BUSINESS/CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. and China have agreed on the broad outline of a deal that would save imperiled Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter in both countries, as the two sides move closer to resolving their trade dispute. The details are still being hammered out, the people said. If completed, the Trump administration would remove the ban on U.S. companies selling components and software to ZTE, a penalty that has threatened to put the company out of business. Instead, ZTE would be forced to make big changes in management, board seats and possibly pay significant fines, the people said. Beijing has also offered to remove tariffs on billions of dollars of U.S. farm products as part of the negotiations, although one person said the White House didn’t offer any quid pro quo…The people cautioned that discussions are continuing and the agreement could still fall apart. ZTE is the fourth-largest vendor of mobile phones in the U.S., and it buys a significant amount of parts from U.S. companies. The Commerce Department last month banned U.S. companies from selling to ZTE because it failed to comply with its agreement with the U.S. government after violating sanctions against trade with Iran and North Korea.”
-Lingling Wei and Bob Davis, “U.S., China Agree on Outline to Settle ZTE Controversy,” The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2018 6:39 am