Ban on Huawei Would Be Lifted if China, US Reach Trade Deal, Panelists Say

A China-U.S. trade deal would lead to lifting the ban on Huawei, speakers agreed during a Brookings Institution panel. All suggested a U.S.-China deal will eventually get done. The Commerce Department added Huawei to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s entity list in May, and recently showed willingness to loosen restrictions to mitigate impacts on U.S. exporters (see 1907100013). Blacklisting was more political than practical, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson and American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Derek Scissors. The Trump administration and Congress cited fears Huawei products can be used as state-monitored surveillance equipment. That was addressed with import restrictions, Atkinson said Thursday. “The Huawei ban had nothing to do -- nor should it have anything to do -- with national security,” he said. “Could we damage Huawei -- their national champion -- as leverage in a trade war? That's what that was about.” Atkinson said U.S. export controls against Huawei are “a total trade tactic” and China is never “going to accept a deal if the Huawei ban is still on.” Adding the company to the entity list was a trade tactic that will be easily undone, said Scissors. “We are much less linked to Huawei than some of the Europeans are and some of our other allies are,” he said. “The president will just say it doesn't matter to us.”