Trump withdraws a nomination: dealing with the PRC

Back in February, President Trump nominated a fellow named Landon Heid to an obscure-seeming post, assistant secretary for export administration at the Department of Commerce.

The post requires Senate confirmation.

POTUS has withdrawn Heid's nomination for that post in recent days. Why? Ah, that is the question.

Heid -- the fellow in the foreground of the photo here -- is a 'China hawk' (there is that avian metaphor again that we discussed in another context in yesterday's post). Heidi has long supported restrictions on the export of computer chips to the People's Republic of China in a targeted way aimed at limiting China's ability to make use of certain cutting-edge computing capabilities.

The withdrawal of his name may, then, be a victory for China doves over China hawks within a administration deeply divided on just those lines.

There is some speculation that the nomination has been withdrawn because Trump doesn't want to go down that road any longer, he wants to accommodate China in its desire to buy precisely those chips.

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