US President Donald Trump has said he was the driving force behind the ultimatum to Washington’s allies: ban China’s telecom company Huawei from their 5G networks or face the prospect of no more business with the US.
“We convinced many countries, and I did this myself for the most part, not to use Huawei,” Trump said in a speech at the Rose Garden on Tuesday.
The Chinese telecommunications giant has vehemently denied Trump’s allegations that it was taking orders from Beijing. In response, the US president doubled down, saying that he sees Huawei as a “big security risk.”
Those US allies who would have dared to defy Washington on the issue faced a choice, Trump said: either to allow Huawei into their 5G markets, or cut off business ties with the US.
I talked many countries out of using it. If they want to do business with us, they can’t use it
Trump specifically mentioned the UK, which was the latest country to crumble under the US pressure. While the British government initially greenlighted a limited Huawei role in the country’s 5G launch, it has faced mounting pressure from Washington to reverse its decision. London eventually did so earlier on Tuesday, announcing that local telecoms companies would be banned from purchasing the Chinese firm’s equipment by the end of this year. Huawei is set to be fully destangled from the British 5G network by 2027, when local providers must get rid of all their Huawei gear.
Also on rt.com UK decides to ban Huawei from its 5G, tech giant to be excluded from network by 2027Trump also brought up Italy as another apparent example of the successful US arm-twisting. While Rome has not yet announced its final decision on Huawei’s participation in its own 5G rollout, there have been reports that it is considering excluding the firm from the endeavour.
The Trump administration has been on a global offensive against the Chinese telecommunications behemoth since 2019, when it banned the US government from buying technology directly from several Chinese companies, including Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision, Hytera, and Dahua. Most recently, it has been reported that the US is eyeing to tighten the restrictions, with a rule that would prevent any firm using products from the five tech firms.
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