Donald Trump willing to intervene in Huawei CFO arrest case

US president would act to secure China trade deal as Meng Wanzhou released on bail

Donald Trump is willing to intervene in the case of a detained Huawei executive if it would benefit US national security or help secure a significant trade deal with China.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, the US president said he would do “whatever’s good for this country” in relation to the case of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecoms company who was detained in Canada last week after a US extradition request.

“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,” Mr Trump told Reuters.

We’ll speak to the justice department . . . we’ll get a lot of people involved

Donald Trump, US president

Ms Meng was released from custody after being granted bail by a Vancouver court on Tuesday. The US has accused her of misleading banks about Huawei’s connections with a company that has allegedly violated American sanctions related to Iran. Mr Trump said the White House had spoken to the justice department and Chinese officials about the case, but that he had not spoken with President Xi Jinping.

“They have not called me yet. They are talking to my people. But they have not called me yet,” Mr Trump said when asked whether he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart about the case.

Ms Meng was arrested in Vancouver as she prepared to transit to a flight to Mexico. Her detention came on the day that Mr Trump and Mr Xi were holding a meeting at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. The White House said Mr Trump and John Bolton, his national security adviser, had not been aware that the justice department was trying to arrest Ms Meng.

The controversy surrounding Ms Meng — the daughter of Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei — has complicated relations between the US and China as Mr Trump tries to reach a comprehensive deal with Beijing to end the trade war that has roiled markets in recent months. Canada has also come under Chinese pressure because of its role.

China appears to have decided to limit the impact of Ms Meng’s detention by keeping the issue separate from the trade dispute with the US. But in a move that some experts viewed as Chinese retaliation against Canada, Beijing has detained a former Canadian diplomat, according to two people familiar with the  disappearance of Michael Kovrig.

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, said his government was taking the disappearance of Mr Kovrig “very seriously” and that his officials were in contact with Beijing. The development came just days after China warned Ottawa that there would be “serious consequences” if Canada did not release Ms Meng and return her to China.

Ms Meng was granted bail by a Vancouver court under an agreement that requires her to wear an ankle bracelet and bars her from travelling outside the Canadian city, where she maintains a residence. She was required to pay for the security guards who will monitor her movements and also to put up C$10m (US$7.5m) to get bail.

Asked if Ms Meng could be released, Mr Trump said it was “possible that a lot of different things could happen”. He said he wanted to see a Chinese request to release her before saying whether he wanted her extradited to the US.

“It’s also possible it will be a part of negotiations. But we’ll speak to the justice department, we’ll speak to them, we’ll get a lot of people involved,” said Mr Trump, who added that the case was “a big problem that we’ve had in so many different ways with so many companies from China and from other places”.

The president’s comments came on the same day that China told the US it would cut tariffs on imports of US cars from 40 per cent to 15 per cent, in the first concrete sign of progress in trade talks since Mr Trump and Mr Xi met in Argentina.

Source: Financial Times