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President Trump Pledges To Help China's ZTE, After Ban (usatoday.com)

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.

20 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. MCGA? by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    1. Re:MCGA? by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You must be kidding. Trump isn't out to help America. He is out to help himself. Morally and ethically bankrupt.

    2. Re: MCGA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Elect a clown, get a circus.

      Hire incompetent devs, get broken Unicode support.

      Some things never change.

    3. Re:MCGA? by fahrbot-bot · · 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.

      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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    4. Re: MCGA? by cunina · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, now â" I wouldnâ(TM)t call the Unicodeâ support âoebroken.â More like, itâ(TM)s a mélange of character sets that donâ(TM)t render the same on every device. The handful of people using iOS should wait until the trusty developers at Slashdot finish their jalapeño tamales and AÃaà bowls, then theyâ(TM)ll fix it.

    5. Re:MCGA? by willy_me · · Score: 4, 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.

    6. Re:MCGA? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://www.bbc.com/news/busine...

      "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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  2. WTF? by TiberiusKirk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Literally, What The Fuck?!!! He's a fucking buffoon with no coherent plan for anything.

    1. Re: WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  3. Well, he did promise... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! He just didn't mention that they would be Chinese jobs.

  4. ZTE knows the magic numbers... by MostAwesomeDude · · Score: 4, 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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  5. Re:Smells like BS by postmortem · · Score: 4, 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.

  6. Makes sense! by forgottenusername · · 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!

    1. Re:Makes sense! by mrclmn · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's almost as though Trump thinks ZTE is a Russian company.

    2. Re:Makes sense! by Duds · · Score: 4, 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.

  7. I don't know what's worse by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the rampant corruption, the back pedaling on all his campaign promises (backed down on Carrier, supports Guest Worker programs & TPP, just gave Big Pharma a big present, filled his cabinet with Goldman Sach's folks that embody the swamp... I could go on) or the fact that no matter what his poll #s don't budge from 38-40%.

    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.

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  8. This makes no sense by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, 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.

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    1. Re:This makes no sense by squiggleslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The ZTE ban has little or nothing to do with any trade war. It's a straightforward consequence of the pre-existing sanctions against Iran. ZTE sold US technologies to Iran.

      Whether we should be sanctioning Iran, or trying to build a better relationship with them (they're horrible, but in some ways they're one of the least horrible regimes in that region - still, compared to Saudi Arabia, who isn't moderately better?) is another question. But it makes little sense to have sanctions and then say "Hey, it's OK, no biggie" when someone actually violates them.

      Also worth noting: ZTE is also implicated in some spyware stuff, that's bad enough to ensure ZTE phones are banned by the US military. It's not like a friendly company committed an oopsie.

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  9. Re:It's the whiplash with a touch of insider tradi by Kohath · · Score: 4, 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.

  10. Re:It's the whiplash with a touch of insider tradi by shanen · · Score: 4, 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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