WASHINGTON, D.C.: Donald Trump stepped up his battle against Huawei Wednesday , effectively barring the Chinese telecom giant from the US market and adding it to a blacklist restricting US sales to the firm amid an escalating trade war with Beijing.
“Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives,” Huawei said in a statement. In what is seen as retaliation from Beijing, a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and a businessman, Michael Spavor, were detained on national security grounds, with Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reporting Thursday that they have now been formally arrested.Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security said it would add Huawei and its affiliates to its “entity list” over alleged Iran sanctions violations.
US Senator Tom Cotton, from Trump’s Republican Party, tweeted: “@Huawei 5G, RIP. Thanks for playing.”US officials have been trying to persuade allies not to allow China a role in building next-generation 5G mobile networks, warning that doing so would result in restrictions on sharing of information with the United States.
“We urge the US side to stop the unreasonable suppression of Chinese enterprises on the pretext of national security and to provide a fair and non-discriminatory environment,” the spokesman said.The US portrayal of Huawei as a national security danger dovetails with Washington’s wider complaint that Chinese companies are unfairly protected by the state, making fair trade impossible.