why people hate washington in some cases, when you see someone like jim langford, a serious lawmaker, and a very conservative republican from oklahoma, who put a lot of blood sweat, and tears into this compromise, tried to sell it to his colleagues and the american people. Failed months ago when that happened. To come back now and vote against it, and to talk about -- I think he described it as picking up weapons, it is not even real legislation anymore. How do you have the same person, this is his baby, then divorce himself from it like that? It is donald trump. Gregory: we talked about this the first time. This is a bill that six months ago or a year ago, republicans would have taken in a second the only thing that has changed is the election year dynamics. Giving president biden a win on immigration. Look, let's not let president biden off the hook too easy. He has had a change of heart on this issue as well. Joe: and he is being punished for it. Gregory: he is trying to use alexion your jiu-jitsu to switch the impetus back on republicans. It has worked to an it stent -- to an extent. Joe: I would love to bring peggy back in. You are the bureau chief in washington. You see the big picture. This is messaging legislation for the rest of this congress? Is that what we are in for as opposed to real lawmaking? Peggy: I think there is a close tie between the two legislative bodies, in the sense that everything they say and everything they do, they are trying to message. But they also can't get a lot done. The closer we get to the election, there will be less and less that they can get done because of the partisan politics. That is where a lot of the messaging comes in. They feel like they have got the mess -- got to message because they can't get legislative work done. Joe: understood. Even though there is work to be done, the farm bill is one example. I don't know if we can spend back the comment from joni ernst the other day, but it is interesting to think that something that was never a controversial moment could get to the point where again can it probably can't pass the republican from iowa, in talking about her own agriculture state. But also the stakes here. She had this to say about the farm bill on bloomberg. >> We are really struggling with the farm bill this year. It is a $1.5 trillion price tag

in the united states senate. But only about 14% to 15% of that goes to farm programs. We need to rename the bill. We are not to pass it this year. We will take another shot early next year. We will have to extend the 2018 farm bill. Joe: that reinforces the point. It goes back to what you just said. We are in an election cycle. Check back after november. Gregory: it is surprising that the farm bill has always been one of the more bipartisan pieces of legislation. Joe: you're talking about food stamps. Gregory: the agricultural committees have always had a good relationship from one side of the aisle to the other. We are in an election year. Also inflation is one of the drivers of the tensions here. You have republican say, if farmers are struggling because of the cost of the inputs, the fuel, the seeds, the fertilizer, they need to grow these crops. We need to increase subsidies. They will take the money from snap, food stamps. Obviously democrats don't like the sound of that. It has created this tension where the money has to come from somewhere, and that is what is granting down these negotiations. Joe: that tension lasts in the longest general election cycle of our lives. Gregory korte, thank you. Coming, my conversation with new hampshire governor chris sununu "balance of power." coming up next on -- it is coming up next on "balance of (Upbeat electronic music) (Upbeat instumental music)Canadians are facing a newnormal with interest rat and investment options. The Capital Direct OneIncome Trust is in a growing asset class thatprovides stability and is income-generating forportfolios. Here from Capital Direct areEire Gorman and Aaron Narayan, great to see you again. Thank you for havingus back, Mark. Eire,how are interest rates impacting the Capital DirectOne Income Trust? It's really important tounderstand the timeline of the loans that make upthe income trust. These are fixed-term vehiclesthat don't have the volatilityof a variable product. That means we're less-vulnerable to interest rate changes for18-24 months. Aaron, what arethe pros and cons for the trust if interestrates go down? First off, we love stability. Looking forward, we believe interest rates willact in our favour. If rates go down then (Unclear)or now Cora drops which means the cost of capitalis actually cheaper. And what if interest ratesstay around these levels? Aaron: If interest ratescontinue to stay the same we continue to kick out similarreturns as we have been for our investors which makethem extremely happy. So the trust holdsresidential mortgages. Based on what you're seeinghow would you say Canadian homeowners are coping in thisnew interest rate environment? This is a good news story. Canadians arefinding ways to cope. Our mortgage investments andflexible lines of credit have allowed homeowners toconsolidate at a lower rate and continue todo the things they love while owning their own homes. As we said here, homeownershipis so important to Canadians and we've seen the choices thatthey have made to remain in this privileged category. And it's also important to notethat throughout this new normal we've kept our loaned valueat a very comfortable 52%. If advisors or investorsare interested how do they reach you? Yes, Portfolio Managers andFinancial Advisors can find us atincometrustone.com. And for direct investorsyou can call us anytime at 1-800-625-7747. Joe: this is "balance of power." on bloomberg tv and radio. I am joe mathieu in washington. Thank you for joining us on the thursday edition. We have breaking news on the terminal as the sec approves plans from the new york stock exchange and the nasdaq for spot either -- spot ether etf's. Crypto maturing before our eyes, just this day after market framework legislation passed the house of representatives. Worth noting. We will have more on bloomberg tv and radio as we learn more. Turning to U.S. to muster politics and the campaign trail, this day after nikki haley announced her intention to vote for donald trump, without what appeared to be a full endorsement. I sat down with her biggest supporter a short time ago, new hampshire governor chris sununu, and started him by asking about this news that haley will vote for donald trump in the upcoming election. And whether that was an endorsement. Here's what he said. Sen. Sununu: it's so funny, people say, if you are voting for them, are you endorsing them, are you supporting them, campaigning with them? Joe: is there a difference? Sen. Sununu: I would never speak for nikki haley.

Copyright protected and owned by broadcaster. Your licence is limited to private, internal, non-commercial use. All reproduction, broadcast, transmission or other use of this work is strictly prohibited.

Transcripts