Trade Truce? Deal with China in 90 days?
Think again on both counts: Canadian Authorities Arrest CFO of Huawei Technologies at U.S. Request
A spokesman for Canada’s justice department said Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 and is sought for extradition by the U.S. A bail hearing has been tentatively scheduled for Friday, according to the spokesman. Ms. Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, serves as the company’s CFO and deputy chairwoman.
Ms. Meng’s arrest comes amid a year-long U.S. government campaign against a company it views as a national-security threat. In the past year, Washington has taken a series of steps to restrict Huawei’s business on American soil and, more recently, launched an extraordinary international outreach campaign to persuade allied countries to enact similar curbs.
U.S. authorities have suspected Huawei’s alleged involvement in Iranian sanctions violations since at least 2016, when the U.S. investigated ZTE Corp. , Huawei’s smaller Chinese rival, over similar violations. The Commerce Department released internal ZTE documents that showed the company studied how a rival identified only as “F7” had conducted similar business.
“China will see this as an escalation against Huawei and as an extraterritorial rendition,” said James Mulvenon, general manager at defense contractor SOS International. “There will be tremendous domestic pressure in China to get her back.”
Huawei is the world’s biggest maker of equipment for cellular towers, internet networks and related telecommunications infrastructure. It is also the world’s No. 2 smartphone brand.
Some of America’s closest allies, including most of the countries in the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing pact among English-speaking countries, have followed the nation’s lead. Australia in August banned Huawei from its 5G networks, while New Zealand last week blocked one of it major wireless carriers from using Huawei. In Britain, BT Group PLC said Wednesday that it was removing the Huawei equipment from its network, two days after a British intelligence chief questioned whether the country should be using the Chinese gear.
Probably vs Definitely
- Definite: According to authorities, Ms. Meng was arrested while transferring flights in Canada.
- Probable: Huawei violated US sanction on Iran.
- Definite: The US sanctions on Iran are idiotic.
- Probable: There will be no meaningful trade agreement with China in 90 days.
- Probable: There would not have been a meaningful trade agreement with China in 90 days anyway.
- Definite: US S&P 500 futures were up 16 points Tuesday evening. The US markets were closed Wednesday. The futures are now down 23 point.
- Probable: The market reaction is in response to trade worries among other things but the market is so ridiculously overpriced that this news is meaningless over the long haul.
Bonus questions: Can anyone trust Trump? China? The EU? France? Emmanuel Macron? Theresa May?
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
So, the US has laws that span into other countries? If you break a US law in say Egypt, you can be tried and convicted in the US?
No, it’s not possible unless both countries have similar agreements, but if they capture someone in the US soil they can charge for it. They are using their good relations with Canada to arrest someone who has no criminal charges and bring back to US so that they can prosecute, I believe its a political pressure, it might be move to undermine Trump.
But the alleged crime was committed in China. I understand how extradition works.
China shouldn’t have joined the WTO if they wanted to violate trade sanctions. I personally knew of my customers in Russia and China violating sanctions into Iran and North Korea. Telecommunications equipment doesnt magically get into Iran and North Korea.
No, no, no, no, no, NO! is my answer……….just to………”Can anyone trust Trump?”.
Been seeing for hours that US futures are looking grim after Meng’s arrest. Nikkei and Hang Seng both had rough days too.
Surprised Trump would risk these optics in December with the Dow in danger of going red for the year. All this for what, the sheer joy if giving Iran a one finger salute for the millionth time?
Russia lost and was smart enough to recognize it. We are still in Afghanistan
I particularly enjoyed this Afghanistan gem from Trump, reported last week:
“We’re there because virtually every expert that I have and speak to say if we don’t go there, they’re going to be fighting over here,” Trump told the newspaper. “And I’ve heard it over and over again.”
Trump’s 9D chess looks very similar to whatever game Bush and Obama were playing.
Russia is negotiating with the Taliban to support them and provide equipment and weapons. Sound familiar ?
By the way so is China. Afghanistan is geopolitically too important because of Xianjin province.
“Bonus questions: Can anyone trust Trump? China? The EU? France? Emmanuel Macron? Theresa May?”
Another one: “Why do we need them?”
When I see their security my blood boils as it is being paid for with tax-payers money (direct and indirect). If the job has security threats do not take it or live with its pitfalls or pay for its security with your money.
The present system of politicians lording it over us, common people (attending G20, Davos etc. with our tax money mind you! Even the photo op session is paid for with our money) is ripe for change.
I see it as corporations are our overloads. The political class is just there to implement their agenda while pacify the masses.
PRC arresting foreign company execs isn’t unheard of. Reportedly arrested for otherwise benign reasons or no-issues in other countries.
Regardless trade wars (suppose we didn’t have one) tit-for-tat might be an effective instrument. Thanks goodness I’m not a company exec…
The trade war might be idiotic. But, some argue that the PRC is long time restricts trade of other countries. This pov holds that the trade war started long time ago by the PRC.
Thoughts?
The Deplorables who voted for him trust Trump. You might hate it but he is keeping his promises, including the bad ones.
Trump has patience and in most cases is achieving his goals, even if you think they are the wrong ones.
Scott Adams notes how Trump uses persuasion, so some of the headfakes, preliminary announcements, etc. are misinterpreted by almost everyone else since you are using a Bush standard of behavior, and Trump is playing under different rules.
Trump is actually quite predictable, but you need to know how he plays the game. Art of the deal. Persuasion filter.
Consider one of my irrelevant disappointments – the bump stock ban. Bump stocks are junk – you can use a rubber band, they ruin aim, etc. but Trump signed that. But not anything else (Some states did red flag laws but not the Feds, and enhanced background check just is how it should be but might not do anything real). Now I hope we can get reciprocal CCW and suppressors (hunter hearing protection Act). But it might be 2021.
Trump is not who you want but you neither have run for office nor won it. You aren’t president and no one voted for you, even if you might be right or better. They voted for Trump. And to many people’s horror and delight he is doing what he said.
I find it both horror and delight simultaneously – which I knew at the moment I decided he would do everything he said, in this case about waterboarding after Cruz triangulated, he said simply, “I’ll do worse”. I was horrified because I believed him. Then went over his other promises. Like Judges. EPA overreach.
I am disappointed because he is listening to neocons or worse on Afghanistan and the mid-east. Someone should tell him he needs to get out now. But that is remote.
The Afghanistan war is about controlling the gerographical pivot point to China’s (one belt one road initiative). Everybody always wondered why Soviet Union invaded them in 1979. They were playing the corporate long game.
Russia lost and was smart enough to recognize it. We are still in Afghanistan
Russia is getting back into the Afghan game.
I wish we had left Russia in Afghanistan, to have their own boys getting blown up. But that’s another discussion. Nobody is perfect, not even Reagan. Overall I like Trump’s America first policies.