The Senate voted on Monday to reinstate a ban on selling U.S. parts to China’s telecom company ZTE Corp., after a brief resumption of trade between the U.S. and the company.
The measure, which was part of a larger must-pass defense bill, passed the Senate on an 85-10 vote Monday, rejecting a deal President Donald Trump made with Beijing to save the firm. The President is now expected to make efforts to persuade lawmakers to remove the ban as they reconcile competing House and Senate versions of the bill.
The House version of the legislation without the ZTE ban was passed last month and negotiators have said they expect to reconcile it with the Senate bill by the end of July.
President Trump is expected to meet with Congressional Republicans on Tuesday and Wednesday to find ways to ensure ZTE can resume business.
“I think the President wants to weigh in and we want to listen to what he has to say,” Senator John Cornyn said.
President Trump has personally negotiated with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to get the telecom company back in business by overriding a decision by his own Commerce Department to block sales to ZTE. The department later announced a deal to lift the ban in exchange for a fine of $1 billion, CNN writes.
The Commerce Department and U.S. intelligence officials have repeatedly said that ZTE has violated U.S. sanctions more than once, warning that the company’s equipment could be used to spy on Americans and thus presents a threat to national security.
As lawmakers sought to keep the ban in place, ZTE shares fell more than 25% in Hong Kong on Tuesday. They have fallen more than 60% since they resumed trading last week, wiping billions of dollars off the company’s market value. According to analysts, the ban has not only cost ZTE billions in lost revenue, but also its reputation and relationship with customers.
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