Donald Trump is helping make China great again. The American president tweeted on Sunday that he would try to get Shenzhen-based telecom equipment maker ZTE “back into business, fast” after fresh U.S. punishments over sanctions violations put the $20 billion company on the ropes. The reversal undermines his trade team’s efforts to talk tough. And it’s too late now to stop the People’s Republic from seeking technology independence.

Even among the many inexplicable Trump statements, this one manages to stand out. It flustered some of his own officials. Jessica Rosenworcel, who Trump nominated to serve a second term as a member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, retweeted the president’s brief remark with the comment: “This is going to require more explanation.”

The rationale for the leniency was especially bizarre: “Too many jobs in China lost.” Trump has blamed the same country of “destroying whole American industries” and “tens of thousands of jobs” using stolen technology.

What’s more, the U.S. Commerce Department’s case against ZTE was based on its pleading guilty to violating U.S. trade sanctions on Iran and North Korea. The administration just repudiated the treaty with Iran, and is preparing to reinstate sanctions. That makes it an odd time to let a violator accused of breaching a previous settlement on the matter off the hook.

For countries haggling with Trump, there are a few takeaways. First, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who was just in Beijing with a list of hard demands, is in a weak position. It’s pretty obvious where the buck stops on such matters. Get the president on the phone, and preferably catch him in a good mood.

Second, Trump hasn’t wrapped his head around the nature of Chinese competition. American chambers of commerce aren’t bothered by the trade imbalance, but rather the way Beijing incubates industries using cheap debt and protectionism. President Xi Jinping has given no indication he will roll back his “Made in China 2025” initiative that explicitly aims at import substitution.

Having watched ZTE nearly pushed into bankruptcy thanks to overdependence on American chips, China is accelerating efforts to develop its own semiconductor industry. Trump’s decision to back off is unlikely to alter those plans or similar ones in other industries.