China OKs sale of Toshiba unit

In a prelude to an easing of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, Chinese officials ended a monthslong delay by approving Toshiba’s sale of a majority stake in its lucrative microchip unit to a U.S.-led group.

A lack of approval by Chinese regulators had held up the deal in what was widely seen as a signal from Beijing about how it might punish U.S. businesses if the Trump administration followed through on threats to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese-made goods.

In a statement Thursday, Toshiba said it had received “all required antitrust approvals” for the deal with a consortium led by the U.S. investment firm Bain Capital. Bain confirmed in its own statement that Chinese authorities had approved the deal.

The approval of the Toshiba deal came just days after the White House appeared to make its own peace offering to Beijing.

President Donald Trump, in a surprise tweet Sunday, said he had asked U.S. officials to find a way to help ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company. Officials in Washington last month prohibited U.S. companies from selling much-needed technology to ZTE to punish the Chinese company for violating U.S. sanctions against selling goods made in the United States to Iran, North Korea and other countries. ZTE’s factories ground to a halt, spurring anger from Beijing.

Bain and Toshiba are not Chinese companies, but antitrust regulators in China still had considerable say over whether the deal would go through.