Huawei and 5G: Drawing line between free trade and national security

President Donald Trump is reportedly close to issuing an executive order that would ban Chinese companies like Huawei Technologies Co. from building 5G wireless networks in the US. The significance of such an order goes beyond its obvious implications for American telecommunications companies.

The prospect of closing technology-related markets to competitors from China raises a fundamental problem that is going to plague policy-makers for the foreseeable future: How can they draw the line between economic protectionism and legitimate national security interests? In a world of data and data theft, will every technology-related industry become an exception to free-trade rules?