China-US Trade Tensions: US Congress slams Trump's plan to float sanctions for ZTE

World
Europe

02:06

The White House and Capitol Hill once again find themselves on different pages, this time regarding Chinese telecoms giant ZTE. Trump earlier said his team are putting together a deal to lift some of the restrictions imposed on the company, a move considered by Congress as a threat to national security. Ma Ke has more.

On Tuesday, close to 30 senators, including leaders from both parties, sent a letter to senior government officials, calling for the Trump administration not to back down on ZTE.

President Trump recently said his senior advisers are working on a deal to lift the US supply ban on ZTE, which was widely considered as a death penalty on the company.

He said the Commerce Department could replace that ban with new fines or other requirements, such as leadership changes at the company.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "What I envision is a very large fine of more than $1 billion. Could be $1.3 billion. I envision a new management, a new board and very, very strict security rules. And I also envision that they will have to buy a big percentage of their parts and equipment from American companies."

China remains positive about these developments.

LU KANG SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY "China and the United States have reached an important consensus, both sides will work on the details on how to implement the consensus through consultation. The US will send a high level delegation from relevant fields to China for consultation."

With both the Chinese and US presidents personally interceding, ZTE is now a tool of leverage in the trading game.

After the high-level trade talks last week attended by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the two sides agreed there will not be a trade war.

Liu said the healthy development of China-US economic and trade relations is in line with the historical trends.

The new complications and contradictions that might be encountered in the future must be handled with caution and calm.

China is now expecting US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's visit to China next month, during which the future of ZTE and other bilateral trade issues will be discussed.