Exclusive: Trump should sign a contract for the ban on telecommunications by Huawei in the United States

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump is expected to sign a decree this week banning US companies from using telecommunication equipment made by companies that pose a national security risk, paving the way for a ban on doing business. Huawei's business with the Chinese, three US officials with the plan told Reuters.

The order, which will not name specific countries or companies, has been under consideration for more than a year but has been delayed several times, the sources said, asking not to be named because the preparations remained confidential. . This could be delayed again, they said.

The executive would invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the power to regulate trade in response to a national emergency that threatens the United States. The decree will ask the Department of Commerce, in collaboration with other government agencies, to develop an implementation plan, said the same sources.

If it was signed, the decree would come at a delicate time in relations between China and the United States, the two largest economies in the world increasing their tariffs in a battle against what US officials call the United States. unfair trade practices of China.

Washington estimates that equipment manufactured by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's third-largest maker of smartphones, could be used by the Chinese state to spy on. Huawei, who repeatedly denied the charges, did not comment immediately.

The White House and the Commerce Department declined to comment.

The United States is actively pushing other countries not to use Huawei's equipment in next generation 5G networks that they describe as "unreliable". In August, Trump signed a bill banning the US government from using Huawei's own equipment and another Chinese supplier. ZTE Corp.

In January, US prosecutors charged two Huawei units in Washington State for conspiring to steal T-Mobile US Inc.'s trade secrets.

In April 2018, the Federal Communications Commission voted in favor of a proposal to outlaw the use of funds from a $ 9 billion government fund for the purchase of funds. equipment or business services that pose a threat to the security of US communications networks.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, said last week that he was waiting for the Commerce Department to decide on how to "define the list of companies" that would be banned by the proposal of the FCC.

The FCC voted unanimously to reject China Mobile Ltd's offer to provide telecommunications services in the United States last week and said it was reviewing similar prior authorizations held by China Unicom and China Telecom Corp.

The issue has taken a new urgency as US mobile operators look for partners to set up 5G networks.

While major mobile phone companies have already broken off their links with Huawei, small rural operators continue to rely on Huawei and ZTE switches, as well as other equipment, as they tend to be cheaper.

The Rural Wireless Association, which represents operators with fewer than 100,000 subscribers, estimated that 25 percent of its members had Huawei or ZTE equipment in their networks, the FCC said in December.

At a hearing on Tuesday, US senators sounded the alarm about allies using Chinese equipment on 5G networks.

The Wall Street Journal reported for the first time in May 2018 that the executive order was being revised. Reuters reported in December that Trump was still planning to order and that other media reported in February that the order was imminent.