Amid escalating trade tensions, US blacklists Chinese telecom giant Huawei

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday prohibiting the sale of telecommunications equipment from “foreign adversaries”, and shortly after, Chinese telecom giant Huawei was put on a list of entities with whom American firms are prohibited from doing business.

The actions came amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, who broke off talks last week after coming “close”, as US officials have said, to a historic deal.

Trump’s executive order, which had long been expected, declared a “national emergency to deal with the threat posed by the unrestricted acquisition or use in the United States of information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries”.