U.S. Stops Granting Export Licenses For China's Huawei

The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to export most items to China's Huawei, according to three people familiar with the matter, Karen Freifeld, Alexandra Alper, and Stephen Nellis reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Huawei has faced US export restrictions around items for 5G and other technologies for several years.

Huawei has faced US export restrictions around items for 5G and other technologies for several years, but officials in the US Department of Commerce have granted licenses for some American firms to sell certain goods and technologies to the company.

Qualcomm Inc. in 2020 received permission to sell 4G smartphone chips to Huawei.

A Commerce Department spokesperson said officials "continually assess our policies and regulations" but do not comment on talks with specific companies. Huawei and Qualcomm declined to comment.

Bloomberg and the Financial Times earlier reported the move. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China opposes the United States abusing an overly broad notion of national security to suppress Chinese firms unreasonably.

The move "goes against the principles of the market economy and rules of international trade and finance, hurts the confidence the international community has in the US business environment and is blatant technological hegemony," Mao said during a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

One person familiar with the matter said US officials are creating a new formal policy of denial for shipping items to Huawei that would include items below the 5G level, including 4G items, Wifi 6 and 7, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing and cloud items.

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