The United States has temporarily mitigated trade ban on China’s Huawei, an action which Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei commented as nearly meaningless since the company already had well-prepared for U.S. restrictions.
The U.S. Commerce Department on May 17 blocked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and 68 enterprises from purchasing U.S. products, a crucial acceleration in the trade war between two world’s largest economies, asserting the companies was a threat to the country’s national security. Huawei is restricted from trading with U.S. companies without licenses.
A license was authorized to Huawei on May 20 to buy U.S. goods until August 2019 to retain current telecom networks and provide its smartphones software updates, after vigorous debate among telecom industry. Huawei is not the only beneficiary but also telecom operators, which rely on Huawei, gained time to make adjustments for their business.
The Commerce Department will evaluate whether to extend the license period beyond 90 days.
Huawei’s Use of Android was Restricted
Huawei smartphones’ new designs are banned to get access to Android updates, even though Google confirmed that its app store will continue to function for existing Huawei device users.
Google responded the company ‘was complying with the order and reviewing the implications’, in which the complete compliance with the U.S. policy means new Huawei smartphones will lose access to Google services including the Google Play app store, as well as popular apps such as Gmail and YouTube.
Not only Google, but also the U.S. chipmakers including Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom will stop supplying Huawei, according to Bloomberg. However, Huawei asserted they can manufacture all the high-end chips they need if there is insufficient supply due to the U.S. trade ban.
Ren: U.S. Underestimate Huawei’s Capability
‘U.S. ban will not lead to negative growth or harm the development of our industry,’ Ren responded to U.S. sanction on May 21, ‘U.S. underestimated the company’s strength.’
Ren believed that its competitors are unable to catch up with them in the 5G sector within 2 to 3 years. He further explained the company’s mass production capacity is huge and many parts in their products have been put into production.