ZTE’s woes continue as the U.S. Senate rolls out a new bill that prohibits the manufacturer from doing business with U.S. firms.
It’s a turbulent time for ZTE. The U.S. government issued a Denial Order against the company back in April, essentially prohibiting the Chinese manufacturer from buying hardware components from the likes of Qualcomm or Intel. The order effectively killed ZTE’s smartphone business as it prevented Google from certifying the manufacturer’s phones.
It looked like there may be a resolution a few weeks ago, as Donald Trump revealed that he was working with China’s president Xi Jinping to revoke the ban. Last week, ZTE finalized a deal with the Commerce Department that would see the Chinese company pay a $1 billion fine in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
The U.S. Senate has now taken matters into its own hands, and has included an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act that once again places sanctions on ZTE. The bill passed the Senate floor with an overwhelming majority, but it still has to go through the House before it ends up on Trump’s desk to be signed into law.
Notably, the House version of the bill doesn’t include the amendments prohibiting ZTE from doing business in the U.S., so it remains to be seen whether the final bill will have those provisions intact.
