CHINA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday [12-11-18] his administration is open to using the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou as a bargaining chip in ongoing trade negotiations with China. Asked by Reuters in an interview if he would intervene in the case, Trump said, ‘Whatever’s good for this country, I would do.’ He continued, ‘If I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made — which is a very important thing — what’s good for national security — I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary.’ Trump’s comments signal that the arrest of the tech giant’s CFO in Canada could play a major role as the US and China continue trade talks, which began December 1 with the meeting of the President and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The talks are expected to last 90 days.”
-Betsy Klein, “Trump expresses openness to using Huawei CFO as bargaining chip in China trade talks,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, December 11, 2018 7:33 pm