National Security

The Trump Regime Eases Sanctions On Huawei a Second Time

Written by SK Ashby

Is Chinese-owned telecommunications giant Huawei a threat a national security?

It is according to the Trump regime, or maybe not.

The Commerce Department announced earlier this week that Huawei would be granted another 90-day reprieve from being added to the department's so-called blacklist and now the department has told American firms prevented from selling goods to Huawei earlier this year that they can restart their sales.

(Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday gave Huawei its second reprieve this week, allowing some suppliers to restart sales to the Chinese telecoms giant after it was placed on a trade black list over national security concerns six months ago. [...]

The move came after the Commerce Department renewed the so-called temporary general license for the company for a third time on Monday, extending permission for Huawei to engage in limited transactions to assist U.S. rural network operators.

Many China hawks have voiced fears that the administration could relax sanctions on Huawei to appease Beijing and score a win on trade.

I'm not a China hawk and I'm pretty sure that's what's happening here.

If Huawei poses such a threat to national security that American firms should not be allowed to do business with the foreign company, why are they being allowed to restart sales? What changed? Has Huawei made some internal reforms that we're unaware of? Is the company no longer a threat?

I'm not saying American firms shouldn't be allowed to do business with Huawei, just that this unexplained contradiction tell us the entire process of sanctioning or un-sanctioning Huawei has been corrupted by political concerns; mainly whether Trump can secure his "biggest and greatest deal ever."

Future declarations that foreign businesses are a threat to national security will be taken less seriously and be more difficult to justify even if it's true because Trump has normalized making these decisions for political reasons.

I know Congress is a little busy right now, but I think it's worth holding hearings on the Trump regime's process of declaring that Huawei is a threat and then repeatedly easing sanctions on the threat.