President Trump signs USMCA
President Donald Trump signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal into law Wednesday, according to Politico.
The deal will officially replace NAFTA if Canada ratifies it and all three countries meet the numerous obligations in the USMCA.
Trump stated the legislation was one of his priorities while running for president.
It passed with strong bipartisan majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The USMCA would raise the United States GDP by $68.2 billion by the sixth year after it enters into force, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
European Parliament backs Brexit
The European Parliament backed the terms of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union by a vote of 621 to 49 vote Wednesday, according to the BBC.
The UK is now expected to officially leave the EU at 11:00 p.m. Friday.
The two sides will have 11 months to negotiate the parameters of their future economic relationship. The European Parliament will also get to vote on any future trade deals.
Leaked documents reveal hacking of United Nations
An internal document from the United Nations revealed dozens of servers containing sensitive information were compromised last year in an apparent espionage-like attack, according to ABC News.
The hackers’ identities and the severity of what they took are still unknown.
The small number of infected machines and the fact that the hackers did not cover their tracks well led some experts to claim the incident as a possible case of espionage.
“The attackers have a goal in mind and are deploying malware to machines that they believe serve some purpose for them,” former U.S. government hacker Jake Williams said.
There are indications that the UN remained quiet about the breach, a strategy that has been criticized by information security experts.
Bolton warned against publishing manuscript
The National Security Council warned former adviser John Bolton that his upcoming book contains classified and top-secret information that can’t be published publicly, according to CBS News.
The NSC has offered to work with Bolton to review the manuscript before the book is published to ensure he does not violate non-disclosure agreements he signed during his time at the White House.
According to an NSC official, some of the information is classified and could cause “exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States,” if published publicly.
Bolton’s revelations are at the heart of the ongoing impeachment trial against President Trump. The Senate is voting in the coming days on whether to allow witnesses, including Bolton, to appear in the trial.
