US delays Huawei trade ban for another three months

The United States has delayed its ban on trade with Huawei, Chinese telecommunication firm, by another three months.

In an interview with Fox Business Network, Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary, said the three-month extension would “afford consumers across America the necessary time to transition away from Huawei equipment, given the persistent national security and foreign policy threat”.

The telecom giant has been entangled in a trade war between the US and China and on the verge to lose its access to Google’s Android system.

The US government had placed the Chinese firm on its blacklist in May due to national security concerns.

It had earlier expressed doubts about the security of Huawei’s 5G network technology and accused the company of potentially enabling the Chinese government to use the equipment for spying.

Following the blacklisting, Google “in compliance with an order” issued it, had imposed a restriction on Huawei with respect to the use of its Android operating system.

The tech giant was subsequently granted another permit for three months in order to ease the transition, which was due to expire on Monday.

According to Ross, the delay is to give smaller US internet and wireless companies that rely on Huawei more time to transition away from reliance on its products.

“Some of the rural companies are dependent on Huawei, so we’re giving them a little more time to wean themselves off,” said Ross.

Huawei relies on Google for access to its Android operating system, the software which powers its smartphones.