Trump Lifts Ban on Huawei

One and a half month after Huawei was banned in the US, President Donald Trump made a "U-turn."

Trump said yesterday that US companies can now sell their equipment to Huawei as long as sales won't present a national threat to the country.

This came during Trump's participation in the G20 summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The two parties discussed the trade war deadlock, including its negative impact on Huawei, which is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers, and on the US economy.

Last May, the US Commerce Department banned sales of US apps and hardware to Huawei, including Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and Booking. The department accused Huawei of undermining US national security and foreign interests.

Trump said Huawei is still part of the ongoing trade discussions, however, he would allow the US companies to sell spare parts to the Chinese giant.

In the meantime, the Commerce Department did not respond on ways to modify the company's status.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that Huawei can resume purchasing US goods as long as it does not present a national threat to homeland security.

On the other hand, Huawei has denied US accusations and continued lobbying to reacquire US products, which are key parts to its supply chain.

"We acknowledge the US president's comments relating to Huawei yesterday and have no further comment at this time," the company said Sunday.

Huawei relies massively on computer chips from US companies like Intel, Micron, and Google, which supplied the company with its Android system.

Last May, Google said that it would restrict Huawei's access to the Android operating system, which was a crushing setback to Huawei's smartphone industry.

In addition, US company Micron faced a 40 percent drop in sales after Huawei's ban.

Huawei said in a statement that banning the company from the US market would sequentially harm American businesses, adding that the problem is derived from the US delay in deploying 5G technology.