The bill is likely to pass, but must then go back to the House of Representatives for reconciliation – at which point the White House says it intends to intervene
The US Senate is set to pass a defence policy bill that will – among various other functions – repeal US President Donald Trump’s deal to allow Chinese telecom giant ZTE to reopen.
The must-pass US$717 billion annual defence bill would give troops a 2.6 per cent pay increase – the largest in nine years – and address shortfalls in military readiness.
But language within it will also block ZTE from buying component parts from the US, undoing a deal made by Trump in exchange for the company paying a US$1 billion fine, among other measures.
ZTE, China’s second-biggest telecoms company, is accused of violating trade laws by selling sensitive technologies to North Korea and Iran, and subsequently failing to follow through on remedies imposed by the US Chamber of Commerce.
As punishment it was banned from buying US products, including microchips from Qualcomm, effectively shuttering it.
The bill is almost certain to pass through the Senate, but it must then go to the House of Representatives for reconciliation, as the House previously passed the measure without the ZTE provision.
At that point, the White House intends to intervene to have the ZTE language removed from the bill, a Trump administration official said last week.
