The Treasury Department had no comment.
Michael Pillsbury, a China scholar at the Hudson Institute who advises the Trump administration, said that Mr. Trump’s comments reflected the president’s focus on increasing trade, boosting jobs and making Americans wealthy.
“The president has been clear about wanting American companies to get rich in China,” Mr. Pillsbury said. “President Trump frequently says he doesn’t want China to surpass us but he never said he wants to put them out of business or be vindictive.”
On Tuesday, business groups cheered the shift in tone, which came suddenly and took some by surprise.
“We applaud President Trump’s tweets supporting U.S. companies being able to sell products to China and opposing proposed regulations that would unduly curtail that ability,” John Neuffer, president and chief executive of the Semiconductor Industry Association, said in a statement. “As we have discussed with the administration, sales of nonsensitive, commercial products to China drive semiconductor research and innovation, which is critical to America’s economic strength and national security.”
Jacob Parker, senior vice president of the US-China Business Council, said that the administration was notorious for giving mixed messages on such policies and that he was hopeful that the White House would put out a formal notification that the tighter rules affecting companies that sell components to Huawei are off the table.
“We hope that the message that this is undermining the ability of companies to invest in long-term research and development is beginning to resonate with those in the administration,” Mr. Parker said.
However, signs that Mr. Trump is softening his stance on China could draw backlash from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have been urging him to keep pressure on Beijing.
“The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to supplant the United States and our critical industries by stealing intellectual property and through state-owned or state-directed enterprises,” said Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida. “The United States must ensure our current export controls are sufficient to prevent handing over sensitive technologies to Beijing.”
Julian Barnes and David McCabe contributed reporting
Source : Nytimes
