BUSINESS/CHINA/SENATE/TECHNOLOGY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House moved to protect its deal with Beijing to rescue ZTE Corp, taking steps to head off a bipartisan effort to use a must-pass defense bill to reinstate a ban on sales of U.S. components to the Chinese telecommunication company. A senior White House official said Wednesday [6-13-18] that the administration would try to remove Senate language that severed a lifeline the Trump administration had extended to the company. The Senate is expected to pass the bill as soon as this week, and the White House official said the administration would try to block the measure later in the legislative process…The spat between the White House and Congress has its roots in a move initiated by President Donald Trump, who tweeted May 13 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were ‘working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast.’ The president’s message ran counter to the actions of the Commerce Department, which weeks earlier had banned U.S. companies from selling to ZTE, as punishment for ZTE’s failure to honor an earlier U.S. agreement to resolve the firm’s sanctions violations. Members of Congress, along with intelligence and military officials, swiftly denounced any prospect of a reprieve.”
-Michael C. Bender and Siobhan Hughes, “White House Seeks to Block Senate Bid to Kill ZTE Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2018 5:59 pm