The Senate approved legislation that would see the ban against ZTE remain in place.
The chamber on Monday voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill passed by the Senate every year. Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen introduced a measure to the bill earlier this month that restores the penalties against ZTE.
ZTE was sanctioned for violating the terms of a 2017 settlement agreement over unlawful sales to Iran and North Korea. Beginning in April, the company was cut off from U.S.-made hardware and software for a period of seven years. The company has largely been idle since. The Trump administration sought to help ZTE and the Commerce Department reached an agreement with the company.
Under the terms of the arrangement, the Chinese phone maker must pay a $1 billion fine, put $400 million into escrow, wholly change its top leadership within 30 days, an accept a U.S.-led compliance officer. Now that the NDAA has passed in the Senate, it has to be reconciled with the House of Congress’ version of the NDAA and later signed by the President. It’s unclear how the Senate, House, and President will resolve the issue.
