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Last Thursday, the US House of Representatives (“House”) passed its version of the defense appropriations bill, formally known as the the “John McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019”, or “NDAA” for short.

The House bill passed on a 359-49 vote and authorized $675 billion in defense spending for next year. The final bill does include the Senate language prohibiting ZTE and Huawei from selling goods or services to the Pentagon.

More importantly, the final bill does not include Senate language that would have “undone” ZTE’s deal ($1 billion in fines, US government oversight, $400k in escrow, etc.) Despite bipartisan support in the Senate for amended language that would have prevented a deal with ZTE, the House did the right thing and removed this amendment from the final bill.

News of this final bill probably won’t make it to the news outlets, but this final bill is a win for President Trump and the administration – and will be the first time the US Government has had oversight of a large Chinese company.

With the ZTE deal saved and ZTE now eligible to buy hardware and software from US companies – companies such as Qualcomm, Lumentum, Oclaro, Broadcom, Intel, MACOM, Semtech, and other U.S.-based vendors in the ZTE supply chair are probably breathing a sigh of relief.

Check back for more ZTE news, if you have any questions about ZTE, trade or customs law, contact David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.