Chinese vendor ZTE has signed an agreement that would lift a U.S. Commerce Department ban on buying from U.S. suppliers, Reuters reported, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
However, a Commerce Department spokesperson said that a definitive deal to lift the sanctions had not been signed by both parties.
The potential agreement with the U.S government would allow the Chinese company to resume business after the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) banned American firms from selling telecommunications equipment and services to ZTE during a seven-year period after the vendor allegedly did not live up to the terms of an agreement that had been worked out after it illegally shipped telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea.
