President Trump takes action over technology threat

Homeland May 17, 2019

President Trump has declared a national emergency to ban technology from “foreign adversaries”.

The executive order block transactions that involve information or communications technology that represent “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

The move is believed to target Chinese technology firm Huawei Technologies, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent months due to fears its products could be used by China for surveillance.

Huawei Technologies have also been added to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, which will prevent the tech giant from buying technology from US companies without a licence from the US government.

In a statement, Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, said the decision would “prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.”

Huawei has strongly denied allegations that is poses a security risk, in particular with relation to its network equipment in next-generation 5G networks.

In a statement the company said: “Restricting Huawei from doing business in the US will not make the US more secure or stronger.

“Instead, this will only serve to limit the US to inferior yet more expensive alternatives, leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of US companies and consumers.”