Kudlow says he’s confident arrest of Chinese executive and trade talks will remain separate issues

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are separate from the arrest of an executive with Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday” that it’s possible that the Trump administration would release Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, as part of ongoing trade talks with China.

“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out,” Kudlow said, saying the arrest falls to the Department of Justice. “I’m not an attorney It’s outside my lane. So we will see.”

{mosads}Wanzhou was arrested by Canadian authorities last Saturday at the request of the U.S. after allegedly violating trade sanctions against Iran. China has demanded her release, and called her detention a possible human rights violation.

Kudlow said Sunday that President Trump did not know about the arrest while he was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Saturday in Argentina. The president had “no reaction” when he learned of the arrest, Kudlow said.

He added that he’s unsure how the arrest will affect trade talks moving forward.

“All it seems to me is there’s a trade lane that we are discussing … and there is a law enforcement lane, and they’re different,” Kudlow said.

“I think President Trump and President Xi and law officials will continue to keep that difference,” he continued. “I might be wrong. I can’t predict the future, but they’re different channels and I think they will be viewed that way for quite some time.”

.@larry_kudlow tells Chris that President Trump did not know about the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech company Huawei, during his meeting with President Xi. pic.twitter.com/IlQvE4XhIR

— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) December 9, 2018

Trump touted the outcome of his negotiations with Xi last week, where the two sides reached a truce on imposing additional tariffs. Trump shook the markets later in the week when he pledged he would levy additional tariffs against China if negotiations went south, however.