Mr. Trump told the press he worked out a trade deal with China. Mr. Trump said China will buy more agriculture products going forward. But the main sticking points that will make a complete trade and tech deal work are still a long way off.
Mr. Trump doubled down on his threat to break China’s progress in the tech sector when he banned Chinese companies who develop AI and facial recognition from doing business in the United States. Mr. Trump also wants to stop American pension funds from investing in Chinese companies. And he still wants to disrupt Huawei’s plans to develop 5G platforms for other countries.
Huawei has 5G contracts with more than 60 countries, and that list continues to grow as Trump turns up the heat on Chinese tech companies. But stopping Ren Zhengfei and his 180,000 employees from being one of the most powerful tech companies in the world is not easy. China protects its international companies. Working closely with companies that do international business is standard operating procedure in the world of Chinese capitalism.
The president claims China spies on American tech companies. And he thinks the U.S. tech industry can thrive without Chinese tech support. But the U.S. companies that work with Huawei want Trump to back off and allow Huawei to buy and sell in the United States. But Trump needs to keep the heat on China while he tries to figure out how to get out of the tech mess he created.
Ren Zhengfei’s daughter Meng Wanzhou is still under arrest in Canada. Meng’s lawyers claim Trump instigated her arrest and her illegal treatment when Canadian customs officers took all Wanzhou tech equipment before they arrested her at the Vancouver airport. Men waited for three hours last December while customs agents sent all her private information to the FBI. Mr. Trump thinks China will agree to his intellectual property terms if Meng is still in custody.
But the Trump tech move that has the world upset is his new campaign ads that include false statements about Joe Biden. Trump’s campaign manager placed the ads on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg refused to take the ads down even though they contained false information.
Elizabeth Warren decided to give Zuckerberg a taste of Trump’s snake oil by placing ads on Facebook that claim Zuckerberg supports Trump for president. In the ad, Warren has a picture of Zuckerberg shaking hands with Trump at the White House. Zuckerberg and Facebook are not Trump supporters and Warren mentions that in her ad. But Warren is out to break up Facebook, and the ad is her first real attempt to set that plan in motion, according to The Guardian.
