6/20/2018

BUSINESS/CHINA/COMMERCE/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said on Wednesday [6-20-18] that he and lawmakers are working on addressing concerns over a deal between Washington and Beijing to save Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. , which had been accused of repeated sanctions violations. Mr. Trump met with nearly two dozen lawmakers at the White House—many of them Republicans—looking to address objections to the deal. The meeting comes a day after the Senate voted to reinstate a ban. Mr. Trump told reporters ‘we’re working on it’ when asked about his efforts to sway lawmakers who object to the deal. The battle between the White House and Congress over the fate of the Chinese tech firm began May 13, when Mr. Trump tweeted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were ‘working together’ to find a way to help the company get back into business. Weeks earlier, the Commerce Department had banned U.S. companies from selling products to ZTE, saying the company violated the terms of an earlier deal meant to settle allegations of sanctions busting involving North Korea and Iran. Because ZTE relies on U.S. suppliers to make its smartphones and to build telecommunications networks, the Commerce penalty was effectively a death knell.”

-Vivian Salama, “Trump on ZTE Talks With Lawmakers: ‘We’re Working on It’,” The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2018 1:06 pm