Gordon Chang: 'Trump Just Surrendered to China'

Potentially showing the Huawei Technologies ban amid China trade talks was a mere leveraging tactic, President Donald Trump ostensibly "just surrendered to China," according foreign affairs expert Gordon Chang in The Daily Beast.

"In short, Trump's actions, as he detailed them at the Osaka press conference, were nothing short of extraordinary, apparently dropping actions to further American national security in order to obtain China’s purchase of primary products," Chang wrote in an opinion piece for the Beast.

"The American president may eventually say he did not do that, but it is clear that Xi Jinping has just shown the world who's boss by forcing his American counterpart to accede to his widely publicized demands."

Chang concluded: "It looks like Trump just surrendered to China."

In order to restart China trade talks, President Donald Trump had to make some concessions to China's three main demands:

1. Remove Huawei from the U.S. Entity List, which says companies may not sell or license to Huawei products and technology covered by the U.S. Export Administration Regulations.
2. Lifting of tariffs "imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974."
3. No further efforts to demand China "buy U.S. goods in excess of what was agreed in December 2018."

"Trump, however, undercut these efforts Saturday by making it appear that his Huawei campaign was merely a tactic to gain an advantage in the so-called 'trade war' with China," Chang wrote.

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