Biden admin defends approving licenses for auto chips for Huawei
The Biden administration, which was criticized this week for
approving licenses for auto chips for Huawei, said it has not changed the
policy on restricting sales of goods and technology to the Chinese company that
was put in place during the Trump presidency.
“The policy has not been eased or amended,” a Commerce
Department spokesperson said.
The comments came in response to demands from Sen. Marco Rubio that U.S. officials explain why they approved hundreds of
millions of dollars worth of auto chip sales to the company, as reported by
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/exclusive-us-approves-licenses-huawei-buy-auto-chips-sources-2021-08-25
this week.
Rubio called the move “yet another example of President
Biden’s failure to protect America’s economic and national security.”
Huawei was placed on a U.S. trade blacklist in 2019, after
the Trump administration said it was operating contrary to national security
and foreign policy interests.
The so-called “entity list” restricts suppliers from selling
U.S. goods and technology to the world’s largest telecommunications equipment
maker. The Commerce Department is prohibited from disclosing license approvals
or denials, the spokesperson has said.
But some sales were allowed and others denied as the United
States intensified its crackdown on the company and expanded U.S. authority to
require licenses for sales of semiconductors made abroad with American
technology.
An August 2020 rule said that licenses for products with 5G
capabilities were likely to be rejected, but sales of less sophisticated
technology would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
During the Trump administration, $87 billion worth of
licenses for Huawei were approved after its blacklisting, but $119 billion were
denied as the presidency wound down in January, according to a Commerce
Department document seen by Reuters.
“The Biden Administration has not changed the regulatory
restrictions on Huawei and its affiliates on the Entity List imposed in 2019 or
2020 or the policy for implementing those restrictions developed during the
Trump administration,” the Commerce Department spokesperson said.
Other congressional China hawks also have criticized the
auto chip approvals, with Mike Rogers, lead Republican on the Armed Services
committee, urging that the licenses be revoked.
Comments
Post a Comment