It seemed Huawei was mostly in the clear following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend in Osaka,… but it appears that's not the case.
Despite Trump saying Huawei products not deemed to be a national security risk would be allowed in and out of the U.S., the Commerce Department has reiterated Huawei is still on the Entity List,… suggesting the Chinese tech giant is still blacklisted.
Won Jung-hwan reports.
A senior Trump administration official emailed the U.S. Commerce Department's enforcement staff this week stating that Huawei remains on its Entity List and a "presumption of denial" licensing policy is still in place.
The email came two days after President Trump agreed at the G20 Summit in Osaka to lift some restrictions he put in place with a May executive order... in an effort to kickstart trade talks with China.
But in the first and the only direction the Department has given since Trump's comments,… it seems the U.S. government has yet to remove Huawei from the blacklist.
The email goes on to direct staff to "evaluate the associated license review policy under part 744" that includes the "presumption of denial" policy applied to companies that have been blacklisted.
This means U.S. Commerce agents are unlikely to grant American companies approval to sell to Huawei.
This is a blow to Huawei as it's hoping to work with Google so it can use its Android operating system in its future mobile devices.
Huawei has been the subject of long-running U.S. national security concerns due to its suspected links with the Chinese government and the belief its equipment could be used for spying,… suspicions the company denies.
With the news, it's unclear if the Commerce Department will adjust to match President Trump's comments,... although an internal memo suggests that even White House advisers were caught off guard by Trump's comments in Osaka.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.