Trump possibly intervening for Huawei CFO boosts stocks
President Trump said he would intervene in the Department of Justice’s case against Huawei chief financial officer if it would advance trade talks with China – a statement that helped boost equity futures on Wednesday.
Meng Wanzhou, 46, was arrested in Vancouver more than a week ago at the request of the Justice Department, which is seeking her extradition for alleged involvement in breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran. The move drew fierce criticism of Canada and the United States from Chinese government outlets.
But Tuesday, Meng was granted bail and will be able to stay in one of her two houses in Vancouver. Her next court date is Feb. 6.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump said he was willing to consider intervening with the Justice Department on Meng’s behalf.
The president's statement helped boost U.S. stock futures, which were up triple digits.
“Well I think I’d want to speak to China,” he said to Reuters. “We’ve spoken to the Justice Department. You know – it wasn’t good what happened with the company, you understand that, in terms of what they did. And this has been a big problem that we’ve had in so many different ways with so many companies from China and from other places. So I want to see what China requests. So far they have not made that request.”
Trump explicitly linked such an intervention with the current Washington-Beijing trade talks.
“If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made – which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary.”