US temporarily lifts part of sales ban on ZTE

Reuters - The U.S. Commerce Department temporarily lifted part of a sales ban on the major Chinese tech firm ZTE that all-but shut down the company about three months ago. After paying a fine of one billion U.S. dollars, the ZTE was allowed to resume transactions with its U.S. suppliers for its networks and equipment businesses as well as necessary transactions to provide services to its phones, including software updates and patches. The authorization by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security is valid from July 2 till August 1. It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said on May 13 he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working to give the ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast" and instructed the Commerce Department to get it done. The U.S. Commerce Department imposed a seven-year sales ban on the Chinese phone maker on April 15. That ban bars US companies from doing business with the ZTE and brought the company's production lines to a halt in May as components dried up. The ZTE relies on U.S. companies for some 23 percent of the parts that go into its networking hardware and smartphones, with no alternative sources available.