Trump to make personal appeal to Republicans on his ZTE deal

WASHINGTON (June 19): The US Senate passed legislation on Monday evening that would restore penalties on the Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp., complicating President Donald Trump’s efforts to ease sanctions on the company.

The bipartisan measure, part of a defense bill, passed 85-10 and came two days before Trump was to host Republican members of Congress to discuss ways that would allow ZTE to get back into business.

The Senate legislation must be reconciled with the version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the US House last month. That offers the White House an opportunity to get the provision removed but makes the meeting, planned for Wednesday, even more crucial to keep in place a reprieve that the US Commerce Department granted to ZTE earlier this month.

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