Mnuchin: ‘Not a surprise’ that Chinese president asked Trump to look into ZTE

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that it isn’t surprising that China’s president asked President Trump to look into the Chinese telecommunications firm sanctioned by the U.S. government.

“President Xi [Jinping] asked President Trump to look into this. That’s not a surprise,” Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday.”

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Mnuchin said Trump, who received criticism last week after saying he would help ZTE get “back into business,” is working to protect American jobs and technology.

“The president wants us to be very tough on ZTE. And all he did was ask the secretary to look into this,” Mnuchin said, referring to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns over Trump’s recent tweets about ZTE.

The Commerce Department earlier this year prohibited American companies from selling materials to ZTE, claiming the firm had violated U.S. sanctions.

Following his comments about opening the U.S. market back up to ZTE, the president last week accused some news outlets of writing “false stories” about U.S.-China trade talks.

“Nothing has happened with ZTE except as it pertains to the larger trade deal,” Trump wrote on Twitter on May 16.