In a surprising departure from his "America First" agenda, President Trump says he will help a China-based cellphone manufacturer save jobs after the Commerce Department said it sold U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea and then failed to live up to the terms of a settlement.
It would be difficult to find a more quintessential example of the kind of troubling trade practices that the president has long highlighted, which makes his sudden pivot in the case of ZTE all the more stunning.
ZTE, the world's fourth-largest maker of cellphones, was found in violation of U.S. rules against selling U.S.-originated technology to certain blacklisted countries. After reaching a more than $1 billion settlement with Commerce as reparation for its Iran and North Korea dealings, ZTE then violated the terms of the agreement by failing to fire some employees and reprimand others who were involved in the illicit technology transfers.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...dy-to-lower-import-tariffs-and-trade-barriers
Among other things, Commerce imposed a seven-year ban on the company that prevented it from buying parts from U.S. manufacturers.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month called ZTE's behavior "egregious" and said it "cannot be ignored."
That president's tweet on Sunday appears to have undone all that. "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"
A few hours later, he followed up with another tweet: "China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!"
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ts-america-first-on-hold-to-save-chinese-jobs
It would be difficult to find a more quintessential example of the kind of troubling trade practices that the president has long highlighted, which makes his sudden pivot in the case of ZTE all the more stunning.
ZTE, the world's fourth-largest maker of cellphones, was found in violation of U.S. rules against selling U.S.-originated technology to certain blacklisted countries. After reaching a more than $1 billion settlement with Commerce as reparation for its Iran and North Korea dealings, ZTE then violated the terms of the agreement by failing to fire some employees and reprimand others who were involved in the illicit technology transfers.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...dy-to-lower-import-tariffs-and-trade-barriers
Among other things, Commerce imposed a seven-year ban on the company that prevented it from buying parts from U.S. manufacturers.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month called ZTE's behavior "egregious" and said it "cannot be ignored."
That president's tweet on Sunday appears to have undone all that. "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"
A few hours later, he followed up with another tweet: "China and the United States are working well together on trade, but past negotiations have been so one sided in favor of China, for so many years, that it is hard for them to make a deal that benefits both countries. But be cool, it will all work out!"
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ts-america-first-on-hold-to-save-chinese-jobs
