U.S. government plans to block all tech exports to Huawei–reports

The Biden administration is weighing a plan to block the export of all US-sourced technologies to Huawei – the latest escalation in Washington’s years-long campaign to throttle the Chinese firm.

The new bans, first reported by Financial Times (paywall applies), would likely fall most heavily on firms such as Intel and Qualcomm that sell Huawei server and 4G handset chips. US agencies have already stopped approving licenses for most items sought for export to Huawei.

According to a Bloomberg report, some administration officials are advocating for a ban on all sales to Huawei as they debate whether to adjust their licensing policy. It suggests the tighter controls are a result of US domestic politics, rather than any elevated security concerns. Bloomberg notes President Biden is under pressure from Republicans in control of the House of Representatives “to continue squeezing Beijing, particularly to limit the country’s technological advances.”

It is hard to see how this is related to the US’s core concern of Huawei’s dominance of 5G. The vendor is already subject to bans by most US allies, while a total ban on supplying the Chinese firm may create blowback from many non-aligned countries fearing the impact on their Huawei-supplied networks.

Turned the corner

News of the expanded Huawei restrictions follows the Biden team’s success last week in persuading the Netherlands and Japan to join its regime of limiting sale of advanced manufacturing equipment to China – a much more powerful and targeted export control weapon.

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