Trump makes minor Huawei concession following pleading from US tech sector
Following talks with the Chinese leader, US President Trump has announced US companies will be able to flog Huawei some gear if they really must.
It looks like Trump got the memo that the collateral damage from his decision to ban US companies from doing business with Huawei was starting to mount up. As part of trade talks with Xi Jinping Trump announced on Twitter, as it his wont, that US companies can resume selling Huawei stuff, so long as it doesn’t cross some arbitrary, unspecified ‘national security’ line.
….amounts of agricultural product from our great Farmers. At the request of our High Tech companies, and President Xi, I agreed to allow Chinese company Huawei to buy product from them which will not impact our National Security. Importantly, we have opened up negotiations…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2019
Here’s Trump making it official.
President Trump has appeared to soften his tone on Chinese communications giant Huawei, suggesting that he would allow the company to once again purchase US technology https://t.co/4YNJCyKLTg pic.twitter.com/jr45f40ghP
— CNN International (@cnni) June 29, 2019
It doesn’t look like there was significant progress on the underlying trade war that seems to have at least had an amplifying effect on the Huawei situation, but at least the two leaders are talking and making the right public noises. The mutual decision not to impose further tariffs, as had been threatened in advance, is one positive sign, but it looks like the final resolution for Huawei remains closely tied to the broader talks
That said the Trump administration has been keen to counter any perception that this concession amounts to a more general weakening of the Trump position. Speaking to Fox in the clip below, Director of the US National Economic Council Larry Kudlow didn’t really add much on Huawei, but made it clear that the move is part of a general process of horse-trading in which each party makes small, symbolic concessions to show good faith.
