14 DAY TRIAL // Huawei is still banned from working with American companies and using their software and hardware, according to US officials who told staff to consider the Chinese tech giant blacklisted.
A report from Reuters reveals that John Sonderman, Deputy Director of the Office of Export Enforcement, in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), sent a memo to enforcement staff to indicate that Huawei is still blacklisted.
“This party is on the Entity List. Evaluate the associated licence review policy under part 744,” he is quoted as saying.
The Reuters reports comes only days after US President Donald Trump said Huawei would no longer be banned from working with American companies. Trump’s comments were made nearly a month and a half after he signed an executive order that places Huawei on the Entity List, technically blocking the Chinese tech giant from using any product developed by an American firm.
Huawei still unsure about sanctions
Huawei, on the other hand, is still waiting for a confirmation from the US government regarding the sanctions that might target the company.
“Huawei is also willing to continue to buy products from American companies. But we don’t see much impact on what we are currently doing. We will still focus on doing our own job right,” a Huawei spokesman told the same source.
“We acknowledge President Trump’s comments related to Huawei over the weekend and will wait for guidance from the Department of Commerce but have nothing further to add at this time,” Tim Danks, Huawei vice president of risk management and partner relations, also said earlier this week.
In the meantime, Huawei keeps working on reducing the reliance on American companies, and this involves the development of an in-house operating system to replace Android. Codenamed HongMeng, this OS is supposed to support Android apps and debut on Chinese models in the fall.