The United States and China have a tentative deal to save embattled Chinese telecom company ZTE, days after the two nations announced a truce in their trade standoff, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The report sparked an immediate negative reaction on Capitol Hill, where top Republican and Democrat senators denounced it.
Details remain to be hammered out, but according to the general outlines of the agreement, Washington would lift a crippling ban on selling US components to the company, which in turn would make major changes in its management, executive board and possibly pay additional fines, according to the report. The company had faced collapse due to the US ban, which resulted from its violations of US sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
Washington and Beijing on Saturday called a halt to a spiraling trade dispute sparked by US accusations of unfair trade practices and the alleged theft of US technology, suspending plans to impose tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese imports. In a series of tweets, top Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who chairs a key subcommittee on foreign relations, denounced the move, vowing lawmakers would work on "veto-proof legislation" to stop the deal.
"If this is true, then the administration has surrendered to China on ZTE," Rubio wrote.