Last week’s arrest in Canada of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the U.S. government is adding fuel to the trade war fires.
Meng, a deputy chairwoman of the Chinese telecom-equipment giant and daughter of its founder, was detained for extradition to the U.S. for Huawei’s alleged sale of equipment to Iran in violation of international trade sanctions.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded her release, NBC News reported, and investors took it as a sign of worsening trade relations between the U.S. and China, which are already locked in a costly tit-for-tat tariff standoff, sending the Dow down as much as 785 points today.
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In addition to Huawei’s suspected trade violations, security concerns over its close ties to China’s government have largely kept its telecom equipment and mobile phones from competing in the U.S. market.
