In a game of cat and mouse, the United States has again delay a full ban on doing business with Huawei. This is mainly based on the fact that it has many rural telecom companies that need extra time to swap their existing equipment to other equipment vendors.
Back in May President Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to restrict purchase and installation of critical communications equipment from “foreign adversaries.” This bad was quickly delayed, though, with a 90-day reprieve allowing Huawei to continue sending updates to phones and maintaining existing networks and equipment.
Today that 90-day ban ends today, but US Commerce Secretary has announced another 90-day extension, which will end around November 19th.
The US is also adding 46 subsidiaries of Huawei to the ban list today, bringing the list of subsidiaries to more than 100, and making it harder for Huawei to continue to do business in the US.
In it’s response, Huawei has called the addition of new subsidiaries “politically motivated” and “unjust treatment” that had “nothing to do with national security.” The 90-day extension “won’t have a substantial impact on Huawei’s business,” the company said.
A number of major tech firms have cut off ties with Huawei, limiting its access to critical software and components, like Google’s Android and other companies. This Huawei issue is not going away anytime soon unless China makes a favorable trade deal with United States.
