President Trump Pledges To Help China's ZTE, After Ban (usatoday.com) 230
President Trump said Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to put the troubled Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE back in business. From a report: "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 said in a message on Twitter. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" ZTE, maker of Android phones popular with budget-minded consumers, said Wednesday that it would cease "major operating activities," raising questions not only about its survival, but the impact on U.S. consumers who have previously bought or were thinking of buying ZTE phones. The announcement followed a decision last month by the U.S. Commerce Department, which banned American companies from exporting products to the Shenzhen, China-based telecom firm for seven years.
MCGA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, how does this help America? It only makes me suspicious that Trump or some of his buddies want to swoop in and get the stock for pennies on the dollar.
Re:MCGA? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the whiplash with a touch of insider trading (Score:4, Interesting)
Where is the insight in that tiny bit of fluff? There is an obvious peculiarity here: "Trump says America first, but NOT if it will hurt ZTE!" Not that the lie or self-contraindication is peculiar as regards Trump. The peculiar question is "Why?" Two obvious answer candidates:
(1) Trump is begging Xi to lean on little Kim Jong-Un to play nice next month. I do think Kim is insane, but not nearly insane enough to trust Trump, and it is possible that Trump realizes how embarrassing this fiasco could become. Libya model indeed.
(2) Someone is making money on this scam. Who did Trump telephone about this course reversal? Hint: Look for "sharp" investors who suddenly bought up a bunch of ZTE shares. In this case, we're back to the question of whether or not Trump got his own beak wet.
Actually reminds me of the ongoing Cohen fiasco. Was Cohen keeping all the loot, or was he kicking some back to Trump? In either case, it's going to be really hard to pardon him (which means Cohen is going to flip and drag ALL of Trump's skeletons out of the closet).
Re:It's the whiplash with a touch of insider tradi (Score:5, Insightful)
Hint: Look for "sharp" investors who suddenly bought up a bunch of ZTE shares. In this case, we're back to the question of whether or not Trump got his own beak wet.
ZTE stock has not traded since April 17th, when the ban was announced.
Also, you should grow up and stop making up stories.
Public masturbation of 38547 (Score:2)
Z^-1
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ZTE was not publicly traded. You can trade stock off the exchange. And if you were arranging a payoff to a Trump associate, that's exactly how you would do it.
I'm not accusing anyone of that happening in this case, but I'm saying if it did, your counterargument is pretty nonsensical.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:It's the whiplash with a touch of insider tradi (Score:5, Interesting)
I still think Trump's primary focus (and desperate hope) is to get Xi to lean on Kim. I read Trump as desperate to get something out of the June 12th meeting, but the most likely scenario is that Kim is teeing Trump up for a YUGE punt. Actually, Trump already defined a game of reverse chicken, by claiming he will "win" by walking out if he can't get what he wants. Under the terms of Trump's own game, I'm expecting Kim to walk out first and claim the win. China's next response to Trump will go along the lines of "Tut, tut, tut, Little Donald. Let's not do anything rash."
That's predicated on the theory that China basically likes things as they are now. I think China sees a strong and unified Korea as a probable nuisance and possible threat. Unless China sees some substantial advantage in an actual peace treaty, they might as well leave things as they are. Meanwhile Bolton keeps braying about the "Libya model" and Kim knows exactly how that one worked out. No sane dictator would give up his nukes to follow Qaddafi's lead.
My reasoning certainly could be flawed. I actually expected China to make a move before this. I figured the Chinese would offer Trump a deal of North Korea for Taiwan. I still think China is confident that they can integrate Taiwan with little problem and enormous profit, while South Korea would be kept busy for decades trying to heal and integrate North Korea. The lack of official peace in Korea has been mostly harmless, but the establishment of an independent Taiwan would really piss them off.
However the troll did raise an interesting point regarding the insider trading, though I certainly can't take it on his say so. So how else could smart insiders profit from their phone calls with Trump if they don't want to be so obvious as playing with ZTE? Future contracts? Gambles on related companies, both suppliers and customers?
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I think that theory has crossed into conspiracy terrain. It would be much easier to get the malware integrated into the components at the American end. Actually, they probably wouldn't add the malware itself, but the hidden capability to trigger the installation of malware at some later date. That way they could avoid exposing anything to the Chinese, but all of the devices made with the components would be ready to go whenever needed.
Re:It's the whiplash with a touch of insider tradi (Score:4, Informative)
Given China lackluster record in "integrating" the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong residents, who were basically tossed to the wolves by the British after 99 years of dutifully generated revenues for the British Empire. Despite some last minute electoral reforms by the British prior to the 1997 hand over to China, Hong Kong was basically a colonial subject of the Crown without a tradition of electing its own executives.
Taiwan, on the other hand, thanks to continuous US intervention since WWII, has blossomed into a fractious democracy, along with the requisite shares of protests, counter-protesters, counter-counter-protests.... and etc. Streets protest is almost a national past time, enjoyed by all demographic, from the young to the old, regardless of sexual orientation, or ethnic origin. Not to mentioned that unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan has its own military.
Whether or not Taiwan's military that is being rapidly eclipsed by the Chinese military can hold its own against the Chinese is a vexing question for the island residents. However, the strategic value of loosing Taiwan to China mean loosing our pave paws radar in Taiwan, loosing our first island of defense against China and allowing China to control the sea lane that connects Japan and Korea to the half the world and their oil supply.
Taiwan also has a fairly globalized semiconductor sector. Any disruption will be felt across the world. Any damage to Taiwan's infrastructure means rapid price inflation for anything good with semiconductor inside. Fab equipment aren't usually the type people can buy in quantities immediately.
Given the rise of authoritarian China, the long term strategic and short term financial importance of a democratic Taiwan to people who enjoy free speech, especially in the digital medium, cannot be overstated.
Sadly, to our smarter-than-thou president, it's all tl;dr. He is just happy to have found his NK mini-me.
SAD . . .
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Given China lackluster record in "integrating" the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong residents, who were basically tossed to the wolves by the British after 99 years of dutifully generated revenues for the British Empire. Despite some last minute electoral reforms by the British prior to the 1997 hand over to China, Hong Kong was basically a colonial subject of the Crown without a tradition of electing its own executives.
This is quite right. Wish I could mod this up instead of having to comment. The UK wasn't interested at all in letting Hong Kong people have a big say in their own government and tried to get that snuck into the handover agreement where China rightly pointed out that it was kind of late in the game for the UK to want Hong Kongers to have a say in their local government because the UK sure wasn't interested in that at all prior to having to negotiate the handover.
Taiwan, on the other hand, thanks to continuous US intervention since WWII, has blossomed into a fractious democracy, along with the requisite shares of protests, counter-protesters, counter-counter-protests.... and etc. Streets protest is almost a national past time, enjoyed by all demographic, from the young to the old, regardless of sexual orientation, or ethnic origin. Not to mentioned that unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan has its own military.
This is quite right as well, not to mention
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There seems to be some confusion here. I am NOT advocating that the Chinese communist form of corporate cancerism is superior to any other flavor. This is actually a separate topic, but I would argue that both capitalism and communism are dead and might as well be buried. Actually, there's a good argument that Taiwan is closer to capitalism than most countries these days, but it's the cancers that rule now.
My point is about the real-world politics of power-based negotiations. Trump wants to "win" against No
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I'm kind of unclear on your point. Most of your comment seems to be about the relative value of Taiwan versus North Korea (and I think I agree with your assessment there), but you quoted the part of my comment that was narrowly focused on the meeting next month.
Let me clarify that I think Xi could put enormous pressure on Kim to do various things, but I'm pretty sure he won't. In fact, one possible explanation for what is happening is that Xi wants to reduce Trump to Kim's level on the world stage, sort of
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I can speculatively address your second point. I was speculating that China would invade BOTH of them. As long as the US stayed out of it, I think China could overwhelm and control the little ones. After the fact was accomplished, they would just take the nukes and leave North Korea for South Korea to clean up, while focusing their own cleanup on Taiwan.
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Short on the way down, go long at the bottom. It's the insider trading / market manipulator way.
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It helps America because China made it a condition of the new trade deal. That deal will benefit America.
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Two obvious answer candidates:
Three actually:
(3). It's Trump. He'll say one thing one day, the opposite the next, and something else again on the third day.
How long has he been president and you still haven't noticed this?
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I've noticed. Actually, I think one of Trump's most amazing characteristics is what a terrible liar he is. It's kind of like political humor. The joke depends on understanding the reality, and Trump can't lie well because he can't recognize such basic concepts as truth and reality upon which to base more sophisticated lies.
Time for my little ontology of lies, but let me see if I can just dig up a link... That's extremely interesting. I know exactly what to look for and I know that I've published it in many
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A Chinese company suspected of putting spyware in their mobile phones, sells those phones to Iran. I could see some benefits here.
Re: MCGA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Elect a clown, get a circus.
Hire incompetent devs, get broken Unicode support.
Some things never change.
Re: MCGA? (Score:5, Funny)
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Actually I'm with Slashdot on this one, Unicode itself is so broken that it's either bad but functional rendering, or the users can completely break the layout and pull all kinds of shinnanigans.
Re:MCGA? (Score:4, Insightful)
Really, how does this help America? It only makes me suspicious that Trump or some of his buddies want to swoop in and get the stock for pennies on the dollar.
Yep, he probably bought up gazillions of shares last week when they collapsed. Now he's using his position as President to boost his personal retirement fund.
Re:MCGA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, how does this help America? It only makes me suspicious that Trump or some of his buddies want to swoop in and get the stock for pennies on the dollar.
Yep, he probably bought up gazillions of shares last week when they collapsed. Now he's using his position as President to boost his personal retirement fund.
More likely, the last person who spoke with him (or a Fox News commentator) already owns a bunch of ZTE stock, was getting soaked and advised him to help out -- Headline to read: "Trump Saves Chinese Company" (ignoring why they needed saving)
Trump doesn't read anything (longer than 140 characters, anyway), doesn't really know (or care to know) anything, has no moral compass, and has the attention span of a goldfish, so he's easily swayed by the last thing he hears. (I love to be proven wrong, but don't think I am)
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Trump doesn't read anything (longer than 140 characters, anyway), doesn't really know (or care to know) anything, has no moral compass, and has the attention span of a goldfish, so he's easily swayed by the last thing he hears.
No, seriously -- how do you really feel about him?
Re:MCGA? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.bbc.com/news/busine... [bbc.com]
"Beijing has made resolving the situation with ZTE, which employs about 80,000 people, one of its demands for striking a broader trade agreement with with US."
Trump has no choice, other than to burn the whole deal. We know he doesn't like to lose.
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Really, how does this help America? .
Its a great way to gain some leverage with China. We'll help ZTE if they agree to other stuff that helps the US, like cracking down on other unfair trade practices.
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Concessions he gets in return. This seems to be something forgotten by generations raised post Cold War era. Power politics are not just about negotiating. They're about negotiating from the position of power.
CCP's primary reason for economic development is employment, as employment reduces social unrest. Social unrest is the primary boogie man of CCP, which is terrified of its own people. That is why they maintain the steel production in otherwise poor northern China in spite of massive oversupply it is ca
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This oversupply situation just kicks the problem into the future, when the markets finally collapse for different goods and none of it can sell. When the layoffs finally DO come, China can blame it all on foreign manipulation, rather than their own overproduction, and all those angry workers could be massaged into a force to go out and fight these horrible foreign countries and companies. Rioting, burning foreign companies, stores, factories, etc, and if a lot of those workers die in the process, it mere
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I'm genuinely curious why it is that you think that "propaganda efforts" would be unsuccessful if this didn't happen in a country with central control over all media?
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Your whole argument falls flat on it's face when you realize Trump had NOTHING to do with the ZTE sanctions. The initial sanctions were enacted by the Obama admin and when ZTE violated the consent agreement it was the Bureaucracy that reacted and put in place the ban for violating the consent degree, not Trump.
I actually think the opposite happened here, after the bureaucracy reacted Xi called and threatened Trump and he buckled under just like he did the last time Xi talked to him. Hell maybe the Chinese
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So by your own admission, he has everything to do with actual sanctions. He just has nothing to with with events that started the chain which now resulted in sanctions.
Bending logic backwards like this just so that you can produce an expected outcome of "Trump is [negative descriptor]" is a good sign of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Re:MCGA? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it is probably why China allowed him to register the "Trump" trade name right after being elected despite being denied for so many years. It is a decision that is quite easy to reverse. If this were about buying and selling stock there would be a paper trail and China (not Trump) is too smart for that.
This is why sitting presidents should forgo all their business interests when taking on the position of president. Otherwise, it is impossible to not have conflicts of interest. There will always be the desire to work for oneself at the expense of the country they serve.
Wrong Question (Score:2)
How much as ZTE payed to Cohen?
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Because ZTE uses American technology, under license, in order to make their shit? Because Google is an American company, which gets a taste of app purchases through the Google Play store, made from ZTE devices? Because the Qualcomm processor and radio inside each ZTE device was manufactured for and sold by an American company to ZTE?
Do you think that ZTE grows it's phones on trees, or that there might be a logistics operation behind sourcing their parts, and licensing software and technology - of which a
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Yep, he's really draining the swamp (by installing a pipeline leading directly to the Oval Office) and disrupting the status quo (by chucking grenades around randomly, forcing everyone to panic regardless of political alignment). #MAGA
WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)
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When there’s a detour because of road construction, do you continue to drive straight ahead at full speed, mowing down the road crew, because that was your original plan?
Yes you do. (Score:4, Insightful)
"When there’s a detour because of road construction, do you continue to drive straight ahead at full speed, mowing down the road crew, because that was your original plan?"
You do if the whole point of driving by the detour was to smash into the road crew.
These sanctions were supposed to have the effect they are having on ZTE. They were supposed to hurt them a lot. Now he's reversing course because the sanctions actually worked? What type of example is that supposed to set for the future? "Sure, the US might put crippling sanctions on us over our actions but if we apologize they'll make it all better!"
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These sanctions were supposed to have the effect they are having on ZTE. They were supposed to hurt them a lot. Now he's reversing course because the sanctions actually worked? What type of example is that supposed to set for the future?
You don’t know what conditions ZTE will have to abide by to get back in business.
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So did we just win the trade war with China?
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There was no trade war. It’s a negotiation.
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I realize this is happening completely separate from Trumps clearly announced trade wars (including the repeated naming of China as a primary target) but it sure seems incredibly odd put in that context.
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Dumpsterfire would. Fuck anything but his wallet and his praise. The Chinese must be paying him well.
Drain the swamp my ass.
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Literally, What The Fuck?!!! He's a fucking buffoon with no coherent plan for anything.
You say that like it's a surprise?
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Trump is many things but neither a buffoon nor an animal associated without a coherent plan. He's intelligent and out for blood. Better described in the animal world as a weasel.
Don't confuse his ramblings as senseless or incoherrent. He's never said anything that hasn't been solely for his own personal gain. The trick is understanding what he cares about (Hint: Not Americans .... unless they can increase his wealth).
Re: WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)
Good cop, bad cop doesn't work when its only one cop. Trump is playing both sides as if he has split personality disorder. Actually, it is his pathological lying that is the problem.
Well, he did promise... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Whether it is Trump or Obama, but either way, currently jobless rates in the US are very low. [google.com.tw]
Excuse... excuse... (Score:3, Interesting)
Making up excuse to punish ZTE in the first place. And now making up excuse to back down failing to get more from negotiation.
ZTE knows the magic numbers... (Score:5, Insightful)
...specifically, the routing numbers for Michael Cohen's checking account~
But seriously, did any money have to change hands, or is this just Trump showing his admiration for Xi's continuing march towards tyranny?
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But seriously, did any money have to change hands, or is this just Trump showing his admiration for Xi's continuing march towards tyranny?
Um ... China is already a communist dictatorship, and has been for many decades.
Smells like BS (Score:4, Insightful)
ZTE had been a major international producer long before entering the US market. I doubt elimination from the US market makes it insolvent by any means. Whereas the US market may have possibly been the most profitable, they didn't play nice and got kicked off the playground. Boohoo, wake up, they're just another arm of the party.
Re:Smells like BS (Score:5, Informative)
It is not about US market, it is about now being illegal for US companies to license software (like Google Play) and hardware (like CPU chips) to ZTE.
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Illegal for any US company to do business with them period.
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Some object lessons here:
1. Foreign manufacturers need to secure alternate sources for components.
2. Software manufacturers need to hold their licenses overseas.
Exposing your business to the vagaries of totalitarian regimes is not a viable strategy.
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But where? Panama or some other tax haven? Are you sure those can be relied upon?
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The EU, Britain, Switzerland. Pretty much any one of those has more respect for a rule of law, a more equitable tax system and less inclination to bully other nations around.
ell, maybe not Britain. They have a bad habit of crippling their domestic R&D and handing it over to the USA. Because we bailed them out in some stupid war 70 years ago.
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Those large companies with IP portfolios to move don't want a more equitable tax system. They want the option to pay zero or close to zero taxes.
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more equitable tax system ... zero or close to zero taxes
Same thing. At least the rest of progressive western society (with the notable exception of the USA) has settled on a flat tax rate.
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1. Foreign manufacturers need to secure alternate sources for components.
Any clever suggestions? Specifically we're looking for chips that are compatible and act as a PHY interface to a world of technology locked behind US patents. Got a list of alternative suppliers?
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Good point. So I guess I'll have to add:
3. Remember back when you (China) were just getting into the mobile phone business. And you proposed developing your own standards. And the US threw a hissy-fit because you weren't going to use theirs? You should have told them to go shove it up their bum.
Lesson learned. Maybe it's not to late to re-start that effort.
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Exposing your business to the vagaries of totalitarian regimes is not a viable strategy
So when you stated that you were just kidding. It seems you're actually a backer of totalitarian regimes such as China, and want them and their enterprises to succeed. Well then. . . that would seem to make you a fan of bum ideas. . . in more than one sense.
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Exposing your business to the vagaries of totalitarian regimes is not a viable strategy.
ZTE is a Chinese company, and China ...CHINA is the totalitarian country in this discussion. It is a little late for ZTE, although selling to other totalitarian countries under sanction was a bad idea. Is that why you seem so agitated to try to prop them up?
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US companies can't do business with them. It's impossible to make telecom equipment without inputs from US companies.
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ZTE had been a major international producer long before entering the US market. I doubt elimination from the US market makes it insolvent by any means. Whereas the US market may have possibly been the most profitable, they didn't play nice and got kicked off the playground. Boohoo, wake up, they're just another arm of the party.
The problem is if you're going to build high end tech it's really hard not to have some of your supply chain come from US companies.
For the hardware they might be able to circumvent the sanctions with resellers but I suspect the US companies would be reluctant to sell to them and circumvent the sanctions so blatantly.
And the software is even tougher since you can't exactly sell a phone full of pirated software.
I'm a bit curious about the whole sanctions punishment in the first place, it sounds like the char
Makes sense! (Score:5, Interesting)
ZTE repeatedly violated the US sanctions against Iran, and lied to the government while in remediation. Now that the US has broken it's international agreement w/Iran & is threatening sanctions against our global partners who were also part of the agreement, the only logical 5d chess move is to get ZTE back in the business of selling security-compromised devices to Americans. Using the Dept of Commerce, paid for by American tax dollars.
I would be shocked if this was a backroom quid pro quo deal with China to expand the Trump brand business interests. Shocked I say.
tl;dr Jobs Jobs Jobs!
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Could also be a quid-pro-quo deal in this tariff crap.
Re:Makes sense! (Score:5, Funny)
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Can you explain the joke? I seem to be missing it.
For all we really know, Putin might be one of the largest shareholders in ZTE... His dark fortune is mostly unknown, with estimates ranging from $20 billion to $200 billion.
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Are you saying there is a parent company somewhere else? I always thought it was a Chinese company?
Let me see what Wikipedia says... Near as I can tell, it's as Chinese as it gets (though I didn't know how high it ranked). So the joke was that Trump didn't know that?
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ZTE repeatedly violated the US sanctions against Iran, and lied to the government while in remediation. Now that the US has broken it's international agreement w/Iran & is threatening sanctions against our global partners who were also part of the agreement, the only logical 5d chess move is to get ZTE back in the business of selling security-compromised devices to Americans.
I'm sorry, but the U. S. government's behavior is just getting schizophrenic.
I can understand banning ZTE because it went against US sanctions.
I can understand banning ZTE if there was evidence of Chinese backdoors in the hardware (even if it isn't released, if releasing the evidence may compromise US security issues).
I can understand banning ZTE to help promote other non-Chinese brands, particularly US and allies brands.
The only way trying to help ZTE makes any sense is if the US government finally realize
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You expect rational and long-term planning from the current president of the USA? I have a bridge to sell you.
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It seems the thinking and operation of real estate investor/developers is beyond your ken.
We now know why Trump suddenly reversed course on sanctions against a Chinese tech giant [businessinsider.sg]
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Good points, especially the last one, and I lament the lack of mod points to give you.
You did make me wonder how owners of ZTE phones feel about this mess. Maybe they were never popular? I've considered getting a ZTE a couple of times, but never did...
Hmm... Perhaps I should snatch one up in a liquidation sale? Out-of-production sales are usually the best prices, though the normal push is from the new models coming in.
Re:Makes sense! (Score:5, Insightful)
The giveaway here is that Breitbart have chosen to pretend it never happened. If even they can't spin it, you know he screwed up.
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Yeah. I saw someone comment asking how the WH was going to spin this. Simple, they don't have to. A couple "I'll get back to you on that" from Sanders and the next nutty thing will have caused everyone to forget.
It's nearly impossible to remember all the totally nutso things that have happened. Part of a strategy, one would imagine.
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You got me curious with that statement, so I checked. It seems you're wrong in more than one respect. Breitbart carried a story on it, and there seems to be a bigger game at play.
Kudlow on Administration’s China Trade Actions: ‘Don’t Blame Trump, Blame China’ [breitbart.com]
We now know why Trump suddenly reversed course on sanctions against a Chinese tech giant [businessinsider.sg]
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Possibly ZTE is an Essential Consultants client?
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. . . the only logical 5d chess move is to get ZTE back in the business of selling security-compromised devices to Americans. Using the Dept of Commerce, paid for by American tax dollars.
I would be shocked if this was a backroom quid pro quo deal with China to expand the Trump brand business interests. Shocked I say.
I take it you're not a big 5d chess player either.
We now know why Trump suddenly reversed course on sanctions against a Chinese tech giant [businessinsider.sg]
President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse sanctions on Chinese telecom giant ZTE was part of a larger trade agreement, according to a new report.
- In exchange for easing the restrictions on ZTE, the Chinese government will not impose tariffs on US agricultural products like pork and wine.
- The agricultural tariffs were imposed by China in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
- The deal is not finalized yet and details still need to be worked out.
Backroom Deals (Score:2)
Trump is not draining the swamp, he is drinking from the swamp.
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* cough *
We now know why Trump suddenly reversed course on sanctions against a Chinese tech giant [businessinsider.sg]
Ah yes, the "Clintons" [lifezette.com]. . . maybe you are looking at the wrong stories? [lifezette.com]
I don't know what's worse (Score:5, Insightful)
The first year of this crap I could chalk up to the news cycle catching up with folks who don't watch politics. But at this point folks are sticking with him out of either stubbornness or a desire to see those "coastal elites" mad. That's some mighty fine face spiting right there, Lou.
Re:I don't know what's worse (Score:4, Insightful)
I am convinced that Trump supporters will continue to support him, irrespective of what he does, as long as he enables their xenophobic and racist tendencies.
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I also find it remarkable how stable the level of support is in face of this madness. The administration has told us that 2+2=5 so many times that the opposition can't believe anything it says anymore, and so when you get reversals like this on ZTE's violation of the Iran sanctions the conclusion jumps straight to corruption, because even if there is a reasonable justification for playing nice with the Chinese there is absolutely no apparent coherence to what Trump is
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You got me to look at the AC comment. What are the opposite of congratulations?
Why are you feeding the troll? Your closing sums up the situation well enough, but you're not even likely to earn any funny mods in that context.
This makes no sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me be clear - I do not agree with Trump’s short-sighted and backwards-thinking trade war. But isn’t the whole point of a trade war to put the hurt on the companies and consumers based in the other country, which increases the pressure on the other government to make concessions?
Trump is basically giving away his leverage - so instead of both countries being hurt by the trade war, now it’s Americans who’ll take the brunt of the pain. Good job, “master” deal maker.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Well, this is a different war. It's about Iran sanctions. I think the reason this is happening is they're actually trying to contain a possible Chinese trade war.
It's brinksmanship, and when you're on the brink shutting down a billion dollar Chinese company with 75,000 employees might send you over the edge. He needs China's leadership to swallow its pride and make some trade concessions.
Re: This makes no sense (Score:2)
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Let me be clear - I do not agree with Trump’s short-sighted and backwards-thinking trade war. But isn’t the whole point of a trade war to put the hurt on the companies and consumers based in the other country, which increases the pressure on the other government to make concessions?
There may well be something about this that you and I don't know.
If this were a story about NASA, and you had posted "WTF, why didn't they design their rover this way instead, blah blah", someone (quite possibly me) would be replying "whew, thanks, I'll get right on the phone to NASA and straighten this out".
We don't have all the facts.
America first ... (Score:2)
... after China.
Maybe this is brilliant? (Score:3)
Maybe this is a brilliant move to show China that the US can win a trade war. He found an opportunity to bring a bring Chinese company to the edge of disaster, then calls up his counterparts in the Chinese government and says "Ya know, I *could* save ZTE, and those of us in the know could make a lot of money now that the stock sank, but here's what I want in return..."
European countries take notes. (Score:2)
So, from various news sources, the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from exporting products to ZTE for seven years because:
The U.S. government accused ZTE of violating a March 2017 settlement in which the firm pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $1.19 billion for illegally shipping telecommunications equipment to Iran and North Korea.
Now, after Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, he threatens European countries with sanctions [wsj.com] if they continue the nuclear deal with Iran (w/o the US). Is he going to stand by that or fold if/when companies complain? How about if ZTE starts shipping things to Iran again? (Of course ZTE isn't a country or in Europe, but Trump doesn't know that.)
Why even have laws with that president? (Score:3)
Ah. So trump helps china more than usa (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)