- The White House is revoking licenses of companies doing business with Chinese technology giant Huawei, Reuters reported on Sunday.
- Huawei has long been a target of President Donald Trump’s government, which sees the company as a spy for the Chinese government.
- Huawei has repeatedly denied that it intends to use its networks to spy.
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President Donald Trump’s government is making what is likely to be its final attempt to weaken Huawei by revoking licenses from companies that supply materials to the Chinese technology giant, according to a new report from Reuters.
Companies like Intel and Japanese chip maker Kioxia have been told they will no longer be able to sell to Huawei, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The government plans to revoke several dozen licenses, Reuters said.
The Trump administration has long considered Huawei’s dominance in the telecommunications world a threat to national security.
In May 2019, Trump declared a national emergency due to the company’s growing invasion of the U.S. market.
As a result, the company was placed on an “entity list”, which meant that American companies could not sell or transfer technology to Huawei without a license issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List.
In a statement to CNBC at the time, Huawei said: “Restricting Huawei from doing business in the U.S. will not make the United States safer or stronger; instead, it will only serve to limit the U.S. to even less expensive lower alternatives, leaving o The US is lagging behind in the deployment of 5G and, eventually, harming the interests of US companies and consumers. “
The Trump campaign continued its attacks on Huawei, with the president saying to “Fox and Friends” in August 2020: “We don’t want your equipment in the United States because it spies on us. And any country that uses it, we” won’t do. nothing in terms of intelligence sharing. “
“Huawei? I call them Spy-Wei. They are a disaster,” continued Trump.
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On August 17, the Commerce Department announced that the government further restricted technology companies from selling US-made technologies to Huawei – or any of its affiliates – without acquiring a special license.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said at the time that the move was made to prevent Huawei from using US technology to “fulfill the objectives of the Chinese Communist Party”.
“As we restricted their access to United States technology, Huawei and its affiliates worked through third parties to take advantage of United States technology in a way that undermines US national security and foreign policy interests,” he continued.
The restriction prevented Huawei from accessing chips it designed, but which were manufactured by other companies.
The UK agreed to allow Huawei to help build its 5G system in 2019, but reversed the course in July 2020 due to China’s security concerns. The British government has banned the purchase of new Huawei 5G equipment after December 31, 2020 and has promised to remove all Huawei equipment from 5G networks by the end of 2027.