Just as the Trump-Xi meeting at the G20 produced a glimmer of hope for mutual de-escalation, the US-China trade war has taken its ugliest turn yet.
On December 11, Beijing detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, in response to a US extradition request.
To clear up the basic facts: the US is pursuing Meng on bank fraud charges, not for violating unilateral US sanctions on Iran, as has been presumed in much commentary over the issue. US prosecutors had been building a detailed case against Meng for months, regarding a presentation she gave to the HSBC bank.