China decries Trump administration's ban on government business with Huawei
Chinese officials criticized the Trump administration’s decision to move forward this week with a ban on federal agencies conducting business with Huawei, calling the action “discriminatory and unfair.”
The Office of Management and Budget is set to issue an interim rule this week that will lay out the steps to ensure that government agencies aren’t buying products from Huawei and several other Chinese companies.
“The U.S. has abused its state power and used every possible means to smear and oppress certain Chinese companies,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. “This has seriously undermined its image as a country and its own interests. What's worse, it has severely damaged global industrial chain and supply chain.”
The rule, which will apply to Huawei and ZTE, as well as all of their subsidies, will go into effect Aug. 13. It’s based on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2019.
“We firmly support the relevant Chinese companies in safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests through legal means, and we will take all necessary measures to do so,” Hua added. “We urge the U.S. side to abandon its Cold-War mentality and zero-sum game mindset, stop politicizing trade issues and oppressing Chinese companies for no reason, and contribute to China-U.S. cooperation by making it more sound and stable.”
On Wednesday, a Huawei spokesperson told FOX Business the news was "not unexpected," but that the firm will continue to challenge the constitutionality of it in federal court.
"The [National Defense Administration Ac] and its implementing provisions will do nothing to ensure the protection of U.S. telecom networks and systems and rather is a trade barrier based on country-of-origin, invoking punitive action without any evidence of wrong doing," Huawei said in a statement. "Ultimately, it will be rural citizens across the U.S. that will be most negatively impacted as the networks they use for digital connectivity rely on Huawei."
In May, Trump signed an executive order that banned U.S. companies from using Huawei equipment; however, the administration lifted the ban at the beginning of July after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a trade ceasefire at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
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FOX Business' Edward Lawrence contributed to this report.