The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday issued a 90-day temporary license loosening restrictions on business deals with Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The Temporary General License, effective from May 20 through Aug. 19, allows “specific, limited engagement in transactions involving the export, reexport, and transfer of items” to Huawei, the department said in a statement.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the department put Huawei and its affiliates on an “Entity List” on May 16, which would restrict the sale or transfer of U.S. technologies to Huawei.
“The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was quoted as saying in the statement.
The license, due to be published Wednesday and available online now, also allows engagement with Huawei and its affiliates for the development of 5G standards as part of a duly recognized international standards body.
The department will evaluate whether to extend the license beyond 90 days, according to the statement.
The temporary easing came amid concerns that Huawei’s customers in the United States, especially those in rural areas, will suffer without access to Huawei’s services.
The Chinese company said in a statement last week that the U.S. export control decision is in no one’s interest and will do significant economic harm to the American companies with which Huawei does business.
Also, restricting Huawei from doing business in the United States will “only serve to limit the U.S. to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the U.S. lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of U.S. companies and consumers,” said Huawei.
German media reported recently that years of scrutiny by Britain, Germany and the European Union (EU) has found no obvious “backdoors” in Huawei products, while security loopholes are often spotted in products made by Cisco of the United States.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, “the conclusions of Europe’s scrutiny have proven Huawei innocent, and showed the U.S. suppression against other countries’ enterprises with state power is unjustified.”
Allafrica
