In a follow-up tweet regarding ZTE, President Trump defended his decision to intervene in the case with the Department of Commerce, citing on-going trade negotiations and his personal relationship with President Xi.
Meanwhile, Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce, said ZTE did “inappropriate things” referring to its violation of economic sanctions against Iran, but that his department would now consider “other remedies” instead of the current export ban of U.S. products to ZTE. Media sources also speculated that China was using the delayed approval process for Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP Semiconductor as its own bargaining chip in the ongoing bilateral trade negotiations.
