Trump trade fury torpedoes G7 in Canada
WASHINGTON — Chinese telecoms companies like ZTE and Huawei face severely tightened access to the US market despite the Trump administration's deal this week to give ZTE a lifeline after it agreed to a steep fine.
Amid persistent worries that their phones, routers and other products will open a path for Beijing's spying on the United States, analysts say the US government will remain broadly closed to products of the two companies and that the US telecoms industry will remain under pressure to avoid their equipment.
Indeed, four Democratic and Republican senators, criticizing the deal that will permit ZTE to resume purchasing US electronics components, proposed legislation Thursday for an outright ban on the government buying products and services from both ZTE and Huawei.
"Huawei and ZTE pose a serious threat to America's national security. These companies have direct links to the Chinese government and Communist Party," said Republican senator Marco Rubio.
"Their products and services are used for espionage and intellectual property theft, and they have been putting the American people and economy at risk without consequence for far too long."
But experts say the move could hinder the growth of next-generation 5G wireless networks in the United States. The two Chinese companies are poised to become global leaders in the 5G rollout, just beginning this year in several countries.
"The overall concern is that these companies are close to the Chinese government," said Paul Triolo, a China security specialist at the Eurasia Group.
With fifth-generation mobile technology, he said, "the concern becomes magnified" because the technology is heavily cloud-based, potentially leaving sensitive data accessible by the service provider. No proof of security threat Indeed, US officials have repeatedly suggested that the two companies could design their equipment to allow Chinese intelligence to hack into American networks and siphon off personal data and communications from cellphones.
QUEBEC — The G7 summit ended in farce and a renewed threat of global trade war on Saturday as US President Donald Trump abruptly rejected the text of a consensus statement and bitterly insulted the Canadian host.
Just minutes after a joint communiqué that had been approved by the leaders of the Group of Seven allies was published in Canada's summit host city Quebec, Trump launched a Twitter broadside from aboard Air Force One.
The US leader had left the meeting early en route for Singapore and a historic nuclear summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, only to take exception to comments made by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a news conference back on the ground.
"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our US farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our US Reps not to endorse the Communiqué as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the US Market!" Trump tweeted.
"PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that ... he 'will not be pushed around.' Very dishonest & weak." 'Pushed around' Earlier, Trudeau had told reporters that Trump's decision to invoke national security to justify US tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum was "kind of insulting" to Canadian veterans who had stood by their US allies in conflicts dating back to World War I.
"Canadians are polite and reasonable but we will also not be pushed around," he said.
And he said he had told Trump "it would be with regret but it would be with absolute clarity and firmness that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July 1, applying equivalent tariffs to the ones that the Americans have unjustly applied to us."
After Trump's angry tweets, Trudeau's office issued a brief response: "We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the G7 summit. The Prime Minister said nothing he hasn't said before — both in public, and in private conversations with the President."