Biden Commerce nominee vows to protect US networks from Huawei, ZTE

President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the US Commerce Department on Tuesday vowed to protect US telecommunications networks from Chinese companies, but she refused to commit to keeping telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies on a US economic blacklist.

“I would use the full toolkit at my disposal to the fullest extent possible to protect Americans and our network from Chinese interference or any kind of back-door influence,” Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo said in testimony before the US

Senate Commerce Committee, naming Huawei and ZTE Corp . Congress in December approved $1.9 billion to fund the replacement of ZTE and Huawei equipment in US networks.