ZTE may have received a US reprieve, but China Mobile is next target
Congressional appropriations restrict Chinese telecoms, but stop short of the components ban that the Commerce Department had recommended
When the US House of Representatives passed its defence appropriations bill on Thursday, it might have seemed that by addressing strong national security concerns, it took steps to sharply restrict involvement with Chinese telecommunications companies – including, on Monday, China Mobile.
In fact, though, the bill may well have saved ZTE from harsher penalties that would have threatened the company’s existence – tougher actions that were gathering momentum in the Senate just a week earlier.
Trump administration moves to block China Mobile entering US market
Unlike the Senate bill, the House amendment excluded language prohibiting ZTE from buying components from American suppliers for seven years.
“Once the amendment to reinstate the ZTE ban failed, we were a done deal as far as I am concerned,” Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy research at investment consulting firm Veda Partners, said, referring to the House action.
“I feel very comfortable saying that the ZTE deal is done.”