Globe and Mail: Canada Arrests Huawei Global CFO

The US-Chinese trade war has taken a new turn with news of the December 1 arrest of China’s Huawei Technologies chief financial officer in Vancouver, Canada – about the same time as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping put a pause on the trade war. Meng Wanzhou faces extradition for violation of trade sanctions against Iran. “The decision by Canadian authorities to detain such a high-profile Chinese citizen – and particularly one sought for extradition to the United States – could hurt Canada-China relations,” reports the Globe and Mail. “Both China and the United States have been asking allies and trading partners to take sides in a trade war and the Trudeau government has spoken enthusiastically of pursuing some sort of trade deal with Beijing now that it has renegotiated a free-trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.” The United States has targeted Huawei during the past year as untrustworthy, questioning surveillance activities, blocking US businesses from supplying components, banning government agencies from purchasing products and pressuring Canada to block the firm from development of 5G networks. The telecommunications company operates in more than 170 countries, and the incident triggers second thoughts about corporate travel. – YaleGlobal