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Trump’s new ZTE tweet trumps old ZTE tweets that trumped his first ZTE tweet

Everything's fine! A $1.3 billion fine! Winning!

On Friday, United States president Donald Trump Tweeted that ZTE will be allowed to sell into America again, subject to board changes, security controls, and a fine.

May 9, 2018: ZTE closed down In more stable policy circles, the Chinese vendor was on the outs because of national security fears, and in the face of an American trade ban, it had shut down operations.

May 13, 2018: Trump rides to the rescue! That was, of course, until President Trump announced a decision to save the company, partly because someone told the president ZTE bought US chips from the likes of Qualcomm.

May 15, 2018: It's part of trade negotiations with China That brought another presidential clarification Tweet:

May 17, 2018: You imagined it all! Next, President Trump took the position that “nothing has happened with ZTE”.

May 26, 2018: We have a deal! Now, presuming that the latest from the president's prolific thumbs is solid enough to be regarded as “a position”, a deal has really, really been cut.

Senator Marco Rubio had predicted the deal and wasn't pleased. He tweeted that “#China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act.”

The New York Times reckons the details of the deal are that ZTE will change its management team and appoint American compliance, as well as paying the fine.

The US Commerce Department would then lift the denial order that prevents ZTE from buying American products.

If your head's spinning, you're not the only one. ®

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