ITIF President Lauds Trump's Huawei Decision

The president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation praised President Donald Trump’s recent decision to loosen restrictions on exports to Huawei, saying criticism of the announcement “misses the point.” In a blog post, Robert Atkinson said “it does not appear” that Trump agreed to permanently lift the Huawei ban, but only to temporarily allow Huawei to import U.S. products to ease trade tensions in the pursuit of a deal with China. “Presumably he has made it clear to [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] that if China does not play ball, the ban could and would resume,” Atkinson said. “It is highly unlikely that Xi would have or could have agreed to reopen negotiations without this ‘concession.’” The statement followed Trump’s announcement at the G-20 Summit in Japan that he would be easing restrictions on Huawei, which includes allowing U.S. companies to sell “general merchandise” to the tech giant (see 1907010050).

Atkinson outlined what he said are the “only two options” in the Trump administration's approach to China: force it to reduce its unfair trade practices or decoupling. While Atkinson argued that decoupling may be the U.S.’s only solution if China does not “stop its predatory and unfair practices,” he said the administration should be given more time. ”Jumping to that conclusion before seeing if President Trump’s trade negotiations can work is premature,” he said.