Trump refuses to impose sanctions on China

The White House has postponed sanctions against the Chinese intelligence agency and its contractors, who are believed to be involved in a hacking campaign against US telecommunications networks known as “Salt Typhoon.” According to sources, this was done so as not to undermine the process of improving relations between Washington and Beijing, the Financial Times reports.

Several people said that the vector of US policy toward Beijing is now to ensure stability. This strategy will remain in place until the United States reduces its dependence on Chinese rare earth metals. Trump also does not want to jeopardize his planned visit to Beijing, which is scheduled for April.

The decision to drop sanctions over the “Salt Typhoon” campaign, in which hackers gained access to unencrypted communications between senior US officials, has caused disappointment among hawks in the US government. Critics believe that the president is sacrificing national security for the sake of trade deals.

Critics are further concerned about the administration's preparations for a high-level meeting on granting Nvidia licenses to export advanced H200 chips to China. At the same time, ahead of the October summit with Xi Jinping, Trump considered allowing the sale of even more powerful Blackwell chips, but his advisers convinced him to abandon this move.

In recent weeks, the White House has stepped up coordination of its policy toward China. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has been tasked with ensuring that relevant ministries refrain from measures that could jeopardize the diplomatic thaw.

This assignment came after an incident involving Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who expressed confusion over the appearance of an internal White House memo regarding the Chinese corporation Alibaba. The document, which was based on declassified intelligence, claimed that the tech giant allegedly supports China's military operations against the US. Alibaba itself categorically rejects these accusations.

Trump remains a supporter of establishing mutually beneficial trade relations without compromising national and economic security.

Photo: Channel 24.