Trump on the receiving end of Twitter moans over ZTE compromise

Any decision surrounding the ZTE saga was going to attract criticism, but now that the US has finally decided to let it off the hook, President Trump is starting to receive a dose of his own Twitter-tirade medicine.

On one side of the coin, should the ban have remained in place numerous companies featuring in ZTE’s supply chain, including a few US ones, also faced the threat of extinction, though lifting the ban perhaps suggests an air of negligence around national security, and maybe even sheds light on a void of principles in the President’s mind. The latter was the way forward, as US Department of Commerce lifted the seven-year ban, while a provision in a military policy bill would have prevented the lifting of penalties on ZTE was also removed.

The provision in the National Defence Authorisation Act would have enabled Senators from both sides of the aisle to block the President’s desires to relieve the ban, though it seems the Whips have won. With a slight sense of irony, several US politicians have taken to Twitter to offer the President their own version of rambling criticism.

Trump might be throwing out his best contradictory tactics to bamboozle the technology world, but this reprieve in tensions between the US and China is likely to be short-lived.

While the initial $50 billion tariffs placed on China had a minor impact on the technology ecosystem, promises of tariffs on all $500 billion of Chinese imports could have a much more notable impact. Every industry around the world has been globalised, and while there might be some who disagree with these trends, it is impossible to go backwards. The pursuit of isolation and political victory with the promise of economic decline from the White House should be a very notable concern for any logical and coherent businessperson in the US.