Stefan Mileschin

A casualty of trade war

China’s ZTE said that a US ban on the sale of parts and software to the company was unfair and threatens its survival.

The United States this week imposed a ban on sales by American companies to ZTE for seven years, saying the Chinese company had broken a settlement agreement with repeated false statements - a move that threatens to cut off its supply chain.

However, ZTE has hit back saying that it is unacceptable that the US insists on unfairly imposing the most severe penalty on ZTE even before the completion of an investigation of facts.

“The Denial Order will not only severely impact the survival and development of ZTE, but will also cause damages to all partners of ZTE including a large number of US companies”, ZTE said in a statement.

ZTE said it regards compliance as the cornerstone of its strategy, adding it invested $50 million in export control compliance projects in 2017 and planned to spend more this year.

A senior US Commerce Department official told Reuters earlier this week that it is unlikely to lift the ban.

“We’re going to have to see how this unfolds. But there is no provision currently for that to occur”, the official said, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Even so, ZTE would have little recourse in the near term because appeals would have to be approved by the Bureau of Industry and Security, the same agency that issued the ban.

https://fudzilla.com/news/46108-zte-...ure-is-at-risk