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The Trump administration has spent the past two years waging war with Huawei, calling the company a national security risk due to its alleged ties to the Chinese government. An executive order banned companies (even international companies) from selling Huawei hardware or software that contained US technology, and additional restrictions on trade with Huawei made it extremely difficult for the company to continue building network equipment and smartphones. These were difficult years for Huawei, but now that the Biden government is in charge, will things be different?
As The Wall Street Journal reports, Huawei certainly seems to be sending signals now that President Biden has settled down. One of the tools used against Huawei was an FCC decision last year that declared Huawei a threat to national security and banned U.S. telecommunications companies from using government funding to buy Huawei equipment. Huawei filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit contesting the decision, calling it “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion, and not supported by substantial evidence”.
Xiaomi filed a similar lawsuit earlier this month after, in one of its last ruling acts, the Trump administration declared Xiaomi a “Chinese communist military company” and banned American citizens from owning Xiaomi shares. Xiaomi called the decision “illegal and unconstitutional” on the grounds that it denied the company due process.
The FCC has new leadership under Biden, but an FCC spokesman has signaled to The Wall Street Journal that it would support the previous decision against Huawei. “Last year, the FCC issued a final designation identifying Huawei as a national security threat based on a substantial body of evidence developed by the FCC and several United States national security agencies,” said the spokesman, adding: “We will continue to defend that decision.” The US “substantial evidence” showing that Huawei was spying on the Chinese government has never been published.
The Biden government is currently in the midst of a review of Trump’s old policies and does not appear to have come to a conclusion about Huawei yet. The Commerce Department is in charge of Huawei’s export ban, and although new secretary Gina Raimondo said she “would protect the Americans and our network from Chinese interference”, she also refused to promise to maintain Huawei’s ban until a review could be completed.
Huawei began courting the Biden government earlier this week, when Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei said it would “welcome” a call and open communication from the new president. “If Huawei’s production capacity can be expanded, it will mean more opportunities for American companies to supply as well,” Ren told reporters. “I believe that this will be mutually beneficial. I believe that [the] the new administration would keep these business interests in mind when they are about to decide their new policy. “