Trump wants to get ZTE back on their feet together with Chinese president

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that he is working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to get ZTE back up and running. Trump has instructed the Commerce Department to “get it done.”

In his tweet Trump says too many jobs have been lost in China. The president did not provide any further explanation of his position. Last week, ZTE shut down its operations due to the trade ban imposed by the US Department of Commerce in April. Since then, American companies are no longer allowed to supply the Chinese manufacturer of smartphones and telecom equipment.

ZTE previously asked the ministry to suspend the sanctions. However, the decision to help ZTE appears to have come from Trump himself, who is in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The guidance towards ZTE is striking, also because the American government has been critical of Chinese smartphone brands for some time. Intelligence services fear espionage via phones and equipment from brands such as ZTE and Huawei.

After the trade ban went into effect, ZTE has indicated that the sanction threatens the very existence of the company. The Chinese manufacturer is largely dependent on American suppliers, such as Qualcomm and Intel for chips.

The US Department of Commerce imposed the trade ban as a punitive measure, because ZTE had not honored its commitments. The Chinese manufacturer paid a fine of $980 million for trade with Iran in 2012, but agreed disciplinary penalties for executives have not been forthcoming. The trade ban followed.