US says it'll soon clamp down even harder on HUAWEI

HUAWEI founder Ren Zhengfei expected the US government to take more severe action against the Chinese manufacturer in 2020, and it looks like he was right.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg that it planned to step up the trade ban against Huawei, preventing more US-derived components from being sold to the firm.

“They are works in progress that will come out near-term,” Ross said of the upcoming measures it would be taking against the Chinese brand.

Read: From OnePlus to HUAWEI and back again — What I learned from switching brands

There’s no official word on when exactly these new measures would be implemented. But Bloomberg‘s sources say the Commerce Department is looking to raise the threshold for product export exemptions.

It’s believed that US companies are allowed to export products and components to HUAWEI if 75% or more of the product’s IP and work is done overseas. But the Commerce Department could raise this threshold to 90%, meaning that a product with 10% or more of its work/IP derived from the US can’t be sold to the brand.

This might not be the only action taken against HUAWEI, as the outlet reports that the US government is mulling a separate regulation. This new law would affect products and components designed in the US but manufactured elsewhere.

Huawei’s founder said earlier this week that it can survive more US attacks against the company in 2020, and it looks like we’re all going to find out whether this is indeed the case.

Do you think HUAWEI can successfully weather a wider reaching ban? Sound off in the comments section below.