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Trump could use Huawei ban as leverage for US-China trade deal

The US is looking to use Huawei as a negotiating tool, according to a report.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
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Corinne Reichert
2 min read
A Huawei logo at Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam

The Huawei ban could be reversed in the US-China trade deal negotiations.

Angela Lang/CNET

The US ban on Huawei could be used as a way to negotiate a better trade deal.

President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he could use an offer to reverse the blacklisting of Huawei as leverage in the escalating trade tensions between the two nations, according to CNN.

"Huawei is something that's very dangerous," Trump reportedly said. "[But] it's possible that Huawei even would be included in some kind of trade deal ... if we made a deal, I can imagine Huawei being included in some form of, some part of, a trade deal."

Trump's statements follow reports emerging on Thursday that the US accused Huawei of lying about its ties with the Chinese government, while China has asked the US to cease its "wrong actions" if trade talks are to continue.

Last week, the US blacklisted networking gear from Huawei, and Trump signed an executive order essentially banning the Chinese tech giant following national security concerns that Huawei had close ties with the Chinese government.

Read: Huawei ban: Full timeline on how and why its phones are under fire

Following the US government's actions, Google locked Huawei out of its Android updates earlier this week. On Tuesday, the US Commerce Department granted the Chinese tech giant a three-month general license to update existing devices, temporarily easing restrictions on Huawei's access to American components and software that go into its phones.

Hardware and software vendors are continuing to flee Huawei, with reports coming out Friday that Amazon Japan is no longer selling Huawei devices, and the Wi-Fi Alliance and the SD Association cutting ties with Huawei on Friday.

Microsoft has also reportedly removed Huawei's MateBook laptops from its online store.

Huawei could technically survive without Android, with CEO Ren Zhengfei on May 21 saying the company is "well prepared."

More than a year ago, CNET sister site TechRepublic reported that Huawei had been working on its own OS since 2012, in case it got banned from Android.

CNET's understanding is that Huawei has no immediate plans to launch its own OS, which may be called "Hongmeng," and that the company is looking at launching one only if Android is permanently removed as an option for its smartphone customers.

ReadHuawei could survive without Android, but not very well