Speaking at a conference in Washington D.C, U.S Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the U.S. government will issue licenses that would allow American-made goods by local companies to sell to Huawei components that do not threat US or national security. Huawei will stay on the Entity List and certain goods would still need licenses. This announcement means issued licenses would still have to conquer the presumption of denial but leaves the door open a little wider for some approvals by the Commerce Department. It also means US companies are free to sell non-sensitive technology components to Huawei.
Secretary Ross stated this new change was to fulfill the president’s directive made at the G20 summit press conference in Osaka, Japan.
Executive order stopped shipments
In May 2019, President Trump signed an executive order that prohibited all technology transactions by foreign adversaries that would impose a threat to US and national security. He declared it a national emergency and ordered US government departments to takes the necessary steps to identify and scrutinize technology transaction by foreign adversaries. During this time, the U.S Commerce Secretary added Huawei to its Entity List which lead US technology firms to stop shipments. This caused a deep concern not only to Huawei but US companies because Huawei relies on imports from US for computer chips and Google for its Android operating system.
The ban was imposed after there was a breakdown in talks concerning the trade deal between China and the United States. It was reported by the Wall Street Journal that Chinese officials insisted that a compromise on the Huawei issue be part of the trade deal.
Tech companies could lose billions
The somewhat loosening of restrictions on Huawei was encouraged by American tech companies; all of whom said the ban would infect damage on their profits.
Noting that they could possible lose up to $56 billion over five years. While the loosening allows companies to sell basic technology components it does not allow the sell of any technology equipment or components related to the up and coming 5G. The Trump administration will keep the restricts on Huawei's involvement in US advancement of 5G as the jury is still out on whether or not they use its equipment to spy and collect data on other countries for the People's Republic of China (PRC), that not only practice espionage but cyber-warfare.
National security on top of list
President Trump has put US national security on the top of the list when it comes to our technology efforts; and has been proven justified in this stance by the investigation conducted by the Henry Jackson Society that reported, due to a leak online by Huawei staff, there was an admitted tie with China's intelligence agencies. As reported by Forbes, last week, John Hemmings, a director at the Henry Jackson Society, told them that early analyzing finds a pattern of Huawei employees having a connection to the military and Ministry of State Security. They advise the US to use caution when dealing with Huawei.
