President will sign EO to speed up infrastructure projects

"American Genius Is Under Attack From China" - Wilbur Ross in Financial Times Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross writes in the Financial Times that the "American patent system and the American genius it protects are under serious attack" as countries like China steal and extort the U.S.'s intellectual property. IP theft costs U.S. businesses as much as $600 billion a year, he writes, which translates to more than 3 percent of America's gross domestic product lost each year. Secretary Ross argues China is the primarily culprit of this theft, as it "accounts for 87 percent of all counterfeit goods seized at the border." Click here to read more. ------------ In The New York Times, former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and former NSA Director Keith Alexander call President Trump's action on Monday to protect U.S. intellectual property "a major step in the right direction," saying that IP theft currently "saps economic growth, costs American jobs, weakens our military capability," and harms U.S. innovation. ------------ On the North Korea front, McClatchy columnist Andrew Malcolm praises President Trump's "fire and fury" comments for sending a "strong" message to North Korea and China, contrasting his "calculated tough tone" with the inaction of prior administrations. NPR reports today North Korea says it won't fire missiles at Guam after all, as it chose to stand down instead of escalate tensions. ------------ The Wall Street Journal reports the President will sign an Executive Order today that curbs environmental reviews, with the goal of speeding up construction of highways, bridges, pipelines and other infrastructure projects. ------------ In immigration news, in The Daily Signal, the Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector and Jamie Bryan Hall write that "the RAISE Act has the potential to save U.S. taxpayers trillions of dollars in future years" by reforming the U.S. immigration system to make it merit-based. ------------ Victor Davis Hanson writes in American Greatness that President Trump's critics have "learned nothing and forgotten nothing" since the 2016 election, and given that, President Trump could get reelected "largely with the same election calculus and an even stronger base of support" that carried him to victory in November.