Trump calls the shots
Emmanuel Macron told Fareed Zakaria of CNN on Nov. 11 that it would be a big mistake for European countries to increase their defense budgets just to buy American arms. Andrej Babiš had said something similar two months earlier: Trump's indirect call for Europe to buy American weapons as a way to reduce his trade deficit brings nothing to the CR. The transatlantic pressure in this direction increased this week when one of Babiš's own subordinates, Dušan Navrátil of the NÚKIB cybersecurity office, issued a warning about the use of Huawei and ZTE information and communications equipment. If this is just the first step toward a ban similar to the one signed on Aug. 13 by Trump as part of the Defense Authorization Act, it could disrupt the ability of the Czech government to do business ... until the equipment was replaced by U.S.-approved technology. Trump is playing a high-stakes game, and Navrátil might not even realize how willing a pawn he has become.
Glossary of difficult words
to call the shots - to take the initiative in deciding how something should be done;high-stakes - involving something that is very important; involving the possible loss of a large amount of money.