Amendment Blocking Softer Action on ZTE Attached to Foreign Investment Bill

The Senate Banking Committee approved by a 23-2 vote on May 22 an amendment that would prohibit President Donald Trump from changing the seven-year export ban for ZTE -- or any other Chinese telecom company penalties -- until the administration tells Congress the company is no longer violating the law, and has not done so for a year, and is fully cooperating with investigators. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who introduced the amendment to the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, said after the vote: "We know ZTE is a repeated and flagrant violator of U.S. laws -- there’s absolutely no question of their culpability. Yet the President of the United States is fighting to protect jobs in China at a company that may be spying on Americans and has been sanctioned by our government. This is deeply troubling, regardless of your political party."

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York responded to the amendment's passage by saying, "If the president and his team won't follow through on tough sanctions against ZTE, it's up to Congress to ensure it happens. Both parties have come together today to strongly rebuke ZTE and the administration's soft approach."

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on May 22 at about the same time the committee was considering the amendment, said China's President Xi Jinping asked him to look into the ZTE case, but that no deal has been reached to change the penalty's scope. The committee also passed a non-binding resolution that said "that penalties imposed on an individual or entity pursuant to a determination that the individual or entity has violated U.S. sanctions laws or export controls should not be modified for reasons that are unrelated to national security." In the House of Representatives, the National Defense Authorization Act that passed out of committee on May 22 banned any Huawei or ZTE products from being purchased by the Pentagon.