US may extend Huawei trade ban suspension

The US government is likely to give companies an extra six months to do business with Huawei. This would make it possible to continue to receive software updates on the company’s devices.

According to Politico sources, the US Department of Commerce will soon make a decision. It is an extension of current rules that allow certain companies to “bypass” parts of the trade ban with Huawei and continue doing business. The United States decided earlier this year that companies were no longer allowed to trade with Huawei, but a postponement was previously granted for certain components and parts. That initial 90-day grace period is almost over, but the ministry would like to extend it for another 6 months.

In principle, this would be an extension that would allow local providers in rural areas to continue to use Huawei equipment. That was also the case with the previous extension. In addition, however, it was also possible to release software updates for Huawei phones. This only applies to phones that were licensed before the trade ban, but not to newer devices such as the Mate 30. Under the extension, it is still not possible for every company to trade important components with Huawei. Whether the company can continue to use parts of companies such as Intel or Qualcomm remains to be seen.

The US government decided in May this year to impose a trade ban on companies that did business with Huawei. As a result, it is uncertain what will happen to Huawei. For example, Google withdrew Huawei’s Android license, although the company continued to supply phones with Google apps. Also, companies such as ARM continue to provide key chip architecture to Huawei.