Senate Moves to Reverse Trump's ZTE Deal

The Republican-led Senate is working to reverse President Donald Trump's decision to allow Chinese telecom giant ZTE to buy component parts from the US. Senate leaders agreed Monday to try to undo the administration's deal with a provision to a must-pass defense package, the AP reports. The Chinese company has been accused of violating sanctions by selling equipment to North Korea and Iran. After the Trump administration announced a deal with ZTE last week, Senate leaders sought to reverse it. The amendment was officially added to the National Defense Authorization Act Tuesday, UPI reports. The defense package is expected to pass the Senate later this week, but its outcome in the House is uncertain.

"By including this provision to undo the ZTE deal in the defense bill, the Senate is saying loudly and in a bipartisan fashion that the president is dead wrong to back off on ZTE," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, per Politico. "The fact that a bipartisan group of senators came together this quickly is a testament to how bad the Trump administration's ZTE deal is and how we will not shy away from holding the president's feet to the fire when it comes to keeping his promise to be tough on China." Meanwhile, shares of ZTE Corp. are set to resume trading Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports. (More China stories.)