Anti-ZTE Clause Stricken from Defense Bill
Jul 20, 2018, 1:31 PM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Jul 20, 2018, 1:40 PM
Senators have overturned an agreement added to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, that would have made it more difficult for President Trump to remove the ban instituted against ZTE. Earlier this year, the Commerce Department said ZTE lied about a previous settlement and banned the company from using American parts or software in its phonres for a period of seven years. The ban crippled ZTE, but was eventually overturned by the Trump administration. ZTE got back to business earlier this month. Seeking to block Trump from easing up on the ban, members of the Senate added language to the NDAA that sould have made it difficult for Trump to get around the ban. It didn’t work. Now that Trump the administration and Commerce Department have agreed to let ZTE return to business, members of the Senate have removed the anti-ZTE language from the NDAA. "By stripping the Senate’s tough ZTE sanctions provision from the defense bill, President Trump — and the congressional Republicans who acted at his behest — have once again made President Xi and the Chinese Government the big winners," said Senator Chuck Schumer in a statement. The NDAA is vital legislation that must be passed every year in order to ensure the Department of Defense is funded.
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