You'd be naive to think if ZTE were to go under will be at America's best interest. U.S. semiconductor industry as a whole will be impacted as ZTE is one of the largest mobile handset and networking equipment manufacturer.
I love how we are slapping sanctions on our allies and letting our adversaries in the backdoor. All the while complaining about IP theft from China. Sad!
Meanwhile, a Chinese state investment puts $500 million dollars towards an Indonesian project heavily involving Trump properties, golf courses and branding.<p><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/china-contributing-500-million-trump-linked-project-indonesia/" rel="nofollow">https://www.nationalreview.com/news/china-contributing-500-m...</a><p>Peddling influence and using government for personal profit seems par for the course in this administration.<p><a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/05/16/trumps-bizarre-zte-tweets-payback-for-a-huge-real-estate-deal-in-indonesia/" rel="nofollow">https://www.salon.com/2018/05/16/trumps-bizarre-zte-tweets-p...</a>
Trump's flipping around shouldn't be that surprising, but the wholesale abandonment or banishment of any independent thought from the Republican party is quite a (terrible) thing to behold.<p>They claimed they were for "law and order" but the stand firm behind a criminal and want to take down the FBI and other agencies.<p>They were for standing up to tinpot dictators, but are now fighting over who can suck up to Kim the best.<p>They claimed they were for free trade and smooth business, but are now working hard to wreck the Western alliance.<p>And let's not even try to get into the whole "family values" scam...
So the outcome here is:<p>- All key leadership and board memebers are to be fired and replaced within 30 days<p>- US picked compliance team embedded in ZTE that the commerce department is reimbursed for by ZTE<p>- $1B fine and $400M in escrow<p>- Qualcomm / NXP deal seems likely to be approved, helping US jobs<p>In the past we've seen other countries deal with Iran while under sanctions, and we've gotten nothing out of them other than speeches at the U.N.<p>I kinda think I like this better.<p><i>oblig disclaimer - I didn't vote for Trump, and I don't knee-jerk defend his actions...</i>