On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump announced that he was ordering the Commerce Department to look at options to get Chinese telecom giant ZTE “back in business, fast”:
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018
The Commerce Department had just banned exports to ZTE after it was determined that the company “repeatedly violated U.S. sanctions limiting exports of U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea”:
https://twitter.com/MaxKennerly/status/995683945869082625
After the export ban, ZTE was forced to shut down:
Breaking News: President Trump said he is working to save jobs at the Chinese electronics giant ZTE. The firm had ended major operations over U.S. sanctions. https://t.co/RaBOSGzoZc
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 13, 2018
The tweet, as you might imagine, triggered many in the blue-check mob with some wondering if Trump was profiting personally from the move:
“ZTE Corporation not only violated export controls that keep sensitive American technology out of the hands of hostile regimes like Iran’s, they lied…about their illegal acts” – Jeff Sessions
So why go to bat for ZTE? Does it have anything to do w/the Chinese trademarks he got? https://t.co/QPYla2aSjL— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 13, 2018
Anyone else wondering how much Trump has tied up in ZTE?#SecretTaxReturns https://t.co/doQS3BiV8t
— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) May 13, 2018
And there were many, many of these takes:
Make China Great Again https://t.co/NiWiI422M2
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) May 13, 2018
You campaigned on losing jobs in China. https://t.co/gM1MbOuGCU
— Glenn Fleishman (@GlennF) May 13, 2018
But the more obvious reason behind the tweet — if you can put aside your Trump hatred for a second — is that ZTE is being used as leverage for either trade negotiations, North Korea or both. From Paul Mozur of the New York Times:
For those playing catch up: ZTE makes phones/cell equipment. It broke US sanctions on Iran/North Korea, then lied to USG. In response USG cut its access to all US components, effectively killing it. In the context of the trade spat, it’s resuscitation is being used for leverage. https://t.co/W6sk0fmwS8
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) May 13, 2018
It should be noted ZTE is massively important to China. It employs 75,000 people, is an innovation leader, and often is a part of China development projects overseas. It’s destruction sets back Chinese r&d and plans for 5G.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) May 13, 2018
The big question is what the US gets in exchange for bringing ZTE back to life. It’s a concession, but could help with everything from North Korea to trade negotiations. It could also be that the US is simply backing down. Imagine we’ll learn more soon enough.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) May 13, 2018
Bit more coming in. One of Beijing’s main talking points on ZTE has been how its death would kill Chinese jobs. Seems an attempt to appeal to Trump’s sensibilities/get sympathy. So the weird fact Trump is tweeting about Chinese jobs might come from that.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) May 13, 2018
FWIW, Politico is now reporting something similar via anonymous White House sources:
Why did Trump say he would help a company that violated U.S. sanctions? He's trying to strengthen his relationship with China's Xi Jinping ahead of the summit with North Korea, two people close to president said https://t.co/Xy6aOktAoo pic.twitter.com/I1LOQ8HZFc
— POLITICO (@politico) May 13, 2018
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