Ottawa (CNN) The Chinese government is pushing Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei chief financial officer detained for violating US sanctions on Iran, as Ottawa braces for relations with Beijing to worsen and urges President Donald Trump not to politicize the situation.

Canadian government officials have asked for, and received, additional security at their diplomatic outposts in China, while Canadian companies that do business with China are bracing for lower sales and even a boycott of Canadian products.

The arrest has put the Canadian government -- which has its own trade and other disputes with the Trump administration -- in the awkward position of defending its role in honoring reciprocal law enforcement arrangements with the US, just as President Donald Trump has suggested he might be willing to drop the Meng case in exchange for a trade deal with Beijing.

The CFO of Chinese tech giant Huawei was arrested December 1 in Vancouver for violating US sanctions on Iran -- the same night Trump was dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Argentina.

China's state-run media has repeatedly claimed that Meng's detention appears to be politically or economically motivated. Trump's suggestion that he could use Meng as a bargaining chip in trade talks -- a flagrant breach of the US practice of separating politics and issues of the law -- has complicated the situation for Canada and fueled outrage in China.

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