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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.
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.
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!