The House Appropriations Committee this week voted on an amendment that upholds the Commerce Department’s sanctions against ZTE.
Specifically, the amendment prevents the U.S. Commerce Department from renegotiating its sanctions against ZTE in order to prevent ZTE from gaining access to hardware and software from its U.S. suppliers. The Commerce Department slapped ZTE with the ban last month after it discovered that ZTE misrepresented the actions it took in a 2017 settlement.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump surprisingly tweeted in support of ZTE, suggesting the Commerce Department help ZTE “get back into business, fast.”
ZTE has largely ceased operations and idled some 75,000 employees in the wake of the ban.
The amendment voted on by the house will “prevent a foreign company that is beholden to its government — and that ignores embargoes — from infiltrating the devices and networks that are now indispensable to American life,” said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) in a statement.
“This amendment, which passed with the unanimous support of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, shows that, when the United States enacts sanctions, we stand behind them.”
The bill was coauthored by Ruppersberger and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.).
