DESPARDES News Monitor – Huawei has achieved quite the feat: in the space of a year, it’s gone from a little known company in the US to a “national emergency”.
US President Donald Trump didn’t name the Chinese telecoms business in his executive order announced on Wednesday.
Later, the administration took further separate action as the commerce department added Huawei and 70 affiliated companies to a blacklist banning it from acquiring components and technology from US firms without government approval.
On Thursday, a press release said the giant Chinese telecom was included in the Entity List. This means that American companies cannot sell technology to Huawei without a special licence.
The order also effectively bans Huawei from the US market.
Huawei has already been banned from federal networks. And it doesn’t have much of a presence stateside.
For all its undoubted and home grown prowess in 5G networks, Huawei still relies on American technology, from chips to software.
Its huge revenues – $107bn overwhelmingly come from China and the rest of the world.
However, the most recent is more worrying for the company as it seeks to expand its footprint in the US.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announcement said it will be adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates to the Bureau’s Entity List.
“This action stems from information available to the Department that provides a reasonable basis to conclude that Huawei is engaged in activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interest. This information includes the activities alleged in the Department of Justice’s public superseding indictment of Huawei, including alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conspiracy to violate IEEPA by providing prohibited financial services to Iran, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of those alleged violations of U.S. sanctions,” said a press released issued by DOC.
The sale or transfer of American technology to a company or person on the Entity List requires a license issued by BIS, and a license may be denied if the sale or transfer would harm U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The listing will be effective when published in the Federal Register.
“This action by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, with the support of the President of the United States, places Huawei, a Chinese owned company that is the largest telecommunications equipment producer in the world, on the Entity List. This will prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “President Trump has directed the Commerce Department to be vigilant in its protection of national security activities. Since the beginning of the Administration, the Department has added 190 persons or organizations to the Entity List, as well as instituted five investigations of the effect of imports on national security under Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962.”
