It has been a number of weeks now and it seems that no one is quite sure on how to solve a problem like Huawei’s.
Google blocked Huawei’s access to its Android software for future phones following a trade ban issued by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The executive order effectively banned the Chinese tech giant from trading with any American companies over national security fears, allegations which Huawei strongly denies.
Although during the G20 Summit last week on Saturday, Mr. Trump backtracked on his decision, announcing that he will relax sanctions on Huawei, effectively reversing US policy on the matter.
There is no clarity yet on how the existing policy will change, although President Trump did say that the deal regarded equipment where there’s not a great national security problem with it.
President Trump’s announcement on Saturday was cheered by U.S. chipmakers since they are eager to maintain sales to Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, and a key U.S. customer.
But his comments did also cause confusion among industry players and government officials struggling to understand what Huawei policy he had unveiled.
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An internal letter was sent to enforcement staff on Monday by John Sonderman, Deputy Director of the Office of Export Enforcement in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the letter asked them to continue treating Huawei as blacklisted. The letter, viewed by Reuters, said applications from companies that want to sell to Huawei should be considered on merit and flagged with language that notes Huawei is on the entity list.
The applications should also still be viewed under a “presumption of denial” policy that applies to companies on the blacklist. This means license applications are scrutinized more closely and most of them are rejected
He added that any further guidance from BIS should also be taken into account when evaluating Huawei-related license applications.
In a statement to Reuters, Huawei reported that company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei had said Trump’s G20 statements were “good for American companies”.
“Huawei is also willing to continue to buy products from American companies. But we don’t see much impact on what we are currently doing. We will still focus on doing our own job right,” the company said.
