The US Commerce Department imposed the ban following ZTE's violation of an agreement on punishing employees that was reached after it was caught illegally shipping US goods to Iran. China imposed 179% tariff on US sorghum hours after US bans exports to China's ZTE. US-China trade tensions are among hot topics in ongoing Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group in Washington DC. IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld said there was still time for the US and China to avoid a trade war through multilateral negotiations.