President Trump Puts 'America First' On Hold To Save Chinese Jobs

TRUMP ON TWITTER:
"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!"

Commerce last month imposed a seven-year ban on ZTE from purchasing anything from U.S. companies – a move that cut it off from its suppliers that has been described as a "death sentence" for the company, which employs some 70,000 workers in China.

www.npr.org...

Secondly, Trump’s move to rescue ZTE, a company on the brink of extinction because it unlawfully did business in Iran, comes at a time when the U.S. has just reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and is threatening European companies that continue to trade there.

Perhaps most importantly, it is also extremely unusual for a U.S. president to threaten to override his own Commerce Department like this.

Here’s a quick recap of the situation.

ZTE, a major Chinese manufacturer of phones and telecom network equipment, was busting U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea by selling equipment there, despite the fact that the kit used American components.

Last year the Justice Department fined ZTE almost $900 million over the Iran stuff, and also got ZTE to agree to a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges.

In April, the Commerce Department said ZTE had broken its agreement with the U.S. government by giving full bonuses to the employees involved in the illegal Iran sales, failing to reprimand them, and also lying about this to the Commerce Department.

Trumps Assistant Secr. of Commerce:

In an April letter setting out the company’s actions, the Commerce Department said the phone-maker engaged in a “extensive conspiracy,” approved by its then-CEO to evade U.S. laws.

“As a result of the conspiracy, ZTE was able to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with and sales from Iranian entities to ship routers, microprocessors, and servers controlled under the Regulations for national security, encryption, regional security, and/or anti-terrorism reasons to Iran,” Richard R. Majauskas, acting assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement, wrote in the April 15 denial order letter to ZTE.

Majauskas wrote that beyond violating trade laws, the company lied to investigators and tried to cover up wrongdoing. Some of the charges against ZTE, were related to actions to “obstruct and delay the U.S. Government’s investigation.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross last month called ZTE's behavior "egregious" and said it "cannot be ignored."

“Those who flout our economic sanctions, export control laws and any trade regimes will not go unpunished,” Ross said at the time. “They will suffer the harshest of consequences.”

NOW, Trump is over-riding his Commerce Secretary, directing him to reverse the penalties against ZTE for selling technology to North Korea and Iran???

To save Chinese jobs???

However, Kevin Wolf, the Obama-era assistant secretary of commerce who launched the case against ZTE, told the Financial Times he was “speechless” at Trump’s tweet.

“I’m highly confident that a president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before,” Wolf told the paper. “It’s so outside the way the rules were set up.”

fortune.com...

Trump's decision to ease up on the Chinese company came at an odd time, given that the administration also sent the message that it might go after European allies if they continue to be involved with Iran.

www.politico.com...


Kind of speechless.

Reminds of the what the Dossier said about Trump and China:

-Suggestion from source close to TRUMP and MANAFORT that Republican campaign team happy to have Russia as media bogeyman to mask more extensive corrupt business ties to China and other emerging countries

themoscowproject.org...

America first anyone?

a reply to: soberbacchus

Did you just aite the Trump dossier as evidence when the dossier has been proven to be a hoax a dozen times over?

a reply to: toysforadults

by who? nice try lol

a reply to: soberbacchus

If the President is Really All for this , you can Bet it will somehow be a Benefit to American Workers in the Long Run . His Motivations are Never Really known to the Public until he Actually Acts ........

TextReminds of the what the Dossier said about Trump and China: 

From your post

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: soberbacchus

If the President is Really All for this , you can Bet it will somehow be a Benefit to American Workers in the Long Run . His Motivations are Never Really known to the Public until he Actually Acts ........

ZTE has products have been banned in much of the US for being a spy apparatus.

President Trump like all politicians does things to protect his voter base.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: soberbacchus

Did you just aite the Trump dossier as evidence when the dossier has been proven to be a hoax a dozen times over?

Believe what you choose about the Dossier, but Trump just announced he was going to reverse his own Commerce Secretaries sanctions against ZTE for selling Technology to NK and Iran and lying to US investigators about it (as recently as a month ago).

Can you offer an explanation?

China first?
Make China great again?
Illegally selling American sensitive technology to NK and Iran all good?
Saving Chinese jobs more important than illegal sales of American Technology to Iran and NK?

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: soberbacchus

If the President is Really All for this , you can Bet it will somehow be a Benefit to American Workers in the Long Run . His Motivations are Never Really known to the Public until he Actually Acts ........

Spoken like a cult follower explaining why his leader married an 8 year old girl.

DP

a reply to: soberbacchus

Trying to Figure Out what President Trump will do or not do is a Fool's Errand . You are just going to Wait and See if your Conclusions are Right.....

a reply to: soberbacchus

Can you offer an explanation?

Payback for getting him off the hook with North Korea.

a reply to: soberbacchus

The best assumption you can make is that he is doing this as a mission to support diplomacy.

Unless you have solid Intel (the dossier is not good Intel) then you really have nothing here to prove intent.

US intelligence officials all say they wouldn't use a Chinese-made Huawei or ZTE phone for fear of spying

a reply to: gortex


this is how I see it. they're giving him so much credit for nk - there's gotta be some payback for that.

plus, ivanka and trump both have businesses in china and recent new trademark deals.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: soberbacchus

Can you offer an explanation?

Payback for getting him off the hook with North Korea.

Iran never advanced to Nuclear Tests or Missile capability. They get slammed by this administration and full-on sanctions, agreement shredded.

North Korea launches missiles and tests Nukes? Gets full love by Trump.

What's the message to rogue regimes about Nukes?

North Korea is never giving up it's Nuclear Strike capabilities. Their Nukes have earned them love from the Orange Menace.

China told Kim that Trump was gullible and in need of good PR and to strike while the iron was hot. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to roll over the USA on the world stage.

As best I can tell Trump is North Korea and China's pet.

That happens if a nation has sold itself to another Nation!
Now the nation with the debts has to follow the orders of the nation that bought all the government bonds of the debt nation. Logically, somehow.

Is "America" now third?
Trump, as always, first
China second
And then allegedly "America" on the third place

I would say Israel and Saudi Arabia would be third and "America" comes at a later time, at the 147th position, or similiar.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: soberbacchus

The best assumption you can make is that he is doing this as a mission to support diplomacy.

That is not an assumption that can be made at all??

Right now our EUROPEAN ALLIES have been told that if they conduct ANY business with Iran, they could be penalized by the USA.

And Trump is on a one-man mission to REVERSE his own Commerce Department sanctions on a Chinese company that actually illegally sold US Technology to Iran and lied about it and covered it up...and paid bonuses to the Execs that ran the Iran deal????

THAT is not diplomacy. That is inexplicable, or at least the explanations available are not good.

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: soberbacchus

Trying to Figure Out what President Trump will do or not do is a Fool's Errand . You are just going to Wait and See if your Conclusions are Right.....

Just for context...could you please explain your use of caps in these posts?

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: soberbacchus

Can you offer an explanation?

Payback for getting him off the hook with North Korea.

Exactly! The President of China, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong In met in China just a few weeks ago and most probably brokered the anti-nuclear deal. Xi Jinping offered Trump's ego credit for the secret brokerage, at least in the USA, in exchange for bringing ZTE back into play.

On a related note, Bolton is pushing to eliminate the White House cyber security chief's job.

ZTE puts spyware in the phone from the factory. I wouldn't own one.

Speaking of spyware....last week a coworker was in my office talking about CPAP machines to another coworker. Now im getting ads for said machines in my various apps and feeds. I say this to point out that even someone else having spyware could potentially lead to datamining occuring on you.