Trump-GOP Meeting on ZTE Ban Ends Without Resolution

A Wednesday meeting of President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers and other administration officials ended without any commitment to kill language in the Senate-passed version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) that would reinstate a recently lifted Department of Commerce ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE, said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and others. The Senate voted 85-10 Monday to pass HR-5515 with the ZTE provision intact, despite Trump's push to weaken the language or kill it completely (see 1806190051). Trump “wanted to make sure the negotiation that [Secretary of Commerce Wilbur] Ross had with the Chinese over the ZTE matter was understood and it was respected, and particularly given the fact the president is negotiating with China over things like North Korea,” Cornyn told reporters. “I think there’s a path forward to address the president’s concerns as well as national security.” Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., a critic of the bid to reinstate the ban, said the meeting ended with participants making “serious strides in solving the ZTE issues.” Trump “should not have his hands tied as he engages in major negotiations dealing with trade and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Perdue said in a statement.