NATION/WORLD
Saturday, February 23, 2019
East Oregonian
A9
BRIEFLY
Patriots owner
Robert Kraft accused
of soliciting prostitute
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer,
while they line up for a group photo at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Feb. 15.
U.S. and China extend trade talks
Xi-Trump meeting
may follow in March
By PAUL WISEMAN AND
KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
U.S. and Chinese nego-
tiators agreed Friday to
extend high-level trade talks
through the weekend, and
President Donald Trump
said he hoped to meet next
month at his Florida resort
with President Xi Jinping to
try to finalize an agreement.
The news followed two
days of negotiations in
Washington aimed at resolv-
ing a trade war that has rat-
tled financial markets and
threatened global economic
growth.
“We’re making a lot
of progress,” Trump told
reporters at the White
House. “I think there’s a
very good chance that a deal
can be made.”
Treasury Secretary Ste-
ven Mnuchin said the nego-
tiations, which had been
scheduled to conclude Fri-
day afternoon, would con-
tinue through Sunday. The
Chinese delegation is led by
Xi’s special envoy, Vice Pre-
mier Liu He, the American
team by Trade Representa-
tive Robert Lighthizer.
Trump had originally
warned that he would
escalate the tariffs he has
imposed on $200 billion
in Chinese imports, from
10 to 25 percent, if the two
sides failed to reach a deal
by March 2. But in recent
days, and again on Friday,
he raised the possibility of
extending that deadline if
negotiators were nearing an
agreement.
The world’s two biggest
economies are sparring over
U.S. allegations that Bei-
jing uses predatory tactics
in a drive to make Chinese
companies world leaders in
such advanced industries as
robotics and driverless cars.
Those tactics, the Trump
administration
argues,
include cyber-theft, unfair
subsidies for state-owned
Chinese companies, the use
of regulations to hobble Chi-
na’s foreign competitors and
pressure on American com-
panies to hand over technol-
ogy in exchange for access
to the Chinese market.
The administration con-
tends that Beijing has repeat-
edly failed to live up to its
past commitments to open
its markets and to treat for-
eign companies more fairly.
The
president
has
imposed 25 percent tariffs
on $50 billion in Chinese
imports and 10 percent tar-
iffs on $200 billion worth.
The latter grouping would
face the 25 percent tar-
iffs, too, if no agreement is
reached.
Beijing has lashed back
with import taxes of its
own on $110 billion in U.S.
goods. These tariffs are
heavily aimed at soybeans
and other agricultural prod-
ucts in an effort to pressure
Trump supporters in the
U.S. farm belt.
On Friday, the presi-
dent and his advisers pro-
vided few details on this
week’s negotiations. Trump
did say the two sides had
reached some agreement on
currency manipulation but
offered no specifics. The
administration has worried
that Beijing would blunt the
impact of Trump’s sanc-
tions by manipulating its
currency down to give Chi-
nese companies a compet-
itive edge in international
markets.
Trump said both sides
want to “make this a real
deal.”
“We want to make it a
meaningful deal,” the pres-
ident said, “not a deal that’s
done and doesn’t mean any-
thing. We want to make this
a deal that’s going to last for
many, many years and a deal
that’s going to be good for
both countries.”
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Robert Kraft,
the billionaire owner of the New England
Patriots, faces charges of soliciting a pros-
titute after he was twice videotaped in a
sex act at a shopping-center massage par-
lor in Florida, police said Friday.
The 77-year-old Kraft denied any
wrongdoing. The case comes amid a
crackdown on sex trafficking from Palm
Beach to Orlando in which police planted
cameras in massage parlors.
Kraft was not immediately arrested.
Jupiter police said a warrant will be
issued and his attorneys will be notified.
They said details about the misdemeanor
charges against the owner of the Super
Bowl champion team will not be released
until next week.
Hundreds of arrest warrants have
been issued in recent days as a result of
the six-month investigation, and more are
expected. Ten spas have been closed, and
several people have been taken into cus-
tody on sex trafficking charges.
Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr said
he was shocked to learn that Kraft, who
is worth $6 billion, was paying for sex
inside a shopping-center massage parlor,
the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. “We are as
equally stunned as everyone else,” Kerr
said.
Chicago prosecutors
charge R. Kelly with
abusing 4 victims
CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly, the R&B
star who has been trailed for decades by
allegations that he violated underage girls
and women and held some as virtual
slaves, was charged Friday with aggra-
vated sexual abuse involving four victims,
including at least three between the ages
of 13 and 17.
In a brief appearance before report-
ers, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Kim
Foxx announced the 10 counts against the
52-year-old Grammy winner. She said
the abuse dated back as far as 1998 and
spanned more than a decade. She did not
comment on the charges or take questions.
The singer, who has consistently denied
any sexual misconduct, was to appear in
court Saturday. A message seeking com-
ment from Kelly’s attorney, Steve Green-
berg, was not immediately returned.
His arrest sets the stage for another
#MeToo-era celebrity trial. Bill Cosby
went to prison last year, and former Hol-
lywood studio boss Harvey Weinstein is
awaiting trial.
Best known for hits such as “I Believe I
Can Fly,” Kelly was charged a week after
Michael Avenatti, the attorney whose cli-
ents have included porn star Stormy Dan-
iels, said he recently gave Chicago pros-
ecutors new video evidence of the singer
with an underage girl. It was not immedi-
ately clear if the charges were connected
to that video, which Avenatti said includes
audio in which Kelly and the girl say sev-
eral times that she is 14 years old.
Trump vows veto
as Democrats try to
block emergency order
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats
controlling the House have teed up a
vote next week to block President Don-
ald Trump from using a national emer-
gency declaration to fund a wall along
the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a
showdown in Congress that could divide
Republicans and lead to Trump’s first veto.
The Democrats introduced a resolution
Friday to block Trump’s declaration, and
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
said the House would vote on the measure
Tuesday. It is sure to pass, and the GOP-
run Senate may adopt it as well. Trump
quickly promised a veto.
“Will I veto it? 100 percent,” Trump
told reporters at the White House.
Any Trump veto would likely be sus-
tained, but the upcoming battle will test
Republican support for the president’s
move, which even some of his allies view
as a stretch — and a slap at lawmakers’
control over the power of the federal purse.
A staff aide introduced the measure
during a short pro forma House session
in which Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., presided
over an almost-empty chamber.
Venezuela opposition
leader Guaido appears
at aid concert
CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — Defy-
ing orders banning him from leaving the
country, Venezuelan opposition leader
Juan Guaido made a surprise appearance
at a star-studded aid concert in neighbor-
ing Colombia, joining thousands of other
Venezuelans in pressuring President Nico-
las Maduro into allowing the delivery of
emergency food and medicine.
On the Venezuelan side, a much
smaller crowd gathered for a rival, three-
day “Hands Off Venezuela” festival being
organized by Maduro. Even as several
million Venezuelans flee the country and
those who remain struggle to find basic
goods like food and antibiotics, the embat-
tled president claims the relief effort led
by Guaido is a U.S.-orchestrated ploy to
oust him from power.
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