Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross suggested Monday that the administration would address a recently imposed sales ban on telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. separately from a trade dispute between the U.S. and China.
A day earlier, President Trump weighed in on behalf of ZTE, saying on Twitter that he had ordered the Commerce Department to find a solution to the standoff, which had prompted the firm to halt business in the U.S.
The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security in April imposed a seven-year ban on the sale of products or software to ZTE by any U.S. company, asserting that the firm had made false statements to U.S. regulators in the aftermath of sanctions over violations of a U.S. trade embargo against Iran.
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018
Ross, speaking at a luncheon at the National Press Club, said he expected a Chinese trade delegation to bring up the issue during a trip to the U.S.
“Our position has been that that’s an enforcement action separate from trade,” he said. “The question is: Are there alternative remedies to the one that we had originally put forward? And that’s the area that we will be exploring very, very promptly.”
White House deputy press secretary Lindsey Walters said after Trump’s tweet that Ross will exercise “his independent judgment, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to resolve the regulatory action involving ZTE, based on its facts.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that a deal was close between the U.S. and China to lift the sales ban. In exchange, China would reportedly not impose a number of recently announced tariffs on U.S. agriculture products.
Spokespersons for the Commerce Department’s security bureau and the National Security Council didn’t respond to inquiries about the report.
Both ZTE and Chinese firm Huawei Technologies have capitalized on lower-priced telecommunications equipment to drive record profits. ZTE, the smaller of the two companies, posted 39 percent earnings growth at the start of 2018.
Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer, reported a 38 percent increase in profits for the same period. The company is reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department for potentially violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. ZTE was previously fined $1.2 billion for violating Iran and North Korea-related sanctions.
