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Business Title: Make China great again? We must find a way to save Chinese jobs at ZTE, says Trump Now here’s Trump, the great protectionist, a man who was threatening China with $100 billion in new tariffs five weeks ago, worried about ZTE’s future. Out: Trump is colluding with Russia. In: Trump is colluding with China. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018 Pithy background: Last year the Commerce Department accused ZTE of defying U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran by doing business with those two countries under the radar. They slapped a fine of more than a billion dollars on the company and reached a settlement with it in which ZTE agreed to take certain disciplinary measures against employees responsible for breaking the sanctions. Failure to comply would mean the U.S. could bar the company from importing American tech components on which its business relies for seven years. Last month Commerce announced that they’d discovered that not only had ZTE not disciplined the employees, eschewing even letters of reprimand, they paid them bonuses. Citing the settlement agreement, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross declared that the seven-year ban barring ZTE from U.S. exports was now in effect. And that was a heavy blow. ZTE might not be able to continue operations without the components. It’s not the biggest Chinese telecom company but it still commands 75,000 employees. And the company that *is* the biggest, Huawei, now has something to fear: It’s not just the economic fallout that makes sanctions on ZTE and possibly Huawei so painful for China. Nationalist politics matter here too — on both sides: In reality, ZTE represents much more to China than merely jobs. As a maker of the equipment that undergirds cellular networks, the company plays a crucial role in China’s innovation drive and its push to influence technology outside its borders. Now you can see what Trump’s doing, or trying to do, with his tweets. American and Chinese negotiators have been meeting regularly for weeks to try to avert the trade war that (nearly) broke out last month. The Chinese obviously want the export ban on ZTE and, especially, the potential ban on Huawei to be on the table as part of any grand bargain on trade. They’ve mentioned that to Ross in negotiations too — but Ross said no, whether because he’s driving a hard bargain or because he genuinely believes that the Chinese shouldn’t be able to negotiate their way out of sanctions-busting vis-a-vis two U.S. enemies like North Korea. The tweets are Trump’s way of going over Ross’s head and signaling to the Chinese that they *can* negotiate their way out of the ZTE export ban, depending upon what they’re willing to give up. A new round of trade talks begins this week; POTUS is adding these major new concessions to the mix in hopes of enticing the Chinese to add their own. Hopefully he’s coordinating with Ross on that, a sort of good cop/bad cop play for leverage in which Trump signals he’s open to anything while Ross plays hardball at the negotiating table. But Trump being Trump, you never know. Remember, he reportedly agreed to the idea of a summit with Kim Jong Un without consulting his natsec or diplomatic teams first. Maybe a high Chinese official reached out to him to lobby him personally on ZTE and Trump was responsive, knowing that Chinese cooperation will also be useful with whatever comes next on North Korea. He might be hanging Ross out to dry. Either way, it’s really weird to see those tweets, not just because of his trade saber-rattling on China or because he’s undercutting his Commerce chief but because he’s potentially also undercutting U.S. sanctions on the NorKs and Iran. If ZTE gets relief, it’ll prove that offenders can “buy” their way out of doing business with bad guys. The fact that ZTE *itself* is deemed a national security threat compounds the weirdness, as critics on the right and the left are reminding him: — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 14, 2018 — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 13, 2018 Remember, at the core of the White House’s trade antagonism towards China is (justified) outrage that Chinese companies are stealing intellectual property from American “partners.” ZTE is the flip side of that, exploiting its own technology in U.S. markets to gather intelligence for the Chinese government. It’s a different form of “intellectual property” theft, yet here’s Mr. America First apparently willing to cut ZTE a break if the price is right. Exit question: What is the price, exactly? What does Trump want in return for tearing up the export ban on ZTE? Poster Comment: Trump is grabbing the Chinese telecom companies by the pussy, real hard. This will be a squeeze play between Congress and the establishment playing Bad Cop and Trump playing Good Cop. The stakes for Trump are more favorable trade balance with China and their help in denuclearizing North Korea, not just talking about it but actually doing it.
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#2. To: Tooconservative (#0)
And when it's over, the Chinese Mandarins and Japanese will own us.
Hooey. Trump will extract concessions on American intellectual property protections. That is what the ZTE case is all about. And it is a threat to Huawei, the #1 Chinese producer. Trump is threatening to remove all Chinese phones from the market, in effect. This would apply to even phones made in China for Chinese consumers. No more Chinese phones, period. This is a major pussy grab by Trump. Trump has the leverage. He's after a final peace treaty in Korea and the end of this phony North Korea/South Korea business. It is just Korea and it is long past time for that war to end. How many people are just resigned to the idea that the Korear War will last another 50 or 70 years? Hell, Trump was 4 years old when it started! It's ridiculous that we haven't been able to impose a permanent peace on the country and get our military out of there (mostly).
Just because you want to believe this crap doesn't mean it is true.
Trump has the entire Chinese telecom sector in his hands. Not just phones. Lots of other gear to run networks, routers, cell towers, etc. Both ZTE and Huawei have abused us and we've caught them red-handed. And they can't ignore us either and just keep doing it. We can cancel their MFN status, take them to trade dispute court (where we have already won the case), etc. Much of this is IP that is locked up in chips that we make. China can't just start fabricating its own. Developing this kind of stuff takes years, the software to run it all takes even longer. This is all happening at a time of Trump's choosing. Commerce got the order to hammer ZTE just so Trump could offer to help the Chinese prez to save those ZTE jobs and make China great again. And help to get Huawei into compliance as well. And Trump only needs a few little favors from China in return.
We're educating Chinese over here in stem. They are smarter and more disciplined than Americans. They pick it up immediately and take it back with them. Judging from the Chinese goods we see on our shelves, it doesn't take them long. Do you have a background in electronics, or just bull shit.
I know a fair amount. Obviously, a hell of a lot more than you do.
I know a fair amount. Obviously, a hell of a lot more than you do. Just as I thought, empty bull shit!
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