President Donald Trump has signaled that ZTE will be allowed to do business with U.S. suppliers once again.
That came in a tweet (see below) blaming Democrats for not cracking down on the company.
Senator Schumer and Obama Administration let phone company ZTE flourish with no security checks. I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine. Dems do nothing….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2018
Commerce Department officials had concluded ZTE violated the terms of its settlement agreement with the U.S. over illegally shipping telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea and declared that U.S. companies would be prohibited from exporting technology to ZTE. That move resulted in ZTE essentially shuttering and calling the U.S. move unfair.
The Chinese government then tried to get the president to help ZTE, an effort that appeared to be bearing fruit per an earlier tweet before the president’s latest tweet on the subject confirmed it.
ZTE tech includes everything from phones, tablets and smart watches to mobile hot spots, broadband routers, switchers and servers.
The president’s tweet followed House passage of a bill that would eventually ban ZTE tech from government systems.
