Company ceases sales and workers take naps after US bans American firms from selling hardware and software to the telecom equipment makerZTE, one of the world’s largest telecom equipment makers, may be the first major casualty of a trade war brewing between China and the US. The Shenzhen-based company said it had ceased “major operating activities”, in a filing late on Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Tang said ZTE could move to other suppliers, but redesigning its phones and doing the necessary product testing would take time and investment. On Thursday, online ZTE stores on its website and major e-commerce platforms were “under construction”. China’s ministry of commerce said officials made “solemn representations” on behalf of ZTE during trade talks in Beijing last week with a visiting US delegation but they yielded few results.

Source: The Guardian May 10, 2018 05:35 UTC