Treasury Secretary says US could ease restrictions on Huawei with progress on trade deal

The United States could ease off its restrictions on embattled Chinese telecom Huawei, says US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, if the US and China make progress in coming up with a trade deal, according to Reuters. Mnuchin made the comments on Sunday, saying that “I think what the president is saying is, if we move forward on trade, that perhaps he’ll be willing to do certain things on Huawei if he gets comfort from China on that and certain guarantees. But these are national security issues.” Those comments come after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in May that allows the government to forbid US companies from selling technology to foreign firms deemed a risk to national security. That order has caused considerable headaches for Huawei, which has long been targeted by the US intelligence community as security threat, citing potential ties to the Chinese government. The result has led numerous US tech firms to stop selling components and software to Huawei, which in turn has led China to threaten to retaliate with a blacklist or other “permanent” consequences.