Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
Donald Trump, who has had a long, adversarial relationship with China over trade, is gearing up to ban US companies from using Huawei products. Huawei, a Chinese tech company, currently hold a 15% share in the global smartphone market, compared to 17% for Apple.
It is the third largest smartphone provider behind Samsung and Apple.
Trump's emergency declaration prohibits American telecommunications firms from installing foreign-made equipment that could pose a threat to national security. It does not single out Huawei or China, but the
New York Times has reported that it effectively bars sales from the Chinese tech giant.
The US Department of Commerce has also, separately, placed Huawei on a list of companies deemed to be a risk to national security.
The decision comes against a backdrop of a deepening trade war between the United States and China.
In response to the move, Huawei issued a statement which read: "Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger; instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of US companies and consumers.
"In addition, unreasonable restrictions will infringe upon Huawei's rights and raise other serious legal issues."
Earlier this year, a Canadian man, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg,
was sentenced to death in China on drug trafficking charges, after an appeals court in China found that his original sentence of 15 years was too lenient in light of new evidence.
The case was condemned by Western legal experts and Schellenberg’s relatives, who claim that China is using Schellenberg as a bargaining chip in its efforts to free Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested at Vancouver airport on 1 December at the request of the United States.
The United States wanted Wanzhou extradited to face fraud charges related to alleged violations of Iran sanctions and her detention in Canada infuriated the Chinese government.
Earlier this week, Wanzhou penned a letter to Huawei's 188,000 employees to thank them for their support while she has been detained in Canada, saying that it has filled her "with power" and "brought me to tears".
