Pentagon drops opposition to Huawei sales restrictions – reports

The US government is steadily ramping up its opposition to Huawei, now even atthe expense of US companies that sell tech components to the Chinese telecomequipment giant.

In a story this week on Politico and then The Wall StreetJournal, both citing unnamed sources, Pentagon officials are no longer opposinga proposed rule change to make it tougher for US firms to sell stuff to Huawei.

Nothing has been implemented yet. The Trump administration is still battingaround the idea. But the WSJ explains the difference in what's in place now andwhat may change: "The existing rules allow continued shipments to blacklistedcompanies for products that are made overseas and contain less than 25% US-madecontent. The rule change reduces that percentage to 10% for Huawei shipments,which would sharply limit the items that US companies could sell without anexport license."

This new round of pressure from the Trump administration follows the US failureto convince other governments – especially European allies – to keep Huawei gearout of their 5G networks.

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— Phil Harvey, US Bureau Chief,Light Reading