Huawei CFO lawyer says Trump comments a 'salvo' in trade war

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Comments made by former U.S. President Donald Trump turned a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies, into a “bargaining chip” and “co-opted the extradition process,” her lawyers argued in a Canadian court Wednesday as they fought efforts to send her to the U.S.in which

Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s chief financial officer, at Vancouver’s airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. Her arrest infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China’s rise.

The U.S. accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It says Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

Defense lawyer Richard Peck pointed to a 2018 interview in which Trump was asked if he would be willing to intervene in Meng’s case if it would help secure a trade deal with China or aid U.S. security interests.

“If I think it’s good for the country, 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,” Trump said at the time.

Peck said Trump’s comments make it clear he hoped to use Meng as leverage in trade negotiations with China.

“These words cast a pall over these proceedings,” said Peck. “They reduce Ms. Meng from a human being to chattel. His words amount to an abuse of process.”

Peck said the “abhorrent nature of the president’s words” put a stain on the extradition proceedings and the...