Day 481: The Curious Case of Donald Trump and a Chinese Phone Company
After an influx of a billion dollars towards a personal deal, Trump suddenly wants to save Chinese jobs.
Donald Trump has taken a hard-line stance about trade with China. While he has failed to really understand trade surpluses and deficits and taken some laughably strange positions, Trump really confused things this week when discussing one phone company in China: ZTE.
ZTE had just been hit with sanctions a few weeks ago.
The Trump administration last month banned ZTE, which makes smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, from using US technology after accusing it of violating a deal in which it agreed to pay $1.2 billion for evading US sanctions on North Korea and Iran.
Suddenly, Sunday Trump was tweeting about the need to save ZTE and Chinese jobs.
By Monday, when everyone was thoroughly confused, Trump tried to spin a deal as helping American interests.
But if that’s the true goal, then the sanctions would’ve never been put on ZTE to begin with. The flip-flop makes very little sense considering his prior position and actions.
“He is backing off, and his policy is now designed to achieve one goal: Make China great again,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, of New York. “The toughest thing we could do, the thing that will move China the most, is taking tough action against actors like ZTE.”
Trump’s tweets also exposed him to accusations of inconsistency, since the administration on Sunday warned of possible sanctions against European firms that do business with Tehran after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal last week.
“The hypocrisy here is staggering,” former State Department spokesman John Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday.
Trump’s abrupt flip could be just another part of his waffling personality: the next person in the room convinces him to do a 180-degree turn.
It could also be something more sinister and corrupt.
A mere 72 hours after the Chinese government agreed to put a half-billion dollars into an Indonesian project that will personally enrich Donald Trump, the president ordered a bailout for a Chinese-government-owned cellphone maker.
Trump did not mention in that tweet or its follow-ups that on Thursday, the developer of a theme park resort outside of Jakarta had signed a deal to receive as much as $500 million in Chinese government loans, as well as another $500 million from Chinese banks. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, has a deal to license the Trump name to the resort, which includes a golf course and hotels.
A Trump Organization project is getting $1 billion of Chinese money and just hours later one of the biggest companies in China gets a bailout from Trump. Sure, it could be a coincidence. But, despite numerous promises to do so, Trump has never divested from the Trump Organization and will personally and substantially profit if the project in Indonesia is completed.
This situation is exactly why the emoluments clauses are so vital and they’re being flagrantly violated by Trump. When asked, the White House couldn’t give any explanation how the payments and loans to the Indonesia deal don’t violate the Constitution.
481 days in, 981 to go
Follow us on Twitter at @TrumpTimer
