U.S. Lawmakers Push to Widen Sanctions Probe Beyond ZTE

A group of Republican lawmakers is pushing the Trump administration to investigate and unmask a company that may have violated Iran sanctions laws in the same way as Chinese mobile-phone maker ZTE, according to Bloomberg.

ZTE agreed last month to pay as much as $1.2 billion after pleading guilty to shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran in violation of U.S. laws restricting the sale of American technology to the country. In a letter, Republican Congressman Robert Pittenger of North Carolina, Alabama’s Mike Rogers and eight other lawmakers, called on Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to probe the actions of an unidentified company that ZTE has said also evaded U.S. export controls.

The rival is referred to only as “F7“ in a ZTE document posted on the Commerce Department’s website. The lawmakers in their letter note that news reports have highlighted the similarities between the company described in the documents and Huawei, which is the largest Chinese networking equipment maker followed by ZTE.

“Huawei has no comment on this issue. Our company complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including the applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of UN, U.S. and E.U.,“ the Chinese company said in an emailed statement.

A deeper investigation may complicate President Donald Trump’s efforts to smooth relations with China after accusing the nation during last year’s election of manipulating its currency and hurting American manufacturers. After meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, Trump tweeted that it was a “tremendous“ meeting.

The U.S. relationship with Huawei has been fraught. The government has suspicions about whether Huawei has been sending U.S. technology to rogue nations including Syria, Iran, North Korea and Cuba, people familiar with the matter have said. The Commerce Department sent an administrative subpoena to the company’s U.S. operations. The company said at the time it cooperates with U.S. export control laws.