WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is following through with plans to allow US companies to continue doing business with Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment giant, just weeks after placing the company on a Commerce Department blacklist.
On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the administration would issue licenses for US companies that want to do business with Huawei “where there is no threat to national security.”
The comments confirm President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last month, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that the United States would relax restrictions on Huawei as part of an effort to restart stalled trade talks with China. Weeks earlier, the Commerce Department said it had placed the company and dozens of affiliates on a list of firms deemed risks to national security, effectively barring it from buying American parts and technologies without seeking US government approval.
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said at a CNBC event Tuesday that the United States “opened the door — relaxed a bit, the licensing requirements from the Commerce Department” for companies that sell to Huawei.
“We are opening that up for a limited time period,” Kudlow said.
That could offer a reprieve to US companies like Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom and Google, which sell microchips to Huawei and other specialized parts that go into its smartphones and telecom equipment.
US technology companies have been lobbying the administration, saying that the ban will cut them off from a major source of revenue, while doing little to hold back Huawei’s technological advancement, since Huawei will merely purchase some less-advanced components from competitors in Japan, South Korea or elsewhere instead.
Kudlow also said negotiations with China, which fell apart in May and seemed on the brink of collapse, are set to resume.
On Tuesday, Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Minister Zhong Shan to continue negotiations aimed at resolving the outstanding trade disputes between the United States and China, according to a senior administration official. Both sides will continue these talks as appropriate, the official said.
2019 New York Times News Service
source: news.abs-cbn.com
