As if China would buy F-35s and Patriot missiles, this is where a trade war becomes actual war, but in the case of Trump, it gives Russia more cover and questionable PR for the usual stupidity that passes for US trade policy.
Recall the announcement of a Turkish steel import tariff that actually could benefit currency speculators among others and have other regional implications.
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Chinese military on Thursday (Sept 20) for buying fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, in breach of a sweeping US sanctions law punishing Moscow for meddling in the 2016 US election.
The US State Department said it would immediately impose sanctions on China's Equipment Development Department (EDD), the branch of the Chinese military responsible for weapons and equipment, and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in"significant transactions" with Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms exporter.
The sanctions are related to China's purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018, the State Department said.
www.straitstimes.com/...
At a Capitol Hill hearing in January, as lawmakers were hounding him about the Trump administration’s slow implementation of mandatory sanctions against Russia, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was backed into a corner.
And he blurted out something he would come to regret—by accident, The Daily Beast has learned.
“There will be sanctions that come out of this report,” Mnuchin said—a surprise statement, because while Congress had ordered the department to create a report on Russian oligarchs, it didn’t require that any sanctions be imposed based on it.
Mnuchin’s slip-up forced Treasury officials to scramble to come up with a plan that would match the secretary’s under-oath statement, according to four congressional sources directly involved in the sanctions process. And in April, the department sanctioned Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska and his aluminum company Rusal.
According to those sources, Treasury broke protocol and did not coordinate closely with other departments to properly scrutinize Deripaska and evaluate the impact of the sanctions—which roiled global markets and caused aluminum prices to skyrocket, mainly affecting U.S. partners in Europe.