Trump says he’ll save Chinese firm’s jobs

SHANGHAI — President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he was working with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to prevent the collapse of the Chinese electronics giant ZTE, which shuttered major operations after being sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Commerce last month.

“Too many jobs in China lost,” Trump wrote. “Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!”

The department last month banned shipments of U.S. technology to ZTE for seven years, saying the company had failed to reprimand employees who violated U.S. trade controls on Iran and North Korea. The department said Sunday that it had no comment.

The company had already agreed last year to a $1.2 billion fine in connection with those violations. But now, barred from using U.S. microchips, software and other components, ZTE has been facing the prospect of being unable to manufacture its telecommunications equipment and smartphones.

Trump’s tweet on Sunday left many scratching their heads. The president has taken a tough stance on what his administration deems unfair trade practices by the Chinese government. And he has trumpeted his efforts to safeguard U.S. jobs even if it means creating economic strain in other countries.

The prospective shutdown of ZTE has been seen as major leverage in continuing trade discussions between China and the United States over Chinese trade practices. If Trump was announcing a huge concession with his tweet, it was without any indication of what he might have gotten in return.

“Given his pressure on Beijing on trade, I don’t understand concern for Chinese jobs” in the tweet, said Adam Segal, a technology and security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. It “goes against the steady stream of security warnings about ZTE,” he added.