Aides have advised President Trump to stay out of the case involving a top Chinese technology executive, a source told The Wall Street Journal.
Some of Trump’s advisers have warned him that it would not be productive for the White House to intervene in Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s case after Trump suggested he might during a Reuters interview on Tuesday.
Huawei is a Chinese telecom giant.
{mosads}Trump during the Reuters interview said he would intervene in the case if it would help close a trade deal with China.
“Whatever’s good for this country, I would do,” he told Reuters. “If I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made — which is a very important thing — what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary.”
Meng was arrested earlier this month by Canadian authorities and faces extradition to the U.S. She has been accused of violating trade sanctions against Iran. She was granted bail on Tuesday by a Canadian judge and will remain in Canada while she faces proceedings to extradite her to the U.S.
Trump asked his aides what his options are in terms of intervening, the source told the Journal.
The president’s aides reportedly said he should leave the matter to the Department of Justice.
Officials told the Journal that there are no immediate plans for the White House to jump into the fray.
Meng’s arrest came as the U.S. seeks to broker a trade deal with China. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month decided on a 90-day truce in the escalating trade war between the two countries, allowing time for negotiators from Beijing and Washington to come to a deal.
Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday said that trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are separate from Meng’s arrest.
China has demanded Meng’s release and called her detention a possible human rights violation.