House Appropriations Includes Amendment in FY 2019 Spending Bill Barring Change to ZTE Sanctions
The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an amendment on May 17 to its fiscal year 2019 Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill that would bar the Department of Commerce from renegotiating its recent set of sanctions against Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The amendment, offered by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., follows days of Capitol Hill criticism of President Donald Trump for a recent tweet saying the administration is working with the Chinese government to keep ZTE in business (see 1805140046).
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said his department is looking at alternative punishments but officials are resisting attempts to connect the ZTE ban with ongoing trade negotiations with China. “Supporting this amendment will show that the U.S. government stands behind the sanctions that it enacts, and will enforce them,” Ruppersberger said.
The same day, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., spoke on the Senate floor against rolling back the sanctions. "It now appears that this concession is part of a deal that, if reached, would have the Chinese Government agree to remove tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. It must be noted that these are the same tariffs that China levied in retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs announced, and now being haphazardly applied, by this administration," he said. "Make no mistake, what we are witnessing here is a nascent trade war -- tariffs leading to tariffs leading to ill-advised concessions, haphazard exemptions," and more. "Punitive measures like sanctions work only when they are consistently executed. How is any other nation meant to take threats of U.S. sanctions seriously when we enforce them some of the time and toss them aside other times," he added.