The U.S. met a Canadian court deadline Wednesday by filing a request asking Canada to extradite Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co.’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, who has been held in Canada on a provisional warrant since she was arrested in Vancouver on December 1.

The request comes on the heels of separate charges filed by federal prosecutors in New York and Washington state against Huawei, unsealed Monday, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets from one of its U.S. business partners, and violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

View photos Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attends a session of the VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling!" in Moscow, Russia October 2, 2014. Picture taken October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Alexander Bibik More

Among other considerations in Wanzhou’s case, the Canadian court will consider provisions of Canada’s Extradition Act and treaty with the U.S., which prohibit extradition requests compromised by political motivation. That opens the door for for the court to weigh comments made by President Donald Trump when asked about Meng’s arrest, Dr. Gary Botting, a barrister in Vancouver and Canadian extradition law expert told Yahoo Finance.

‘Canada cannot extradite somebody for political purposes’

Trump told Reuters, “Whatever’s good for this country, I would do,” when asked if he would intervene in the U.S. Justice Department’s case. “If I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made — which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security — I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” Trump reportedly said.

View photos A man walks past a Huawei sign in a mall in Beijing, China, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter More

“Saying that he can use this as a bargaining chip in international relations, trade negotiations, for example, that might be something that impacts the extradition hearing in Canada,” Botting said. Botting expects Meng’s defense to rely on constitutional and treaty arguments for the bulk of its argument against extradition.

“You cannot extradite somebody for political purposes. That's a treaty provision that's a much larger and more important provision than whether or not this is criminal in Canada,” Botting said. “Why single her out as Chief Financial Officer? Why not handle it with a fine, especially when they're saying that she faces up to 30 years in jail?”

In its extradition filing, the U.S. is required to perfect what is called a Record of the Case, according to Botting.

“It has to be a certified Record the Case saying the evidence summarized in the document, witness by witness, in other words what each witnesses expected to say, along with information about the identity of Ms. Meng,” Botting said.

Once perfected, the matter heads to Canada’s Department of Justice, where the Justice Minister has 30 days to determine whether the Department will issue the authority to proceed with an extradition hearing. The Minister of Justice has the right to reject the U.S.’s Record of the Case as inadequate, and stop the proceeding.

2 questions before Canada’s Department of Justice

Bottling said there are two primary questions before the Department: Whether Canadian authorities have arrested the correct person identified in the warrant, and whether the crime alleged is also recognized as a criminal violation in Canada.

View photos Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is out on bail and remains under partial house arrest after she was detained Dec. 1 at the behest of American authorities, leaves her home to attend a court appearance regarding her bail conditions, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tuesday Jan. 29, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) More

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