Report: Google Distances Itself From Huawei After Trump Blacklists Foreign Tech

Google suspends some business with Huawei after President Donald Trump placed restrictions on technologies from foreign adversaries, Reuters reported Sunday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter.

Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company that the United States believes is engaged in foreign espionage, will lose access to updates to the Android operating system, as well as the next version of Google’s smartphones. The move is expected to deny the company access to critical applications. Details are not fully fleshed out as Google is still discussing the matter internally, one source told Reuters.

Neither Google nor Huawei responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for confirmation.

The move comes shortly after Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that would effectively ban certain types of technologies from foreign countries deemed a national security threat to the U.S.

The U.S., meanwhile, continues to apply pressure on Britain and others to shy away from using Huawei to build out their fifth generation network. Allowing the participation of Huawei in Germany’s 5G project would mean the U.S. won’t be able to maintain the same level of cooperation with Germany’s security agencies, U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell said in March.

Justice Department officials charged Huawei on Jan. 28 on several counts of fraud. The 13-count indictment against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, accused the tech giant of bank fraud, wire fraud, and violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. It was also charged with conspiring to obstruct justice related to the DOJ’s investigation. U.S. lawmakers have gotten in on the fight as well.

China retaliated shortly after the U.S. targeted the company’s executive. Chinese officials said on Jan. 29 that they will“firmly defend” companies and warned the U.S. to stop running down Huawei. “We strongly urge the United States to stop the unreasonable crackdown on Chinese companies including Huawei,” Chinese foreign ministry noted in a statement following the U.S. charges.