The IT Nerd

I guess we now know why Huawei was willing to sign “no spy” agreements with countries who were concerned about the potential of them spying on said countries. Reuters is reporting that US President Donald Trump is about to sign an executive order that paves the way to ban Huawei gear from the country:

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week barring U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms posing a national security risk, paving the way for a ban on doing business with China’s Huawei, three U.S. officials familiar with the plan told Reuters.

The order, which will not name specific countries or companies, has been under consideration for more than a year but has repeatedly been delayed, the sources said, asking not to be named because the preparations remain confidential. It could be delayed again, they said.

The executive order would invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency that threatens the United States. The order will direct the Commerce Department, working with other government agencies, to draw up a plan for enforcement, the sources said.

So in other words, he’s using a back door of sorts to ban Huawei from being used on cell networks in the country. While this won’t harm the bigger cell phone providers in the US, smaller carriers may be affected by this. But the bigger is that this is not only a big slap to Huawei with potential knock on effects with other countries who are thinking about banning their gear, but it’s likely not to help China/US relations which at present are at an all time low.

UPDATE: At just after 5PM today the executive order was signed. Let the games begin.

This entry was posted on May 15, 2019 at 9:35 am and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.