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Trump: US should win through competition, not by blocking advanced technologies
- President Trump issued a pair of tweets this morning pertaining to the United States and its technological superiority.
- However, the tweets reference 6G — a technology that doesn’t exist — and contradict the president’s own policies.
- It’s hard not to think of HUAWEI and how the U.S. bars it from entering the country when reading the tweets.
Earlier this morning, on Twitter, United States President Donald Trump sent out a pair of tweets related to the current state of U.S. technology, specifically related to 5G.
The tweets are notable for two reasons. The first is that, in the tweets, the president references his desire to fast-track “6G,” a technology which, as of today, doesn’t exist on even a theoretical or fundamental level.
The second thing notable about the tweets is that they seem to completely contradict the president’s — and thus, the United States government’s — own policies when it comes to foreign technology.
The two tweets are reposted below (Trump did not stack the tweets, as one would usually do, so each tweet needs to be posted separately, with separate comments and stats):
I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on………— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019
….something that is so obviously the future. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019
Reading the tweets, it’s hard not to think of Huawei, the largest telecommunications company in the world. HUAWEI’s 5G infrastructure technology is a hot commodity right now, as it is far ahead of many other competitors’ products.
However, Trump is actively barring HUAWEI from having nearly any commercial presence in the United States. A current trade war with China — HUAWEI’s home country — makes things even more complicated.
In other words, Trump’s tweets make it clear that he thinks competition alone should be what makes the U.S. stand tall in the war for tech supremacy — but he is simultaneously making enormous (and easily provable) efforts to stymy competition from non-American corporations.
It’s also interesting that these tweets arrived not long after the Samsung Galaxy S10 launch event, where 5G was a hot topic related to the first Samsung 5G phone and a partnership with Verizon to sell that phone. Verizon’s 5G efforts thus far have been lackluster, with its home-based 5G solution not even meeting the accepted standard of 5G.
Yesterday, a report surfaced which showed the U.S. is very low on the list when it comes to 4G LTE speeds around the world. It’s possible reports like these could have also inspired Trump’s statements.
Whatever the case, two things are certain: there’s no such thing as 6G and the United States government is absolutely “blocking out currently more advanced technologies.” It will be interesting to see how (or if) Trump will respond to these contradictions.
NEXT: 5G mmWave: Facts and fictions you should definitely know