minicom trouble connecting to device through serial port

I am trying to talk to a device through a RS-232 9pin serial connection using minicom. When connected, the device should take UTF-8 commands and return UTF-8 messages. I am using an FDTI RS-232 to USB adapter. The Bps/Par/Bits for my device are 9600 8N1. I have enabled local echo and added CRLF as required by my device. The device is on port /dev/ttyUSB0

$ dmesg | grep ttyUSB0
[64986.995219] usb 1-3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 015: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 Serial (UART) IC

My minirc.dfl file reads

pu port             /dev/ttyUSB0
pu baudrate         9600
pu mdialpre         
pu mdialsuf         
pu mdialpre2        
pu mdialsuf2        
pu mdialpre3        
pu mdialsuf3        
pu mhangup          
pu rtscts           No 
pu localecho        Yes
pu addlinefeed      Yes
pu addcarreturn     Yes

When I run minicom and type a command to the device, I get no response.

Welcome to minicom 2.7.1

OPTIONS: I18n 
Compiled on Dec 23 2019, 02:06:26.
Port /dev/ttyUSB0, 16:22:25

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys

>cg 
**(should be a response here)**

I have built a loopback RS-232 9pin connector and confirmed that the UTF-8 commands from my minicom terminal are being sent out properly.

Strangely I have been able to connect to the device using the Tera-Term terminal emulator on a windows virtual machine on my computer. Emulating at VT100 terminal and including CRLF and local echo I get the desired response.

>cg
temp. CG 37 d

I am a bit stumped about why I can connect to the device through the Tera-Term terminal emulator, but not through minicom. Please let me know your thoughts! My ubuntu version is

Description: Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS Release: 20.04 Codename: focal