A senior US official this week told the US Department of Commerce’s enforcement staff that China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為) should still be treated as blacklisted, days after US President Donald Trump sowed confusion with a vow to ease a ban on sales to the firm.
Trump on Saturday last week surprised markets by promising Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan that he would allow US companies to sell products to Huawei.
Trump’s announcement — an olive branch to Beijing to revive stalled trade talks — was cheered by US chipmakers eager to maintain sales to Huawei, the world’s largest telecom equipment maker and a key US customer.
However, Trump’s comments also spawned confusion among industry players and government officials struggling to understand what Huawei policy he had unveiled.
In an e-mail to enforcement staff on Monday, Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement Deputy Director John Sonderman sought to clarify how agents should approach license requests by firms seeking approval to sell to Huawei.
All such applications should be considered on merit and flagged with language noting that “this party is on the Entity List. Evaluate the associated license review policy under part 744,” he wrote, citing regulations that include the Entity List and the “presumption of denial” licensing policy that is applied to blacklisted companies.
Any further guidance from the bureau should also be taken into account when evaluating Huawei-related license applications, he added.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A person familiar with the matter said that the letter was the only guidance that enforcement officials had received after Trump’s surprise announcement.
A presumption of denial implies strict review and most licenses reviewed under it are not approved.
It is unclear when the department would provide its enforcement staff with additional guidance, based on Trump’s promises, and how that might alter the likelihood of obtaining licenses.
The internal memo, not previously reported, came as White House advisers also scrambled to shed light on Trump’s announcement.
US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro on Tuesday said that the government would allow “lower-tech” chip sales to the company, which do not affect national security.
The US has launched a lobbying effort to convince its allies to keep Huawei out of 5G infrastructure, citing concerns that the company could spy on customers.
Huawei has denied the allegations.
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