A Chinese telecom company that negotiated a settlement for violating U.S. sanctions laws “should be out of business,” Sen. Marco Rubio said late Friday.
“ZTE should be put out of business,” Rubio said. “There is no ‘deal’ with a state-directed company that the Chinese government and Communist Party uses to spy and steal from us where Americans come out winning.”
Rubio is dissatisfied with an agreement between the Commerce Department and ZTE, finalized Friday, that allows the company to have access to the U.S. market. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had banned ZTE for lying about helping North Korea and Iran circumvent American sanctions, but he lifted that ban and imposed other penalties following a discussion between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“While we lifted the ban on ZTE, the Department will remain vigilant as we closely monitor ZTE’s actions to ensure compliance with all U.S. laws and regulations,” Ross said Friday. “Three interlocking elements — a suspended denial order, the $400 million in escrow, and a compliance team selected by and answerable to the Department — will allow the Department to protect U.S. national security.”
ZTE has paid $2.292 billion in penalties to the U.S. government, including that $400 million escrow payment. But Rubio and other lawmakers want a heavier punishment, because ZTE is also suspected of cooperating with Chinese intelligence services attempting to compromise the U.S. telecommunications industry.
“This is not a new threat,” Rubio and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, wrote to Trump in June. “ZTE, though publicly traded, is a state-backed enterprise that is ultimately loyal not to its shareholders, but to the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese government. This patronage relationship poses unacceptable risks to American sovereignty; risks that will only increase if the company is permitted to establish itself deeply in America’s telecommunications infrastructure.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bristled at Democratic criticisms of Trump’s willingness to ease Ross’s initial punishment. “We’re going to get this right,” Pompeo said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in May. “We’re going to reduce the risk from ZTE to America.
Congress might reverse the agreement that Ross finalized, as the Senate voted to reinstate the ZTE ban as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. House and Senate lawmakers still need to produce a final package that harmonizes the difference between their two bills.
“We must put American jobs and national security first, which is why I have urged NDAA conferees to ensure the bipartisan provision to reinstate penalties against ZTE is included in the final bill,” Rubio said Friday.
