Welcome to Axis Prerato, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Sponsored by TSX Broadway. I'm Dan Pramak. On today's show, the Koch brothers turn to tech regulation,

and the relationship between Starbucks and Howard Schultz is about to get much more complicated.

But first, America hammers Huawei. So last month we discussed how Canadian authorities

had arrested a woman named Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, which is the

world's largest maker of telecom equipment and its second largest maker of smartphones.

Huawei is also a crown jewel in China's tech industry and a major national security concern in the

U.S. where there are fears that its products could theoretically be used by the Chinese government

to do everything from spy on Americans to disable communication systems. Now, Wanzhou was

officially arrested in Canada for alleged violations of sanctions on Iran and has since been

under house arrest awaiting

possible extradition to the U.S.

And yesterday, American authorities released their own charges, not only against her, but against

the company as a whole.

It included not only the Iranian sanction stuff, but also allegations of trade secret

theft, obstruction of justice, and a variety

of frauds.

Now, why all this matters in the big picture is that we're nearly two-thirds of the way through

that 90-day clock for U.S. and China trade negotiations, after which a tariff-filled trade

war could commence, thus causing lots of economic hardship in both countries. This Huawei situation

complicates those talks, thus making a deal that much less likely. In 20 seconds, we'll go deeper

with Bill Bishop, editor of the Axios China and Sinocism newsletters. But first, this.

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