US President Donald Trump has given a temporary reprieve to Chinese giant ZTE, after he gave the group a seven-year ban on trading in the US in April.

Trump initially banned the telecoms giant from operating in the US after ZTE illegally sold services to North Korea and Iran. ZTE said a total ban on operations with America would put them out of business, leading to the US government making a concession in June and agreeing to continue to let them operate if they paid a $1 billion fine, change their management and embed a compliance team.

On Wednesday Trump went further to alleviate concerns, saying ZTE would now be allowed to support its existing handsets in the US and continue operation of existing networks, amongst other activities.

However, the US government reiterated that the initial ban remained “in full effect”.

ZTE is a multinational telecoms operator, whose biggest source of revenues come from mainland China. 25 percent of its sales are to Europe and the Americas, it said in its annual report.