The decision blindsided administration officials and lawmakers, including Democrats who publicly criticized Mr. Trump’s decision and said the president was caving to China. Mr. Mnuchin, along with the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, was dispatched to Capitol Hill to try to calm angry Republican lawmakers and explain the rationale behind allowing the company, ZTE, to remain in business. Several of the lawmakers appeared unconvinced and, according to a person who was in the meeting, Mr. Mnuchin advised them to take their concerns directly to the president. Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former top strategist, has said that Mr. Mnuchin is in over his head in the negotiations and that he is letting Mr. Trump’s leverage slip away by failing to force China to make major changes to its industrial policy. “Among the possible choices, they see Mnuchin as being less hawkish than some of the other counterparts,” Mr. Loevinger said.

Source: New York Times June 03, 2018 19:04 UTC