Trump wants to keep pressure on Chinese companies. His biggest target is Huawei Technologies. Huawei is a force to reckon with in the global tech industry. American tech and telecom companies had a good working relationship with the $100 billion company before president Trump decided he wanted to use the company as a bargaining chip.
According to Canadian news reports, Trump was behind the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou last December. Canadian customs officers held Meng in the customs office for three hours while they rifled through her personal devices. Customs officers arrested Meng after they sent all the business and personal information on her devices to the FBI, according to Meng’s lawyer.
Mr. Trump’s Huawei ban hurt American telecom companies. They want a piece of the 5G pie. But unless Trump lifts the ban the U.S. will fall behind in the global 5G race. More than 70 countries will have 5G broadband service by 2021, and 480 households around will the world will have 5G access by 2025.
Mr. Trump plans to meet President Xi in Chile in November, but the tech piece of the trade talks won’t be a topic during that meeting. Mr. Trump wants to get the farm piece of the agreement locked down, and the Chinese want the same thing. According to Liu He, China will buy $20 billion worth of farm products as soon as possible. Trump claims the Chinese agreed to buy $40 to $50 billion worth of soybeans, pork, and wheat. But Chief negotiator Liu He said that’s a Trumpian exaggeration.
Colonel Alexander Vindman didn’t exaggerate when he told Schiff’s impeachment panel Trump screwed with the released Zelensky call transcript. Vindman, a Ukraine expert, sits on the National Security Council. He listened to Trump’s attempt to quid pro quo Zelensky using his typical play on words and phrases. Many of those words and phrases didn’t make Trump’s version of the transcript, according to Vindman.
Vindman’s testimony backs up Bill Taylor’s account of Trump’s plan to shakedown Zelensky. Congressional Republicans attacked Vindman’s credibility, but several Republicans told the press Colonel Vindman deserves more respect. Vindman is a Purple Heart recipient and a dedicated government official.
Congressional Republicans tried to intimidate the Colonel by claiming he was the whistleblower. Vindman told his detractors he doesn’t know the whistleblower. Vindman told his superiors about Trump’s plan to shakedown Zelensky, but his bosses were loyal Trumpians who kept his concerns under their Trumpian red hats.
Dil Bole Oberoi
