US is reviewing Huawei export licensing policy amid increased congressional scrutiny of China | CNN Business

Washington
CNN
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The US government is revising a policy that allows certain US exports to continue to Huawei, despite a global push by the Trump and Biden administrations to block the Chinese telecom giant from receiving US technology.

Alan Estevez, a Commerce Department official, told lawmakers Tuesday that the policy is “under evaluation” as the agency conducts a “top-to-bottom review of our export control policies related to the [People’s Republic of China].”

Estevez testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which was holding a hearing to examine China’s impact on US national security.

In 2019, Huawei was one of several Chinese companies placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which prohibits US companies from trading specific items with entities named on the list unless they obtain a license to do so. – it

US officials have expressed concern that Huawei’s 5G wireless networking equipment could allow the Chinese government to spy on US communications. Huawei has denied it poses a security risk and its founder has said the company would resist any efforts by the Chinese government to obtain its data.

According to Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, between January and March 2022 the Commerce Department approved more than $23 billion in license applications to trade with Chinese-affiliated companies on the list entities Facing Estevez at Tuesday’s hearing, McCaul asked the Commerce Department to square the license approvals with the US government’s broader effort to sideline Huawei and similar companies.

“A licensing rule from the previous administration that still represents Huawei allows things below 5G, below the cloud level, to go through,” Estevez said, “and I will say that all of those things are under evaluation.”

The entity list restrictions do not provide for a “blanket embargo” on exports in general, Estevez added, but reflect specific rules on particular exports.

Separately, in 2020 the Commerce Department moved to prevent Huawei suppliers from selling the company’s semiconductor chips made with U.S.-made software and equipment, unless those suppliers also obtained a license.

Other parts of the US government have also moved against Huawei. The Federal Communications Commission has barred US wireless carriers from using federal funding to buy Huawei network equipment and last year also barred future approvals of Huawei equipment for sale in the United States, on first use of the FCC’s equipment authorization authority for a national security. purpose.