Business
ZTE allowed to resume some U.S. business by Commerce Department
ZTE, the Chinese smartphone maker that was banned from operating in the U.S. this past April, may already be resuming its stateside operations. And it has President Donald Trump to thank for the assist.
According to a document obtained by Bloomberg, due to pressure from the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has authorized ZTE to resume some business activities as a deal is worked out regarding its ban in the country.
In April, ZTE was banned from importing phone parts from the U.S. for repeatedly misleading the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The U.S. intelligence community also issued a warning to U.S. consumers, urging them not to purchase phones made by certain Chinese manufacturers — including ZTE — due to spying and security concerns. Because of the ban, ZTE had ceased all U.S. operations in May. The ban was supposed to last for 7 years.
President Trump then caused a bit of controversy when he signaled that he would intervene on the issue as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump made it clear that he would attempt to help the Chinese tech manufacturer, pitting the President against his own Commerce Department.
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018
Soon after, the U.S. government announced it struck a deal with ZTE. The agreement was supposed to lift the sanctions on the Chinese smartphone company and instead hit them with billions of dollars in fines.
But the deal between the Trump administration and ZTE was immediately met with resistance by Congress. The Senate rejected the deal and even went a step further, specifically preventing the Secretary of Defense from doing business with ZTE and Huawei, another Chinese smartphone manufacturer which has had its own trouble doing business in the U.S.
The Commerce Department’s new ZTE authorization is intended to only give China’s second largest smartphone manufacturer the ability to provide support for current customers as well as make and receive payments involving current company contracts. However, this authorization is only valid until August 1.
What will happen after the Commerce Department’s ZTE authorization expires? A Bloomberg source is quoted as saying that ZTE is expected to be in compliance with U.S. demands by then. It looks like we will have to wait and see.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1453039084979896’);
if (window.mashKit) {
mashKit.gdpr.trackerFactory(function() {
fbq(‘track’, “PageView”);
}).render();
}
-
Entertainment6 days ago
Summer Movie Preview: From ‘Alien’ and ‘Furiosa’ to ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’
-
Business7 days ago
Petlibro’s new smart refrigerated wet food feeder is what your cat deserves
-
Entertainment5 days ago
What’s on the far side of the moon? Not darkness.
-
Business5 days ago
How Rubrik’s IPO paid off big for Greylock VC Asheem Chandna
-
Business6 days ago
Thoma Bravo to take UK cybersecurity company Darktrace private in $5B deal
-
Business4 days ago
TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks
-
Business4 days ago
London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups
-
Business6 days ago
Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs