Huawei’s Chief Operating officer Ren Zhengfei told the press his Chief Financial officer Meng Wanzhou is the face of Trump’s war against China. Meng is the company’s co-chair even though she lives in Vancouver, not China.
Canadian customs officials arrested Meng last December at the Vancouver airport after they received a message from the U.S. State Department. The State Department accused Meng of working with Iran while the sanctions are in place.
Meng waited for three hours in the customs lounge while customs officials searched her personal devices. Officials sent her information to the State Department before her arrest. Wanzhou’s lawyer told a judge Canada violated her rights. Plus, her lawyer made the case Meng didn’t break any Canadian laws. Her arrest was a political move put in place by the Trump Administration.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the press Trump won’t drop the pending December 15th tariffs unless the Chinese agree to sign the phase one portion of the trade deal. But the Chinese still stand behind their claim Trump must drop the tariffs in order to move ahead and address the tech portion of the agreement. In other words, the phase one deal won’t happen this year, and that’s bad news for investors.
Investors ran for asset protection when the Trumpster shocked Brazil, and Argentina by adding tariffs to steel and aluminum from those countries. Mr. Trump told the press those two South American giants like to manipulate their currency, and that makes American farm products more expensive on the global market. Most of the soybean and beef orders American farmers depend on are in the hands of Brazilian and Argentinian farmers because of lower prices.
Putting tariffs on steel and aluminum when those commodity prices are in the toilet won’t help either industry. Steel factories in the U.S. feel the tariff pain. Several steel factories applied for bankruptcy protection this year due to weak steel demand from a weak global economy.
The U.S. is one step closer to catching China in the race for 5G dominance. T-Mobile’s 5G platform will go live ahead of schedule even though the Sprint merger isn’t a done deal yet. More than 5,000 cities and will have access to the new 5G platform. But the only fly in the 5G ointment is T-Mobile will only offer the 600 MHz low band version of 5G.
T-Mobile’s 5G won’t be as fast as Verizon and Sprint’s 5G offerings, but the platform will cover more than a million miles of rural areas in the United States. The low band version will have better range, and most of the 5G bugs like traveling through walls are not an issue with this new 5G service.
