CANADA/CHINA/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Canada issued a stern warning to President Donald Trump on Wednesday [12-12-18]: don’t use the arrest of a Chinese executive as a bargaining chip in trade talks. “Our extradition partners should not seek to politicize the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a press conference discussing the US request for extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. Freeland’s remarks come after Trump said in an interview Tuesday that he might intervene in the legal saga if it would help the United States and China reach a trade deal…His comments, which were published shortly after Meng was granted bail by a judge in Vancouver, were highly unusual for an American President, and contradicted assertions by senior officials in his administration that the December 1 arrest, part of a long-running investigation, should not be tied to Trump’s dinner that same day with Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
–Julia Horowitz, “Canada warns Trump administration against politicizing Chinese executive’s arrest,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, December 12, 2018 6:34 am