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Exactly this. It's insane that the US is threatening EU companies for (currently, legally) doing business in Iran, while at the same time letting ZTE get away with, well, having done the same thing (except illegally, when the sanctions were still in place). And all of that to save "many jobs"... in China.

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ZTE didn't get away with anything. The US action against them nearly destroyed the company and they've been fined $2.2 billion.

As of right now, if all the US has done is threaten sanctions on EU companies, then it's ZTE that has received the dramatically worse outcome.

ZTE objectively got punished with a lot less than what was meant. They got away with a lot, while the US chickened out. And EU companies will lose a lot more than a billion (caused by the US breaking an international treaty).

The US did not break an international treaty. It was a "deal" from Obama, which he never put in front of the Senate to actually become an international treaty... Likely because the Senate would not have confirmed it as it was.

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