The Trump administration on Friday added some of China's biggest companies, including Alibaba and Baidu, ‌to a list of firms allegedly aiding China's military - however,strangely the listing was pulled within mere minutes with no explanationinitially issued. A Bloomberg newswire Friday morning indicated:

US PULLS DOCUMENT THAT LISTED FIRMS LINKED TO CHINA MILITARY

This was quickly followed by a correction:US removes document that listed firms linked to China's militaryand then the clarification thatUS Agency requested withdrawal of document,per the Federal Register. All of this was enough to cause Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) stock to fall 5% and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) to drop 2% Friday immediately on the reports, followed by a swift rebound on word of the sudden delisting.

The initial, and now withdrawn listing comes amid allegations from US officials that Alibaba is Chinese military-linked company, part of the Trump strategy of ratcheting up pressure ‌on Beijingahead of an expected meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The much anticipated summit is currently set for the first week of April, ahead of which Washington has taken a series of measures, seen as typical Washington leverage-building with Beijing. But as Reuters has observed, the White House seems to be treading very carefully, not wanting to go too far in provoking the ire of Beijing, which could derail the key visit before it evenkicks off:

The Trump administration has shelved a number of key tech security measures aimed at Beijing ahead of an April meeting between the two countries' presidents. The measures include a ban onChina Telecom's U.S. operationsand restrictions on sales of Chinese equipment for U.S. data centers, sources said.

The U.S. has also put on hold proposed bans on domestic sales of routers made byTP-Linkand the U.S. internet business of China Unicom and China Mobile along with another measure that would bar sales of Chinese electric trucks and buses in the U.S., four people said, declining to be named.

Did some mid-level Pentagon officer not get the memo?

The Pentagon released an updated Section 1260H list of Chinese Military Companies this morning, but now the document has been withdrawn, according to the Federal Register. Reuters reported the list added Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and removed YMTC and CXMT.pic.twitter.com/ofYg5PbHWW

Perhaps the 'mistake' was realized post-haste in view of the highly anticipated Trump-Xi summit, and that Alibaba 'military-linked' sanctionswould only poison the water.Or... a risky Trump 'tactic' in the lead-in to April?

Source: ZeroHedge News