US reaches agreement to lift ZTE ban with conditions

A new report from Reuters says that ZTE and the US government have reached a deal to get ZTE back in business in the US, according to a senior congressional aide. The proposal goes against Congress, the majority of which believes that the Trump administration should not give into the pressure of easing up on ZTE since the company broke sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The ban would bar ZTE from conducting business with American companies and would ban all sales within the US for seven years. Trump has negotiated a $1.3 billion fine with the Chinese President over a phone call, as per Fox News. In addition, the US will install US compliance officers within ZTE to make sure things remain as they should. Finally, ZTE must move its management team around.

This is a law enforcement action being handled by Commerce. We are making sure ZTE is held accountable for violating U.S. sanctions, pays a big price, and that we are protecting our security infrastructure and U.S. jobs. – White House spokeswoman

The company lost an estimated $3.1 billion since the ban went into effect on April 15, according to the report. With this news, ZTE’s State-side suppliers traded a bit higher. Acacia (optical networking equipment manufacturer) had its stocks rise 4.4% today while Oclaro (optical component maker) rose 2.7%.

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