BUSINESS/CHINA/TECHNOLOGY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate is on the verge of directly undercutting a key piece of President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations with China, as a bipartisan group of lawmakers successfully pushed for the inclusion of a bill to undo a deal to save Chinese telecom ZTE. Lawmakers are on track to attach an amendment to reimpose any penalty removed by the Trump administration on the firm — which the president explicitly granted a reprieve from as part of his broader negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping — to an annual defense policy bill that is expected to pass in the coming days…The successful inclusion of an amendment to block the deal marks the latest twist in a fight that has roiled Capitol Hill and national security officials — all as it became a cornerstone piece of Trump’s China trade dealmaking strategy. For days, senators have scrambled to block the deal, all as the Trump administration has scrambled to undercut those efforts. Still, the deal is not done yet. Should the Senate pass the underlying defense bill, it will still have to be reconciled with the House version, giving the Trump administration more time to try and block the effort.”
-Phil Mattingly, “Senate may deal Trump trade defeat on ZTE,” CNN politics, CNN.com, June 11, 2018 7:41 pm