US President Donald Trump has extended the order he signed in June 2019 that banned American companies from doing business with Huawei.
The original order did not name any companies specifically, only those that threatened the national security of the US. However the action was widely interpreted as a sanction against Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE.
Under the terms of the bill, suppliers are banned from selling products to Huawei which is also prevented from working with US tech firms. Reuters says the order will now be in place for another 12 months.
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Huawei US ban
The US has never produced any evidence to support its claims and Huawei has persistently denied any allegations of wrongdoing. A legal challenge against the ban failed in court earlier this year.
The US ban forms part of a wider assault on Huawei by the US government in recent years. Although Huawei has effectively been frozen out of the US market to date, it does supply a number of smaller, rural operators who rely on the firm’s relatively inexpensive gear.
Washington has approved a funding package for these carriers to strip out this equipment and replace it with alternatives from the likes of Ericsson and Nokia.
Until this process is complete, the US Department of Commerce has issued several temporary licences to allow carriers to work with Huawei on essential maintenance and support, while other tech firms have been given permission to sell “non-sensitive goods” to the Shenzhen-based firm.
The ambiguity of the Washington’s stance has led to confusion, with some firms banning their engineers from collaborating with Huawei in global firms to determine networking standards. It is believed the US is working on rules to permit such discussions in order to ensure the US is not put at a disadvantage in 5G.
TechRadar Pro has contacted Huawei for comment.
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Via Reuters
