For Trump, ZTE has become a bargaining chip in trade talks with China
China’s No 2 telecommunications equipment maker finds itself between a rock and a hard place as the world’s two largest economies try to work out their differences
Thanks to US President Donald Trump’s tweets, the tone of efforts to avoid a trade war with China can change faster than negotiators can fly between Beijing and Washington with their latest proposals. One of the latest tweets at the weekend revealed that the fate of Chinese electronics maker ZTE was in play ahead of a second round of trade talks expected this week.
The company has announced a halt to “major operating activities” after the US Department of Commerce announced crippling bans on the purchase of US technology for failing to comply with an agreement over the violation of sanctions against Iran.
During the first round of trade talks in Beijing earlier this month, China asked the United States to ease the sanctions on ZTE. Trump has now tweeted that he has asked the department to help ZTE get back into business because too many jobs have been lost.
His stance took many Washington insiders by surprise, which suggests it was not a widely debated policy position. Indeed, he did not use more conventional language, such as that the US would work with China to save a company that employs 75,000 people – or for that matter work with Chinese vice-premier and top economic adviser Liu He, expected in Washington this week.
Trump is saying he will work with President Xi Jinping. “President Xi of China and I are working together to give massive Chinese phone company ZTE a way to get back into business fast.
