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By ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House to allow his transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office on Jan. 20. The congressionally mandated agreement allows transition aides to work with federal agencies and access non-public information and gives a green light to government workers to talk to the transition team. But Trump has declined to sign a separate agreement with the General Services Administration that would have given his team access to secure government offices and email accounts, in part because it would require that the president-elect limit contributions to $5,000 and reveal who is donating to his transition effort. The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden White House had issued both public and private appeals for Trump’s team to sign on. The agreement is a critical step in ensuring an orderly transfer of power at noon on Inauguration Day, and lays the groundwork for the White House and government agencies to begin to share details on ongoing programs, operations and threats. It limits the risk that the Trump team could find itself taking control of the massive federal government without briefings and documents from the outgoing administration. As part of the agreement with the White House, Trump’s team will have to publicly disclose its ethics plan for the transition operation and make a commitment to uphold it, the White House said. Transition aides must sign statements that they have no financial positions that could pose a conflict of interest before they receive access to non-public federal information. Biden himself raised the agreement with Trump when they met in the Oval Office on Nov. 13, according to the White House, and Trump indicated that his team was working to get it signed. Trump chief of staff-designate Susie Wiles met with Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients at the White House on Nov. 19 and other senior officials in part to discuss remaining holdups, while lawyers for the two sides have spoken more than a half-dozen times in recent days to finalize the agreement. “Like President Biden said to the American people from the Rose Garden and directly to President-elect Trump, he is committed to an orderly transition,” said White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma. “President-elect Trump and his team will be in seat on January 20 at 12 pm – and they will immediately be responsible for a range of domestic and global challenges, foreseen and unforeseen. A smooth transition is critical to the safety and security of the American people who are counting on their leaders to be responsible and prepared.” Without the signed agreement, Biden administration officials were restricted in what they could share with the incoming team. Trump national security adviser-designate Rep. Mike Waltz met recently with Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan, but the outgoing team was limited in what it could discuss. “We are doing everything that we can to effect a professional and an orderly transition,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “And we continue to urge the incoming team to take the steps that are necessary to be able to facilitate that on their end as well.” “This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power,” said Wiles in a statement. The Trump transition team says it would disclose its donors to the public and would not take foreign donations. A separate agreement with the Department of Justice to coordinate background checks for vetting and security clearances is still being actively worked on and could be signed quickly now that the White House agreement is signed. The agency has teams of investigators standing by to process clearances for Trump aides and advisers once that document is signed. That would clear the way for transition aides and future administration appointees and nominees to begin accessing classified information before Trump takes office. Some Trump aides may hold active clearances from his first term in office or other government roles, but others will need new clearances to access classified data. Trump’s team on Friday formally told the GSA that they would not utilize the government office space blocks from the White House reserved for their use, or government email accounts, phones and computers during the transition. The White House said it does not agree with Trump’s decision to forgo support from the GSA, but is working on alternate ways to get Trump appointees the information they need without jeopardizing national security. Federal agencies are receiving guidance on Tuesday on how to share sensitive information with the Trump team without jeopardizing national security or non-public information. For instance, agencies may require in-person meetings and document reviews since the Trump team has declined to shift to using secure phones and computers. For unclassified information, agencies may ask Trump transition staff to attest that they are taking basic safeguards, like using two-factor authentication on their accounts.Wall Street stocks surged to fresh records Wednesday on hopes about easing US monetary policy, shrugging off political upheaval in South Korea and France. All three major US indices scored records, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing above 45,000 for the first time. "The market at this point is looking for excuses to go up, and there's not really anything that might work against that narrative," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. "Over the last couple of days, it's managed to ignore all sorts of inconvenient things and decided that the situation in France doesn't matter for them," Sosnick said of the stock market. "The situation in Korea doesn't matter." South Korea's stock market fell less than feared and the won rebounded from earlier losses after President Yoon Suk Yeol swiftly reversed a decision to impose martial law. In Europe, Paris stocks managed to advance as France's government faced looming no-confidence votes. Late Wednesday in Paris, French lawmakers voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier after just three months in office, pushing the country further into political uncertainty. For the first time in over sixty years, the National Assembly lower house toppled the incumbent government, approving a no-confidence motion that had been proposed by the hard left but which crucially was backed by the far-right headed by Marine Le Pen. "Political turmoil in both France and South Korea provide a uncertain backdrop for global markets, with the likely removal of both Barnier and Yoon bringing the potential for both countries to find a fresh direction," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. Thomas Mathews, head of Asia-Pacific markets at Capital Economics, said the losses in Seoul could have been "much worse" had the president not aborted his plan. "Rarely does a combined sell-off in a country's stocks, bonds and currency feel like a relief rally," he said. Oil prices turned lower after surging around 2.5 percent Tuesday, mainly after the United States sanctioned 35 companies and ships it accused of involvement with Iran's "shadow fleet" illicitly selling Iranian oil to foreign markets. Major producers at the OPEC+ grouping led by Saudi Arabia and Russia were set to meet Thursday to discuss extending output limits. Back in New York, major indices were led by the Nasdaq, which piled on 1.3 percent to finish at a third straight record. Wednesday's gains came after payroll firm ADP said US private-sector hiring in November came in at a lower-than-expected 146,000 jobs, while a survey from the Institute for Supply Management showed weaker sentiment than expected in the services sector. But the lackluster data boosts expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month. At a New York conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell refrained from tipping his hand, but he "didn't say anything that would scare the market," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare. O'Hare noted that Wednesday's gains were led by large tech names such as Nvidia and Microsoft, which are major AI players. The boost followed strong results from Salesforce, which was the biggest gainer in the Dow with an 11 percent jump. New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 45,014.04 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,086.49 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 19,735.12 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,335.81 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,303.28 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.1 percent at 20,232.14 (close) Seoul - Kospi Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 2,464.00 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 39,276.39 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 19,742.46 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,364.65 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0510 from $1.0509 on Tuesday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2702 from $1.2673 Dollar/yen: UP at 150.56 yen from 149.60 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.71 from 82.92 pence Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.8 percent at $72.31 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.0 percent at $68.54 per barrel burs-jmb/jgc
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