Trump extends HUAWEI ban for another year

President Donald Trump has extended the ban preventing US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by groups that could pose a national security risk through 2021.

As reported by Reuters, Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to extend the ban. Initially, the order was put in place in May 2019. At that time, the President declared a national emergency that allowed him to invoke the ban.

In the original order, Trump cited a risk of sabotage to communications, general national security risks, the risk to infrastructure, and risks to the digital economy. There was no update to the wording of the order with the extension, so we expect the stipulations of the ban to remain unchanged for the next year.

Many companies within the mobile space will be significantly affected by the ban, including firms like Huawei and ZTE. We’ve already seen HUAWEI respond to the ban by releasing updates of old phones, rather than pushing new devices to the US market. However, it can’t do so forever.

When the original telecommunications ban was announced, HUAWEI said in a statement to Android Authority, “Restricting HUAWEI from doing business in the U.S. will not make the U.S. more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the U.S. to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the U.S. lagging behind in 5G deployment.”