Table Query issue with parentheses in select statement

I tried to use the following query in a table query command:

SELECT RTRIM(ACCT_UNIT), RTRIM(POSTING_DATE), RTRIM(LINE_NMBR), RTRIM(DESCRIPTION), RTRIM(QTY), RTRIM(AMOUNT) FROM FinanceStaging_LM WHERE POSTING_DATE = @postdate AND ACCT_UNIT = @acctunit AND ((QTY <> 0) OR (AMOUNT <> 0))

I get the following message when running the process:

Exception Type: System.Exception
Exception Message:

Pipeline Error Message: Process, 'LaMad MenuMix Feed', aborted. Process Execution process step Execute Finance Feed failed Executing Neuron Process,
'LaMad Finance Feed'. Table query pipeline step Get LM Fin Staged Data failed: Name cannot begin with the '>' character, hexadecimal value 0x3E.
Line 1, position 13.

Source Pipeline: LaMad Finance Feed
Source Pipeline Step: Get LM Fin Staged Data
Source Error Message: Name cannot begin w

The Character identified as '>' is actually '('.  Is Neuron translating the command string so the hex 0x3E becomes 0x28?  I've looked at the dat in hex and do not see a 0x3E. 

Can we not use functions like RTRIM in a table query command line in Neuron?  If we can, what to I need to do to use them.  BTW, the result if the query will be used in an XSLT for output to a file.

Thanks for any answers to this.  I need to get the spaces out of the data.