Just as we went to press, US President Trump put out a tweet claiming that he had “let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 billion fine”. ZTE had been banned from purchasing US components because of ZTE’s violation of trade sanctions with Iran and ZTE’s apparent failure to stick to the terms of a penalty imposed by the FTC. (ZTE Suspends Smartphone Sales in China After US Tech Export Ban)
The decision to consider a deal has attracted criticism from other US politicians and a deal had not been agreed as far as we could tell at the time of publication.
Analyst Comment
This issue really highlights the problems that could come to European companies over sanctions as the US has withdrawn from the Iranian nuclear deal, if they continue to deal with Iran. (BR)
