President Donald Trump is looking to lift the seven-year ban on ZTE initially imposed in April. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump administration lets ZTE partially operate until August

The Trump administration is offering another lifeline to Chinese telecom giant ZTE, authorizing it to continue limited operations in the U.S. from July 2 through Aug. 1.

The authorization, granted in a Commerce Department document, comes as President Donald Trump looks to lift the seven-year ban on ZTE initially imposed in April. It lets ZTE conduct business involving contracts and devices offered before the ban went into effect.


The Commerce Department levied that punishment, which ZTE said would put it out of business, in response to ZTE’s illegal sales to North Korea and Iran. Trump sought to assuage Chinese government concerns with a deal in June letting ZTE operate stateside if it pays a $1 billion fine, changes its management and embeds a compliance team.

Lawmakers from both parties insist ZTE is a national security threat and merits harsher punishment. The Senate in June voted 85-10 to approve a defense bill reinstating tough penalties on ZTE. The House and Senate will meet this month to reconcile their two versions of the legislation. The House version imposes lesser restrictions.

Trump gathered Republicans for a closed-door meeting June 20 to pressure them to water down the Senate language.

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Some remain unconvinced.

“So this is the great deal we have on #ZTE?” Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted June 29. “They replace board members with new directors hand-picked by the controlling shareholder who in turn is backed & controlled by the #China government. Why are we allowing them to continue to play us like this?”

