It is a rare event for a well-resourced multinational to struggle to find a lawyer to represent it. It is an even rarer event when its main competitor lends a helping hand in the search.
But chasing corporate ambitions in China can make even the sharpest executives do strange things.
In late 2020, when Swedish Post and Telecom Authority banned Chinese telecoms firms from supplying equipment to Sweden’s fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks on security grounds, Ericsson’s boss, Börje Ekholm, did almost everything in his power to see the decision reversed. This included helping Huawei, China’s tech champion, seek a Swedish law firm to appeal the ban against it.With few takers, however, the Chinese company eventually had to proceed with Norwegian representation. Ekholm also lobbied the Swedish government to not move ahead with a Huawei ban, and he even suggested it may no longer be tenable to keep Ericsson’s 13,000 strong staff and headquarters in Sweden.
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Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative under Donald Trump, reflects on his decision to launch the trade war with China and begin the process of "strategic decoupling" — a process he says the U.S. must see through to the end.
