The US government's battle with Huawei continues, and China is telling companies not to follow along.
Specifically, it's promising "dire consequences" for anyone who plays by the ban.
PYMNTS puts it like this:
The sources in the NYT article claim that U.S. firms were warned against relocating their production lines to other countries and not doing business with specific companies. In addition, the firms were told that they should lobby against the Trump Administration’s efforts. Failing to comply with these orders would reportedly result in permanent consequences.
Maybe not telling so much as threatening.
Meanwhile, at the White House...
... the acting budget chief wants to delay the ban anyway.
Russell Vought explains that the ban could severely limit the number of manufacturers that could service the government.
He also claims that rural areas, in particular, would suffer, since the ban could disproportionately impact providers that serve these areas.
Vought is hoping to delay the ban by two years.
Is anyone else starting to feel like they're watching a modern episode of Game of Thrones?
Time to remember Huawei's track record
If the current "Battle of the Ban" is starting to leave you jaded and confused, let's not forget Huawei's history of stealing intellectual property.
All the way back in January, SecureWorld discussed Huawei's US indictment related to T-Mobile's "Tappy" robot:
The indictment lays out a multi-year effort to steal and recreate Tappy because of the market advantage it was giving T-Mobile at the time.
By the way, access to T-Mobile's Tappy lab was very tight: you needed special badges and no pictures of any kind were allowed. Two Huawei USA engineers had that access.
The indictment makes clear that companies who work with Chinese partners should be very cautious about unusual behaviors or questions of a proprietary nature.
We'll let you know when the battle finally ends.
