In an interview with CNBC, head of the US Treasury Steven Mnuchin has claimed that the discussions regarding China's Huawei are purely about "national security" and are not tied to any trade "discussions". Mnuchin specifically stressed that Huawei's blacklisting isn't a part of the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
"They’re separate from trade: Both we and China have acknowledged that in our discussions. Now, of course, President Trump, when he has the meeting, to the extent he gets certain comfort on Huawei or other issues, obviously we can talk about national security issues, but these are separate issues, they’re not being linked to trade", Mnuchin said.
The head of the US Treasury further noted that Trump's statements about the possibility of handling the Huawei issue as part of a trade deal with China doesn't contradict the statements that the ban on the Chinese company was not part of the trade war. Mnuchin pointed out that the measures on Huawei may be lifted only if Trump gets certain assurances from Beijing.
"If we move forward on trade, […] perhaps [Trump] will be willing to do certain things on Huawei if he gets comfort from China on that, and certain guarantees", he said.
The US has barred Huawei's telecom equipment from the country citing concerns that the company installed backdoors on them to allegedly allow Beijing to spy on users and conduct cyberattacks. Washington further banned American firms from providing technologies to Huawei, leading to Google and Facebook reportedly denying access to its software for Huawei's new smartphones and chip makers stopping their supplies to the Chinese tech giant.
Huawei denies having ties to the Chinese government and installing backdoors on its equipment. The company has initiated legal proceedings against the US government with regard to the ban. Beijing has supported the move.
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The Huawei ban comes amid an ongoing trade war between the US and China, which was initiated by Washington in 2018. Since then, the two states have exchanged mutual tariffs worth billions of dollars on goods. US President Donald Trump claims that China abused its trade ties with Washington and profited from it. The two countries have been holding negotiations on a new trade deal, but according to Trump the sides have made little progress recently.
