BAD BARGAIN?

A bipartisan pair of senators on Thursday warned the Trump administration against using Chinese telecom giant Huawei as a “bargaining chip” in U.S.-China trade talks, calling the federal government’s actions against the company a matter of “national security.”

The letter comes after President Trump in recent weeks signaled he might be willing to relax some of the sanctions against Huawei in exchange for concessions from China in the trade negotiations.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), both members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in letters on Thursday said Huawei should be treated as its own issue rather than being tacked on to the U.S.-China trade war.

“Allowing the use of Huawei equipment in U.S. telecommunications infrastructure is harmful to our national security,” Warner, who is the top Democrat on the panel, and Rubio wrote. “In no way should Huawei be used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations.”

“Conflating national security concerns with levers in trade negotiations undermines this effort, and endangers American security,” they wrote in the letters addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.