Just after news of the United States blacklisting Huawei hit tech consumers and enthusiasts, the United States government has now issued a license that will allow Huawei to trade with United States companies temporarily for the next ninety days at least.
The temporary license, which was given by the United States’ Commerce Department, will allow Huawei to purchase goods made in America, so as to enable the company continue to maintain existing devices on its product line and also provide software updates to said devices as well.
One implication from this move, is that Huawei will now (or rather for the meantime), continue to work with Google and offer Android operating system’s updates on all their existing Android powered devices.
The temporary license does not however, allow Huawei to purchase American goods to aid in the manufacturing of new products, without prior approval.
The United States Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, says that the three month directive is meant to give the telecommunications companies who use Huawei equipment, time to make alternative plans.
Wilbur said “In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks,”.
While the new license is valid until the 19th of August 2019, the Commerce Department says it will evaluate the possibility of extending it further.
Huawei, on the flip side, says it is not moved by the ‘temporary’ change, claiming that it had already made plans in preparation for the United States ban.
Ren Zhengfei; the founder of Huawei said during an interview with CCTV that “The U.S. government’s actions at the moment underestimate our capabilities,”.
The founder also said that Huawei was up against the United States government, not the companies based there.
He added that while Huawei can make its own version of the components which it buys from the United States, it will however, still continue to buy the components from its current suppliers.
The United States government blacklisted Huawei as a result of allegations from an ongoing case, that the company was engaged in fraud to obtain United States goods and services in Iran, a country which currently has trade sanctions from America.
Last year ZTE; a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, had also been under fire from the United States. This led to the company almost shutting down.
The company was later allowed to trade with the United States, after paying a $1 billion (101.2 billion Kenyan Shillings) fine and also implementing changes to its board.
While the probability of Huawei’s case ending that way is somewhat high, it also looks like the Chinese manufacturing giant, is willing and ready to flex its muscles and show the United States that it can flourish without it.
