Trump Plays Good Cop on Huawei After Pompeo's European Threats

U.S. President Donald Trump adopted a conciliatory tone toward Europe’s approach to Huawei, according to Bloomberg. Trump had the opportunity during meetings with leaders of the U.K. and Ireland this week to badger them about Huawei and amplify his administration’s threats. He’s instead taken a more cooperative approach.

“We deal very closely with your intelligence and your security and we’re working on that together. And I know you’re concerned like we’re concerned, we’re all concerned about it,“ Trump told Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. “We’re working on it together very much with not only Europe but with Ireland.“

After a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May a day earlier, he dismissed the idea of cutting Britain off from U.S. intelligence-gathering. “We have an incredible intelligence relationship and we will be able to work out any differences,“ Trump said in a joint news conference with May. “I see absolutely no limitations. We’ve never had limitations. This is a truly great ally and partner, and we’ll have no problem with that.“

Asked directly whether he was prepared to curb information sharing if Britain placed no restrictions on Huawei, Trump answered - no. “Because we’re going to have, absolutely, an agreement on Huawei and everything else,“ he added.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who joined Trump in the U.K., has essentially played “bad cop“ in Europe. Before Trump’s trip, Pompeo said during a visit to Germany that the U.S. may have to change its “behavior“ regarding intelligence sharing. It echoed a warning Pompeo made in April to NATO allies.