The reprieve comes to an end for Huawei. According to Rob Strayer, a US State Department representative, the Trump administration is not expected to renew temporary licenses related to the Chinese business embargo, which expire on November 19. Things are going to be complicated for the firm, which will no longer be able to trade with American companies on that date.
Increased sanctions against Huawei-friendly countries
"These temporary licenses are not meant to be eternal," says Rob Strayer, who is in Brussels. They are there to give some air and avoid a sudden break. "It should therefore end on November 19. At that date, if no agreement is found, Huawei will no longer be able to make any contract with companies This could have a direct impact on the rural telecom networks in the United States using Huawei equipment, which is more affordable than that of their competitors, and will be forced to replace their antenna fleets. between $ 800 million and $ 1 billion.
Rob Strayer also assured that the US could increase sanctions against countries refusing to ban Huawei from their 5G networks. However, it did not support the contours of these new measures. For the moment, the only punishment mentioned is a reduction in the sharing of information between the US secret services and their counterparts concerned.
As a reminder, Donald Trump declared the establishment of a US embargo on Huawei May 19 last. Officially motivated by espionage charges, this embargo is actually a bargaining chip in the economic war between the United States and China. In the wake of this decision, the US president granted a suspension of three months to Huawei. The opportunity for him to continue to provide himself at American companies and take advantage of Google services. Since then, Huawei is scrambling to heal its image, and Sino-US negotiations continue to advance, but no common ground seems to be reached.