US President Donald Trump is getting a crash course in the law of unintended consequences.
His campaign against a supposed “invasion” of migrants across the Mexican border and his racially charged tweets against minorities have been put under the spotlight by last weekend’s gun massacres.
And his intensifying trade war with China has prompted Beijing to suspend US agricultural imports, causing pain in farming states that he’ll need to win re-election in 2020.
Then there’s Huawei. The White House is holding off on a decision to approve licences for US companies to restart business with the Chinese tech giant after Trump blacklisted it in May over national security concerns.
That move has alarmed US tech companies including Google parent Alphabet. But there’s something far bigger at stake than a loss in sales: Trump is forcing Huawei — the world’s second biggest smartphone maker — to build a rival operating system to Android, which now powers about 80% of the world’s devices and is key part of Google’s business plan.
Huawei revealed the early outlines of that software on Friday. While it may take years to become a serious alternative, it’s coming.
For every action, there’s a reaction. Trump is learning that the hard way. — Reported by Karl Maier, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP