Huawei is still very much blacklisted as far as the US Commerce Department is concerned
When President Trump announced out of nowhere that US companies can once again supply key components to Huawei giving the Chinese tech giant more time to develop in-house alternatives, we were all left scratching our heads as to precisely what equipment involved "no great national security problem." More importantly, what constitutes a "great" and not-so-great security problem and who decides where the distinction lies exactly?
As it turns out, Huawei's top executives are just as confused as the rest of the world, still awaiting official guidance from the US Department of Commerce on whether or not its future phones will be allowed to run Android with full access to Google apps and services. Meanwhile, a new Reuters report aims to shed light on the DOC's own struggles to understand Trump's intentions and translate them into applicable policies and procedures.
For the time being, you might not be surprised to find out very little is set to change in regards to Huawei's relations with the US government, as suggested by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow on Sunday. Namely, the company is likely to remain on the so-called Entity List, which means its American business partners will continue to need special permission to maintain mutually beneficial ties.
But said permission may only be granted for "lower tech" chip sales deemed a minor national security threat, so it definitely sounds like Huawei is not out of the woods yet. Basically, the company continues to largely be considered blacklisted as far as the Commerce Department is concerned, with most applications to be filed by US businesses for sales licenses expected to be denied.
Curiously enough, Huawei seems unfazed by all the confusion (or at least that's what the company wants us to believe), remaining focused on "doing its own job right" and seeing little impact on what it's "currently doing" from Trump's vague statements. That almost sounds like Huawei has given up all hope of using Android or buying chips from Qualcomm and Intel again.
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