另一方面,同時被美國制裁的還有俄鋁。上月6日,美國加大對俄羅斯制裁,美國財政部宣布對38個俄羅斯個人、官員、企業實施制裁,當中包括透過持有EN+ Group Plc控股俄鋁的大股東歐柏嘉(Oleg Deripaska)。值得留意的是,在宣布制裁前幾天,美俄官方分別證實了特朗普曾邀請普京訪美,加上早前特朗普多次提到要改善美俄關係,並與普京互相稱讚對方。但不論二人表面上如何「好來好去」,兩國關係也沒有明顯改善。而特朗普作為商人,必定會以自身利益為首,對俄鋁不留情面也是意料之內的事。換言之,俄鋁也是一個政治籌碼。特朗普除了借此展示自己強硬的一面,鞏固自己的地位,為十一月的中期選舉鋪路,繼而尋求連任;另一個主要原因就是借此撇清自己與「通俄門」的關係。不難發現,在制裁名單內不少人與「通俄門」有關,例如特朗普前競選經理馬納福特被指曾主動聯絡歐柏嘉,為對方簡介選情。
雖然中興和俄鋁被制裁的背景、因素不同,但它們同為美國或特朗普的政治資本,以「綁架」他國的私人公司迫使中俄兩國「就範」,令自己獲取更大利益,這才是美國對兩國企業實施制裁的真正原因。
Trump: 'There is no deal' to help Chinese company ZTE
BY VICKI NEEDHAM 280
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President Trump said Tuesday that there is no deal to save Chinese company ZTE, which is facing heavy fines and sanctions in the United States.
Trump told reporters that he is doing Chinese President Xi Jinping a favor by looking into how to breathe life back into the company that the Commerce Department has effectively shut down.
"President Xi and I have a great relationship, but there is no deal," Trump said at the White House.
"We will see what happens. We are discussing deals. We’re discussing various deals."
Reuters reported Tuesday that the U.S. and China were closing in on a deal to lift a ban on U.S. companies selling components to ZTE.
“As far as ZTE is concerned [Xi] asked me to look into it and I am doing that,” Trump said during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
asn’t another administration, it was this administration that closed it.”
Trump suggested that ZTE pay a fine of upward of $1.3 billion, hire new management and a new board of directors, tighten security rules and be required to buy a large percentage of their parts and equipment from American companies.
ZTE has been fined nearly $1.2 billion for violating an agreement to not ship products to Iran and North Korea.
The potential of an agreement with ZTE has angered members of Congress, who warn doing business with the company is a threat to national security.
The Senate Banking Committee approved an amendment Tuesday that would block Trump from easing sanctions on ZTE without first certifying to Congress that the company is complying with U.S. law. The move comes a week after the House Appropriations Committee approved a similar provision.
Amid broader trade negotiations with China, Trump in a tweet on May 13 expressed concern that ZTE was being driven out of business.
He wrote that he had ordered federal officials to get the Chinese telecom firm "back into business, fast."
“Too many jobs in China lost,” Trump wrote.
On Tuesday, he expressed concern for U.S. jobs because ZTE sources many parts for its phones from American companies.
“When you do that you’re really hurting American companies,” he said.
Trump said during the meeting with Moon that he wants to strike a “great deal for the United States” with Beijing, but that he wants "it to be a very good deal for China, too, if that’s possible.”
“It may not be possible,” Trump said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin endured a grilling from Senate appropriators on Tuesday who wanted assurances that the Trump administration is considering the security issues in its approach to ZTE.
“I can assure you that whatever the Commerce Department decides, the intelligence community has been part of the briefings and we will make sure that we enforce national security issues,” he said during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Mnuchin said the intention was not to put ZTE out of business.
“The objective was not to put ZTE out of business, the objective was to make sure they abide by our sanctions programs,” he said.
作者: :
U.S. reaches deal with China’s ZTE that includes $1 billion fine, commerce secretary says
The Trump administration has agreed to relax its punishment of Chinese telecom company ZTE, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday.
The company will pay a $1 billion fine and fund a new in-house compliance team staffed by U.S. experts, Ross told CNBC.
The move eases a seven-year ban on ZTE buying American parts, which Commerce levied in April. At the time, the Chinese government complained that the action could put the company, a major employer and star of the Chinese technology industry, out of business.
“We are literally embedding a compliance department of our choosing into the company to monitor it going forward. They will pay for those people, but the people will report to the new chairman,” Ross said. “This is a pretty strict settlement. The strictest and largest settlement fine that has ever been brought by the Commerce Department against any violator of export controls.”
The Commerce Department action came after President Trump tweeted last month that he planned to help ZTE because “too many jobs in China” would otherwise be lost. The president’s extraordinary intervention in an enforcement matter drew widespread criticism on Capitol Hill from members of both parties.
Reaction Thursday was no warmer.
“China is eating our lunch, and this president is serving it up to them,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for Congress to reverse the decision, which is unlikely. A proposal by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to bar such forgiveness for Chinese telecom companies is not retroactive and thus would not cover the ZTE deal, according to an analysis by Cowen Research Group.
Under the 23-page definitive agreement announced by Ross, ZTE also is required to change its entire board of directors and executive team within 30 days.
The government will hold $400 million of ZTE’s money in escrow as a hedge against future violations by the company, which last year settled criminal and civil charges in connection with its violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea.
ZTE was found to have shipped its sophisticated telecommunications equipment to both countries, which the State Department lists as supporters of terrorism, and to have repeatedly lied to U.S. investigators about its actions.
美國商務部長 Wilbur Ross 日前宣布,華府已成功與中興通訊達成協議。華府將會放寬早前對中興的制裁,亦解除 7 年的貿易禁令。美國兩黨的參議員隨即提出動議,要求恢復對中興的制裁,亦同時禁止美國政府向中興或華為採購及租借任何設備。
議案由參議院民主黨議員 Chuck Schumer 、 Chris Van Hollen 及共和黨議員 Tom Cotton 共同提出,要求恢復早前對中興下達的制裁,以及禁止華府補貼及使用中興與華為兩大集團。有關議案獲得兩黨支持,他們更要求將有關議案列為《國防授權法》修正案,而有關議案將於下周展開辯論,屆時將決定法案是否能夠進行表決。
作者: :
June 18, 2018 - 06:55 PM EDT
Senate votes to block Trump's ZTE deal
The Senate moved to block President Trump's deal to save Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE despite pushback from the White House.
Senators passed an annual defense policy bill on Monday that included a provision keeping the penalties in place against ZTE despite a deal reached earlier this month by the Trump administration.
In addition to keeping the Commerce Department penalties in place, the bill bans government agencies from buying or leasing telecommunications equipment and services from ZTE and Chinese telecom firm Huawei, as well as banning the government from providing loans to or subsidizing either company.
The provision — spearheaded by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — sparked backlash from the White House, which is signaling it will try to remove it from the final bill.
“The Administration will work with Congress to ensure the final NDAA conference report respects the separation of powers.” said Hogan Gidley, a deputy press secretary for the White House.
GOP Sen. David Perdue (Ga.), a close ally of Trump's, tried unsuccessfully to remove the provision last week arguing that the current Senate bill "would trample on the separation of powers and undercut the Trump administration's authority to impose these penalties."
The back-and-forth comes after the Trump administration announced earlier this month that it had reached a deal to lift penalties against the company in exchange for ZTE paying a $1 billion fine and embedding a U.S.-selected compliance team in the firm.
But the deal rattled lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including otherwise close allies of Trump's.
“We’re heartened that both parties made it clear that protecting American jobs and national security must come first when making deals with countries like China, which has a history of having little regard for either. It is vital that our colleagues in the House keep this bipartisan provision in the bill as it heads towards a conference," Cotton, Schumer, Rubio and Van Hollen said in a statement after the Senate's vote.