After US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin urged US companies to apply for exemptions from Huawei, on July 15, local time, Reuters quoted a senior US official as saying that the US may approve in the next 2-4 weeks, allowing some companies to re-sell products to Huawei.

According to the report, this indicates that Trump is currently working hard to speed up the process of unlocking Huawei.

Observer Network previously reported that in May this year, Huawei was included in the “entity list” by the US Department of Commerce – the so-called “trade blacklist” that ZTE suffered in March 2016. This means that the US Department of Commerce prohibits companies in the country from providing products and services to Huawei.

On the 29th of last month, after the closing ceremony of the G20 Osaka Summit, Trump said that American companies can continue to sell parts to Huawei. The US president said that the United States sold Huawei “a huge number of products” and “we will continue to sell these products.”  Subsequently, US Secretary of Commerce Ross also said that he would be exempted from Huawei’s blacklist status without affecting national security.

Recently, two US chip makers who supply Huawei but do not want to be named said that after Rose made the above remarks, they will apply for more sales licenses.

Craig Ridgley, Washington’s trade compliance adviser, said a customer response management company and a company that simulates cross-sectional radar in China may also be in the future.  Submit your application in a few days.

Reuters report screenshot

The US semiconductor industry has been lobbying

In 2018, Huawei purchased $70 billion of parts and components, of which about $11 billion went to US companies such as Qualcomm, Intel and Micron.

Kevin Wolf, a former US Department of Commerce official and a Washington lawyer, said: “Since there is no negative impact, the company will certainly submit applications as required.”

A Huawei spokesperson said: “The list of entities should be completely cancelled, rather than allowing US suppliers to apply for temporary licenses. Huawei has not been found to have any misconduct and does not pose a cybersecurity risk to any country, so these restrictions should not be.”

Liang Hua, chairman of Huawei, also said that “the United States puts Huawei on the ‘entity list’, we are against it because there is no factual basis. Such a decision is unfavorable to any party, including many companies in the United States… Huawei should not just deregulate, but should abolish the ‘entity list’ ban.”

In addition, for US companies, not all sales to Huawei need to be approved by the US government.  Some US chip makers selling to Huawei may not need a license. Since many of their products are produced in foreign countries, there are few parts in the United States, so the related products may exceed the scope of US export controls.

In recent weeks, US officials have continually clarified new policies. They claim that if national security is protected, they will allow non-sensitive technology to be sold overseas. But they also reiterated that Huawei is still on the “list of entities” and the temporary license is only temporary.

The US semiconductor industry has been lobbying, hoping that policies can be relaxed to a greater extent. They believe that the US government can pursue security goals, but only if it does not harm global competitiveness and maintain technological leadership.

Suppliers want permission to provide customer support for chips they manufacture and sell overseas, or to license new US-made equipment to Huawei and its global subsidiaries.

“The policy before 2 minutes may not be after 2 minutes”

However, it is not clear which products will be licensed. At a meeting in Washington last Thursday, some US suppliers sought clarification from the US Department of Commerce.

A supplier representative who did not want to be named was told by a high-ranking US official that the US may approve and issue a permit within 2-4 weeks.

The representative stated that the above official did not state the criteria for licensing. But when she left, I believe that these standards will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis and then developed (standard), at least initially, because the US Department of Commerce seeks to form a broader opinion.

For the so-called guidance mentioned by senior US officials, a US Department of Commerce spokesman said the agency “is currently evaluating all permits and determining what is in the best national security interests of the United States.”

However, Reuters also pointed out that although Huawei denied stealing US intellectual property rights, violating the Iranian ban, and engaging in espionage activities, the United States is still investigating the above practices and swearing that allies should not use Huawei’s 5G facilities.

This also confuses the US officials in charge of the review.

Eric Hirschhorn, the former US deputy secretary of commerce, said that the problem for officials currently reviewing licenses is that they do not know the direction of the government.

“The policy of 2 minutes ago may not be a policy after 2 minutes,” he said.