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With Ottawa weighing its options, there have been other wrinkles — including comments by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Questions about the legitimacy of the Meng case surfaced earlier this week when Trump mused that he would be willing to intervene on her behalf if it would help him strike a trade deal with China.

Meng’s extradition process is before Canadian courts, but the final decision on whether to send her to the U.S. lies with federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Technically, Wilson-Raybould could take the extraordinary step of preventing Meng’s extradition, a move that could anger the U.S. In doing so, the Canadian government could choose to defend the move by highlighting Trump’s remark as evidence the case against Meng is politically motivated.

It’s also likely China will make offers to Ottawa that it will release Kovrig and Spavor in exchange for Meng’s freedom, according to a former Canadian ambassador in Beijing.

Guy Saint-Jacques, who served as top envoy in China from 2012 to 2016, said he was closely involved in a somewhat similar case a few years ago.

In 2014, Canada arrested Chinese businessman Su Bin, a Chinese national who had permanent residency in Canada, following an extradition request by the U.S.

He was eventually extradited to the U.S., where he pleaded guilty in 2016 to a criminal conspiracy to steal U.S. military secrets. Su was sentenced to 46 months in prison.

A month after Su’s arrest in Canada, Chinese authorities detained Canadians Julia and Kevin Garratt and accused them of spying and stealing military secrets.

The Garratts had spent three decades living in China, where they ran a coffee shop and did Christian aid work. China eventually released the Garratts after a two-year ordeal.

“It was clear — and I was involved directly in the discussions — the Chinese wanted to make a swap between the Garratts and Su Bin,” Saint-Jacques said. “We met many times. I repeated that there was nothing we could do, we were bound by the extradition treaty between Canada and the U.S. All this to no avail — they would not listen, they just kept putting pressure.”