Huawei gets 2nd reprieve from US ban, affiliates added to Entity List

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Huawei gets 2nd reprieve from US ban, affiliates added to Entity List

Washington had granted Huawei another 90-day exemption from a blacklist. That allowed the Chinese telecom giant to keep doing business with U.S. companies.

That was the second extension. CGTN White House Correspondent Nathan King gave the details in a report.

After delaying some tariffs on telecoms and computer equipment last week, this week the Trump administration was granting another temporary reprieve for Huawei.

This meant Huawei will continue to be able to use Google’s Android operating system on its smartphones, chips from U.S. companies like Qualcomm and continue to supply rural networks in the U.S. that depend heavily on Huawei.

“Some of the rural companies are dependent upon Huawei. So, we are giving them a little more time to wean themselves off,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross explained during an appearance on Fox Business Network. “But there are no specific licenses are being granted for anything.”

Huawei was placed on the so-called “Entity List,” for ill-defined national security reasons, back in May. But pressure from U.S. tech giants like Google and semiconductor firms that depend on Huawei from a big chunk of their profits had pressured the White House to ease the ban.

While the move will help Huawei in the short term, the U.S. Commerce Secretary also announced the U.S. has added another 46 Huawei affiliates to the entities list and that the extension was only granted to give U.S. companies and customers time to switch suppliers.

In response, Huawei said this extension does not change the fact that the company has been treated unjustly. The statement reads in part:

“We oppose the U.S. Commerce Department’s decision to add another 46 Huawei affiliates to the Entity List. It’s clear that this decision, made at this particular time, is politically motivated and has nothing to do with national security. These actions violate the basic principles of free-market competition. They are in no one’s interests, including U.S. companies.”

Placing Huawei and dozens of its affiliates on the entities list was a part of a global campaign against Huawei by the Trump administration and a potential bargaining chip in the trade war. But despite pressure on U.S. allies in Europe and Asia to drop Huawei, the company continued to roll out 5G technology and its smartphones globally, with the exception of here in the U.S.


Steve Pavlick on the latest reprieve for China’s Huawei to do business with US companies

CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg spoke with Steve Pavlick, head of Policy, Renaissance Macro Research, about latest U.S. 90-day reprieve for doing business with China’s Huawei.