White House dismisses idea of U.S. buying Nokia, Ericsson to challenge Huawei

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday and the top White House economic adviser dismissed an unusual suggestion from U.S. Attorney General William Barr that the United States consider taking control of two major foreign rivals of China-based Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Barr, a former general counsel at Verizon Communications Inc, said on Thursday the United States and its allies should consider taking a “controlling stake” in Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson to counter Huawei’s dominance in next-generation 5G wireless technology.