ZTE agrees to pay $1 billion to continue operating in the U.S.

ZTE, the firm which looked like it would go extinct after the U.S. sanctioned it for violating sanctions placed on Iran, looks as though it will live another day. It looked like the U.S. and China had come to an arrangement in order to save ZTE at the end of May. The details of the agreement include a $1 billion fine and changes to some of the firm's personnel. An American monitoring team will also join the firm to ensure compliance with the U.S. law.

The firm, which was valued at $20 billion before it encountered trouble in the U.S., will no doubt be pleased by the outcome of the meetings between China and the U.S. In April, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that ZTE would be banned from purchasing components from companies in the United States for seven years - something that was described as “devastating” for the firm at the time.

While it’s definitely a good turn of events for ZTE and the people it employs, the two main political parties in the U.S. Congress, the Republicans and Democrats, certainly are not pleased with the deal. The Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and high profile republican, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) are both in agreement that the Congress should unite in order to stop such a deal with ZTE, time will tell whether they follow through with their threats.

Source: TechCrunch