Business

Obama, Abe Putting Joint Face on Trade Amid Opposition in US

Published

10 years ago

April 28, 2015

President Barack Obama hosts a state arrival ceremony for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(Associated Press) – Eager to build on the U.S.-Japan alliance, President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will work to strengthen economic ties while confronting stiff resistance from Obama’s own political party to a massive new Pacific Rim trade deal.

Trade is one of the top agenda items for Abe’s state visit to the U.S. as the two countries work toward a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that would further open vast Asian and Pacific rim markets to U.S. exports.

Abe’s visit comes as Obama’s negotiators work to complete the trade agreement, and as Obama seeks authority from Congress to put the deal, once it’s completed, on a fast track to approval later this year. Obama is pressing for the trade agreement and the negotiating authority against mounting pressure from liberals and labor unions who fear trade agreements can cost American jobs.

The U.S. and Japan are the agreement’s biggest participants and the talks between the two countries would go far in advancing the broader negotiations. But while Obama and Abe won’t be ready to announce a trade breakthrough, officials on both sides say they will likely declare they have made considerable progress in closing remaining gaps. The toughest sticking points are U.S. tariffs on Japanese pickup trucks and barriers in Japan on certain U.S. agricultural products.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting and the pomp and circumstance of a state visit, Obama took Abe to the Lincoln Memorial Monday afternoon. Obama played tour guide, leading the Japanese leader up the steps into the memorial where they examined the Gettysburg Address sketched into the marble walls.

Also on Monday, Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers meeting in New York approved revisions to the U.S.-Japan defense guidelines. The new rules boost Japan’s military capability amid growing Chinese assertiveness in disputed areas in the East and South China Sea claimed by Beijing. The changes, which strengthen Japan’s role in missile defense, mine sweeping and ship inspections, are the first revisions in 18 years to the rules that govern U.S.-Japan defense cooperation.

Indeed, China’s economic and military footprint serves as a major backdrop for Abe’s visit.

Obama has undertaken an effort to rebalance the U.S. role in Asia and has argued time and again that without a trade agreement with Asian countries, China will step into the breach.

“If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules out in that region,” Obama said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We will be shut out — American businesses, American agriculture. That will mean a loss of U.S. jobs.”

Abe is sure to get a flavor of the opposition Obama confronts from Democrats and from the political left. He will address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, and a coalition of trade deal critics plan to place a giant Trojan Horse, symbolizing the fast-track authority Obama seeks, well within view of his motorcade.

Likewise, Republican supporters of the trade deal were applying pressure on Abe. In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan urged Abe to stand up to the Japanese farms and auto lobbies in favor of more open trade.

Educated at the University of Southern California, Abe will be the first Japanese leader to address both houses of Congress. He intends to deliver his remarks in English.

Abe’s visit comes on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and has already prompted demands that he use his trip to address the use of sex slaves by the Imperial Army during the war. The issue has been a major irritant with South Korea, which has demanded an apology from Abe.

Nothing seemed to underscore the reconciliation between the countries more than the agreement to boost the U.S.-Japan defense relationship, which would allow Japan to play a bigger role in global military operations with an eye on potential threats from China and North Korea.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the shift marks a historic transformation in the post-WWII relationship between Tokyo and Washington that recognizes the “evolving risks and dangers both in Asia-Pacific and across the globe.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida agreed, saying “the security situation around Japan is becoming more harsh and difficult.”

The revisions come with a renewed pledge of the U.S. position that the Senkaku Islands — a group of small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea — fall under Japanese administration and are within the scope of the U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty. China also claims the islands, which Beijing calls Diaoyu.

China on Tuesday reiterated its claim on the islands.

“No matter what anybody says or does, the fact won’t change that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. “The Chinese government will firmly defend the country’s territorial sovereignty and integrity.”

In his interview Monday, Obama tried not to portray the U.S. as an antagonist to China but said, “We don’t want China to use its size to muscle other countries in the region around rules that disadvantage us.”

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Pamela Price Appoints Deputy D.A. Jennifer Kassan as New Director of Community Support Bureau

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau. Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau.

Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Working in the DA’s new administration since 2023, Kassan was most recently assigned to the Organized Retail Theft Prosecution team.

Kassan has a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship from Yale Law School, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1995. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor emphasis in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Kassan’s education, extensive legal background, list of notable accomplishments and impressive resume includes helping to found and lead multiple organizations to support community wealth building including:

Community Ventures, a nonprofit organization that promotes locally-based community economic development,
the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit that provides legal information, training, and representation to support sustainable economies
the Force for Good Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund
Crowdfund Main Street, a licensed portal for regulation crowdfunding
Opportunity Main Street, a place-based ecosystem building organization that supports under-represented entrepreneurs and provides education about community-based investing.

In addition, Kassan served as an elected member of the City Council of Fremont, California from 2018 to 2024, and on the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies.

In 2020 she was named to the list of World-Changing Women in Conscious Business by SOCAP Global.

“We are excited to see Jenny accept the role as the new leader for the Community Support Bureau,” said Price. “She brings a wealth of talent, experience, and a vision to expand our office’s engagement with community groups and residents, that will level-up our

outreach programs and partnerships with local organizations with the aim of promoting crime prevention.

“We thank Interim CSB Director Esther Lemus, who is now assigned to our office’s

Restitution Unit, for her hard work and a great job fostering positive relationships between the DAO and the community.”

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Business

Sacramento Kings and Black-Owned Digital License Plate Firm Enter History-Making Partnership

Reviver founder and Chief Strategy Officer Neville Boston attended the Sacramento Kings’ season opener at Golden 1 Center, witnessing players debut the company’s patch. Reviver proudly supports the Sacramento Kings’ community and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Photo by Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media (CBM).

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Reviver founder and Chief Strategy Officer Neville Boston attended the Sacramento Kings' season opener at Golden 1 Center, witnessing players debut the company's patch. Reviver proudly supports the Sacramento Kings' community and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Photo by Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media (CBM).

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

Reviver, the world’s first digital license plate and connected vehicle platform, has entered into a history-making jersey patch partnership with the Sacramento Kings, team officials announced right before the team’s season opener on Oct. 24.

The collaboration establishes Reviver as the first Black-founded technology jersey patch partner in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The Reviver logo now appears on the left front strap of Kings’ uniforms.

Reviver founder and Chief Strategy Officer Neville Boston was in attendance to see the company’s patch worn by the Kings, during a game with the Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento.

“It was an absolutely amazing night. More than I ever expected,” Boston told California Black Media (CBM). “The Sacramento Kings have been incredible. On a national, and maybe a worldwide level, this partnership raises the profile of Reviver with the assistance of (Kings chairman and CEO) Vivek Ranadivé and the Kings.”

According to the Kings’ brass, Reviver, supported by the Black Star Fund, a Black-led venture capital firm based in Sacramento, is now an official “innovation partner” of the Kings and Golden 1 Center; a presenting partner of “Capitalize Technology,” a King’s corporate social investment initiative; and the exclusive digital license plate of the Sacramento Kings.

Headquartered in Granite Bay, a suburb of Sacramento, Reviver was born from a vision to modernize and streamline the vehicle registration renewal process. On Jan. 1, 2023, the state of California joined Georgia, Colorado, Michigan, and Arizona as states that have approved digital license plates for use statewide, after Reviver completed a four-year pilot program that evaluated a replacement for metal plates.

About 10,000 California drivers bought digital plates during the pilot program. Vehicles registered with the state are eligible to adopt the new high-tech tags. Reviver existence was made possible when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 984 in September 2022.

Under that law, California vehicle owners can update their titles, registrations, and other records remotely. In addition, the digital license “RPlate” includes a flashing message if a vehicle is reported stolen or if there is an Amber Alert.

Ranadivé is spreading the news that Reviver has international potential.

“This jersey patch partnership with Reviver continues the Kings long tradition of using our global platform to promote innovation and technology,” Ranadivé stated. “It’s particularly exciting to showcase a homegrown company that was part of our Kings Capitalize program. This is just the beginning of our work together, and we look forward to helping Reviver in its mission to modernize the driving experience.”

The commercial use of patches in professional basketball all began in 2009 when the Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) Phoenix Mercury removed its name to replace it with sponsor, LifeLock, an identity-theft protection company. The landmark deal netted a contract worth about $1 million annually.

Kindra Montgomery-Block, vice president of diversity, equity, and social impact for the Sacramento Kings, was the integral facilitator who assisted Boston and his team in connecting with the sports franchise that is boasting 40 years in the Capital City.

“This partnership between the Kings and Reviver, backed by the Black Star Fund, will invest in the Sacramento community to promote technology and innovation in the region,” Montgomery-Block stated. “Reviver will support the Sacramento Kings community and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.”

Editor’s Note: Neville Boston is a California Black Media board member.

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Activism

NAACP California-Hawaii State Convention Highlights Black Voter Engagement, and More

A Friday panel featuring NAACP Chairman Leon W. Russell and Regina Wilson, Executive Director of California Black Media, examined Project 2025, an initiative perceived as a potential threat to civil rights, healthcare access, and environmental protection. This session emphasized Project 2025’s projected impact on Black communities, noting that policies within the initiative could diminish gains in civil and environmental rights over decades. Russell and Wilson highlighted the need for vigilant monitoring and community mobilization to address these challenges.

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

NAACP State Conference President Rick Callender (right) engages in a discussion on voter engagement and community advocacy with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson during the 37th NAACP California-Hawaii State Convention in Los Angeles. Photo by Rich Woods.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

The 37th NAACP California-Hawaii State Convention concluded on Sunday, Oct 27, following four days of discussions and workshops at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. Bringing together civil rights leaders, policymakers, and advocates from California and Hawaii, the convention operated under the theme “All In.” The participants discussed critical issues impacting Black communities, including criminal justice reform, health equity, economic empowerment, education, environmental justice, and voting rights.

On Saturday, the President’s Fireside Chat brought together NAACP President Derrick Johnson and CA/HI State Conference President Rick Callender, who discussed the urgency of voter engagement and community advocacy.

Guest speakers included Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43), who spoke at the Women in NAACP (WIN) Labor Luncheon about the intersection of labor rights and civil rights. California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond delivered remarks at the Leadership Dinner on education equity, focusing on policies to ensure all students have access to high-quality education.

Honors were given to longtime social justice advocate and former Assemblymember Mike Davis for his work in community activism. At the same time, actor and activist Danny Glover and the Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown received the 2024 Legacy Hall of Fame Awards, recognizing their lifelong commitments to advancing civil rights.

The convention also offered practical workshops, including “What’s On Your Ballot?,” where coalition leaders provided analyses of California propositions, explaining their potential impacts on community rights and resources. The Voter Turnout Workshop provided background and encouraged participants to promote voter turnout through community-centered outreach strategies.

Sunday’s events closed with a Prayer and Memorial Breakfast honoring the contributions of past and current civil rights leaders.