The US Senate has voted to resume the ban on ZTE, pursuant to certain conditions. One of those is that they abide by the terms set by the deal that it managed to secure with the Trump administration. If the conditions are not met, the ban stays.

The group of senators is thinking of repealing the provisions in the recently passed McCain Defense Bill which would give ZTE free rein to purchase materials from the US. Most of the products of ZTE, SCMP reported. However, these would become prohibited if ZTE fails to adhere to the terms of the deal which it recently completed with US president Donald Trump.

Senators Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, authored the bill, which is called the ZTE Enforcement Review and Oversight (ZERO) Act. Republican Senators Susan Collins, James Lankford, and Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Elizabeth Warren completed the group which sought to limit ZTE's purchasing power.

It can be remembered that the defense bill, explained by Hindustan Times, was signed by the president into law during a stopover at the US Army's Fort Drum base, as he was on his way back to Washington. The defense bill's namesake, the late Senator John McCain, said that he was "humbled" at the time, that the bill was named after him.

The US has largely been accusatory of Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei. They have been called "security threats" and the troubles chasing after them aren't helping their case. In Britain, they have been blacklisted for the same reasons as the US. Even Japan and Australia had stopped dealing with the companies, ending contracts with them.

The deal also made Trump the target of many US lawmakers. Most of them, like Rubio, was vocal in their opposition of the deal Trump sealed with the Chinese company, which resulted in the defense bill provisions. While the US still prohibits government agencies from using ZTE equipment, ZTE is allowed to buy components from the US and, at the same, engage in new contracts because of the provision.

Rubio, talking about the ZERO bill, said that it was in the interest of defending the US' interests that the bill existed. If ZTE failed to "hold up its end of the bargain," Rubio said, then they may very well see their business go down sooner than later.