Trump Undoes, Congress Redoes: President’s Move To Save ZTE Goes To Naught

Lawmakers of the United States Congress have given up on their attempt to override President Donald Trump’s bid to save Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE, reports The Wall Street Journal. Members of both the Senate and House of Representatives removed a clause in a defense bill that would have banned American firms from selling components to Chinese businesses, a ban that Trump sought to have removed.

Trump described his move to rescue ZTE as a joint effort with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The move was highly criticised by many who demanded severe penalties on the Shezen-based firm that could have seen it go out of business in the United States, maintaining that it was a threat to national security, a charge that it has denied time and again.

In April, the Department of Commerce had banned American firms from selling to ZTE for failing to adhere to an agreement that it wouldn’t sell to Iran and North Korea.

Trump supporters have argued that the ban on ZTE would largely benefit Huawei, a larger firm in terms of market share that has also been criticised as a security threat.

Senator Marco Rubio criticised the move, expressing disappointment at how quickly lawmakers gave in.