WASHINGTON – Today, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it will be adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its affiliates to the Bureau’s Entity List. This action stems from information available to the Department that provides a reasonable basis to conclude that Huawei is engaged in activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interest. This information includes the activities alleged in the Department of Justice’s public superseding indictment of Huawei, including alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conspiracy to violate IEEPA by providing prohibited financial services to Iran, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of those alleged violations of U.S. sanctions.
The sale or transfer of American technology to a company or person on the Entity List requires a license issued by BIS, and a license may be denied if the sale or transfer would harm U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. The listing will be effective when published in the Federal Register.
“This action by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, with the support of the President of the United States, places Huawei, a Chinese owned company that is the largest telecommunications equipment producer in the world, on the Entity List. This will prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “President Trump has directed the Commerce Department to be vigilant in its protection of national security activities. Since the beginning of the Administration, the Department has added 190 persons or organizations to the Entity List, as well as instituted five investigations of the effect of imports on national security under Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962.” Additions to the Entity List are decided by the End-User Review Committee which is comprised of officials from the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, State Department, and Department of Energy. Under § 744.11(b) of the Export Administration Regulations, persons or organizations for whom there is reasonable cause to believe that they are involved, were involved, or pose a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States, and those acting on behalf of such persons, may be added to the Entity List.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s mission is to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives by ensuring an effective export control and treaty compliance system and promoting continued U.S. strategic technology leadership.BIS is committed to preventing U.S.-origin items from supporting Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) projects, terrorism, or destabilizing military modernization programs.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement President Donald Trump backed the decision that will "prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests."
Update (1645ET): Confirming what we previewed earlier, in a move that is seen as aimed at keeping the Chinese company Huawei out of the US market, President Trump has declared a "national emergency" to protect U.S. communications networks giving the federal government broad powers to bar American companies from doing business with certain foreign suppliers.
"The president has made it clear that this administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and prosperous, and to protect America from foreign adversaries who are actively and increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology infrastructure and services in the United States," the statement said.
The order authorizes the commerce secretary to block transactions involving communications technologies built by firms controlled by a foreign adversary that puts U.S. security at "unacceptable" risk — or poses a threat of espionage or sabotage to networks that underpin the day-to-day running of vital public services... which would include the Chinese firm Huawei.
As WaPo details, Trump's executive order instructs the commerce secretary to develop an enforcement regime and permits the secretary to name companies or technologies that could be barred, according to officials.
The order acknowledges that, although an open investment climate is generally positive, the United States needs to do more to protect the security of its networks.
The national emergency declaration comes a day after a congressional hearing in which senators from both parties joined administration officials in calling out the risks of doing business with a company like Huawei. They emphasized that the problem was less about the company than the authoritarian country whose system of laws, which lacks due process and transparency, it must obey.
"It's not about overseeing Huawei. It's about overseeing China," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the hearing on 5G security.
But, of course, "The executive order is company and country agnostic," replies a senior White House official when asked if the executive order targets Huawei and China.
* * *
As we detailed earlier, in what appears to be the US government's latest salvo in its war against Huawei, President Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order that would prohibit American firms from using equipment made by foreign telecom companies that pose a 'security threat', according to Bloomberg, which sourced its report to administration insiders.
Cramer: Trump no longer cares if his China policies hurt American businesses
President Donald Trump has practically “blacklisted” Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and made it crystal clear that he does not want American companies doing business with the country, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday.
That tanked the shares of a group of chipmakers — Qualcomm, Skyworks Solutions, Broadcom, Micron, and Xilinx — as much as 7.3%, he argued.
“Huawei has the best technology for the 5G wireless infrastructure build-out, but without components from American suppliers, that technology just doesn’t work. They’re gonna get beat,” the “Mad Money” host said. “It could be the end for Huawei’s 5G leadership. That’s a huge blow to this pioneering company that many in the industry actually feel is nothing but an arm of the [Chinese] Communist Party.”
On Wednesday, the Trump administration made a national emergency via executive order to regulate any business dealing with information or communications technology that “poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” The move bans American businesses from buying equipment from Huawei and requires a special license to sell components to the company, Cramer highlighted.
The semiconductor exchange-trade fund, which tracks chip stocks, slid 1.4%.
Although several semiconductor names took a hit in the session, the major U.S. indexes all gained less than 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 214 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.89% and 0.97% respectively.
“It’s not that we rallied. It’s that the components of the rally actually made a ton of sense,” Cramer said. “This was a day where we separated the China winners from the China losers, and that allowed many stocks to roar based on good old-fashioned earnings per share.”
More at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/cramer-trump-doesnt-care-his-china-policies-hurt-american-businesses.html
Oh fuck off with your conspiracy theories.......Trump made ZTE beg like a dog last year, this time it's Huawei's turn. MAGA!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm............are we a bit too quick to applaud Trump for doing the "right" thing in the name of national security?
Fucking tiong dogs get to ban Facebook, Whatsapp and Google among many other American companies in Tiongland and its okay; however when Huawei gets banned in the US they throw a massive hissy fit. BOOOOOOOO PRC!!!!!!!!
Does that mean Huawei can only use Kirin and MTK chipsets for their products from hereon?
Trump did the right thing IMO.