Current Events

Article: “Donald Trump says flap over Chinese phone company ZTE involves U.S. jobs and sales”

Article summary

            USA Today reported that critics are against Trump's idea of negotiating with ZTE Phone Company in China.  The company was involved in a cyber-espionage, and for this reason, US does not allow American companies to sell software to ZTE. In specific, ZTE was accused of violating Iran sanctions and export controls and failed to admit their illegal acts that is; exporting American technology without a legal agreement.  The firm was charged with $892M to settle the claim and export ban for seven years. However, despite the supplier ban, President Trump is focusing on restoring the company. He argues that the ZTE company creates a ‘large trade deal' with the US since the firm gets many products from the U.S (Jackson, 2018). Thus, President Trump is not only negotiating with China, but he is also forming a personal relationship with the President of China.  Liu, who is an economist and a politician in China will visit Washington and hold trade talks with President Trump. There is a conflict between President Trump and the critics as the latter argue that Trump is backing off his promise to restrict Chinese trade practices. Trump is interested in restoring the Chinese business and the many jobs lost in China.  However, this is a bad deal since ZTE is among the companies which are restricted from receiving high-tech materials from U.S (Jackson, 2018). ZTE  is anxiously  waiting for  the approval  of restoring its  business practice by arguing that  the termination of  its ‘major  operating activities' will not only affect its survival but it will also have a negative impact  on  U.S companies and   consumers who  purchase Android phones.  Douglas Jacobson who is a lawyer also supports the Chinese phone company by stating that the case is unusual and there is no legal mechanism.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/14/donald-trump-says-chinese-phone-company-zte-involves-u-s-jobs-sales/608942002/

 

My Take:

            The Trump's willingness to restore the ZTE business is a way of bringing economy and national security issues.  Even though president Trump has a positive focus on restoring the lost American jobs, the restoration of ZTE‘s business practices with creating an intractable nature where both China and U.S will enter into technological cold war (Jackson, 2018).  Note that the reason for banning the supplier of software to ZTE is due to technology-based threats.  Thus, the efforts toward restoring the Chinese firms is an indication that the U.S focus on improving the technological development in China and return, China will expand its cyber capacity.   Note that ZTE technology will increase the cyber security threat and trade tension between the two countries.  The problem with president Trump is that he focuses on Chinese company success and ignores the national security. Allowing the ZTE to restores its business activities is like giving it the opportunity to control the U.S telecommunications infrastructure, steal information and engage in undetected espionage (Jackson, 2018). This is an issue of concern since the idea to authorize the ZTE firm in restoring its business practices does not come from Treasury and Commerce officials but Trump personally intervenes and violets the law informant rules.  Note that Trump also ignores the egregious behaviors of the ZTE firm since the firm failed to comply with the agreement that is; punishing the employees who exported U.S technology to other countries (Jackson, 2018)..  The point is that U.S should stop doing business with China just because the relationship between China and U.S is complex. It is complex in a way that Chinese firm spy American business and as a result, U.S will suffer from loss of secrets. If it is not possible to stop doing business with China, then there is a need for an international effort to monitor the operating systems, detect security exploits and take appropriate actions.

 

Reference

  Jackson David. (2018). Donald Trump says flap over Chinese phone company ZTE involves U.S jobs and sales. USA TODAY. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/14/donald-trump-says-chinese-phone-company-zte-involves-u-s-jobs-sales/608942002/