Trump has declared National Emergency and Banned Foreign Telecom Companies

Listen to this article

The U.S President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order. It will ban American companies from using telecommunications equipment made by foreign firms posing a national security risk to the United States. It has been considered a move specially designed at China‘s Huawei. The president’s move comes as tensions have flared between the two countries. The Washington and Beijing were failed to find consensus on trade and tariffs after months of negotiations. The White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that the emergency declaration by the president is a part of his commitment to protecting the information and communications technology and services of our Nation.

Sanders added in her statement, “The president has made it clear that this administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and prosperous and to protect America from foreign adversaries who are actively and increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology infrastructure and services in the United States”. The West Wing has reportedly been considering the executive order for more than a year, but repeatedly delayed the measure for unknown reasons. It is noteworthy that the press secretary and executive order didn’t mention any specific country or company by name.

The measure comes following concerns in Washington that the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer (Huawei Technologies Co Ltd) could be used by the Chinese government to spy on the United States and western allies. The company has repeatedly denied those allegations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during his daily briefing in Beijing just before the executive order was signed on Wednesday that the U.S had been abusing its national power to deliberately smear and suppress Chinese companies. The new executive order represents an expansion of U.S policy already in place since August, when the president signed a bill that barred the U.S government from using Huawei equipment and goods from another Chinese company, ZTE Corp.