US ZTE sanctions lifted for relatively piddly fee
ZTE was just handed a deal by Wilbur Ross, Trump casino investor** and current Trump-appointed Secretary of Commerce. In the year 2012, ZTE broke US embargo with Iran and North Korea. ZTE pled guilty in a US court, and agreed to several penalties – only to one of which it actually complied. Having broken agreement to NOT deal ship products to Iran and North Korea, then broken agreement to penalties for breaking the first agreement, the US government delivered a 7-year ban on US companies exporting ANY products to ZTE's businesses.
Why is this happening?
The deal was worked up after Trump (on the 13th of May, 2018*) decided that it was important that China be given a break on US sanctions. Because Chinese workers need to work, and that was one of Trump's main platforms during the 2016 election season. Or wait, no it wasn't? Well then, why would Trump want to help ZTE, and China in general?
It might have something to do with a 2015 project in which the Trump Organization has agreed to put its name on a golf course, hotel, and residential development. This project, MNC Lido City, is run by Chinese state-owned construction company MCC Group, and the project is set for Lido, Indonesia. The deal was first worked up back in 2015, and it was only just "formalized" on the 10th of May, 2018.
Trump's announcement that he'd been working with the president of China Xi Jinping to get ZTE back into business occurred on the 13th of May, 2018. Trump's Tweet read: "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!"
It might also have to do with what The Atlantic wrote back in March. Have a peek at the excerpt below:
Everyone knows or has known a boss who acts tough, but is majorly susceptible to flattery. They're easily led by the nose wherever a treat can be sniffed. China knows how to flatter, and they know how to suss out leader whose willing to take a bribe.
How is this possible?
Congress can't really do anything about what this agreement contains, according to Rueters. "Sanctions laws that affect ZTE allow any president to waive them if he feels it is necessary for national security reasons. The U.S. Constitution also gives presidents broad control of foreign policy matters."
For any other president, that'd require a really good, substantial set of reasons why overturning a ZTE ban was important for the national security of the United States. For Trump, it doesn't seem to matter what the reasons are. In fact it would seem that Trump is going AGAINST recommendations that ZTE is a major security risk to the United States, its military, and its citizens.
The actual agreement
The agreement appears harsh, and it's meant to appear harsh – because it isn't. From the desk of Ross himself, at the US Department of Commerce, comes word that this ZTE Settlement includes the "Strictest BIS Compliance Requirements Ever." The settlement includes the following, according to Ross:
"Under the new agreement, ZTE must pay $1 billion and place an additional $400 million in suspended penalty money in escrow before BIS will remove ZTE from the Denied Persons List. These penalties are in addition to the $892 million in penalties ZTE has already paid to the U.S government under the March 2017 settlement agreement.
ZTE will also be required by the new agreement to retain a team of special compliance coordinators selected by and answerable to BIS for a period of 10 years. Their function will be to monitor on a real-time basis ZTE's compliance with U.S. export control laws. This is the first time BIS has achieved such stringent compliance measures in any case.
ZTE is also required under the new agreement to replace the entire board of directors and senior leadership for both entities. Finally, the new agreement once again imposes a denial order that is suspended, this time for 10 years, which BIS can activate in the event of additional violations during the ten-year probationary period. These collectively are the most severe penalty BIS has ever imposed on a company."
- US Department of Commerce, Office of the Secretary
OF NOTE: In the three months ending on the 31st of March, 2018, ZTE reported operating revenue of 28.9 billion RMB. That's approximately $4.52 billion USD.
BONUS: Who is Wilbur Ross?
**Wilbur Ross is an investor with Russian investment ties. When Donald Trump's three casinos in Atlantic City were under threat of foreclosure in the early 1990s, Wilbur Ross convinced investors not only to bail Trump out, but to allow Trump to continue to run said casinos. Ross made a career of "saving" companies on the verge of bankruptcy, the selling them once they'd appeared to come back into profit.
Trump couldn't possibly have felt any duress from Ross and his bosses, the Rothschild family, to assign him as US Secretary of Commerce, right? You can learn more about Ross over in Philosophy of Metrics.