Which Countries Have Banned Or Are Planning To Ban Huawei?
The countries that have banned products by the Chinese smartphone and wireless technology company Huawei represent approximately one third of the world’s GDP, according to reporting by Bloomberg. huawei ban
As of March 2019, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. have decided to ban and phase out the company’s products. These countries make up 32.6 percent of the world’s GDP, according to The International Monetary Fund.
Canada and New Zealand are likely to follow suit, but several European countries including Denmark, Sweden and the UK are still on the fence. A ban might prove especially difficult in Europe, where Huawei is now supplying a third of telecommunication systems, up from next to none a decade ago.
After the U.S. unveiled a high profile case against Huawei in January, which includes allegations of fraud, stealing of trade secrets and skirting U.S. sanction against Iran, many fear that the company is not independent enough from the Chinese government and might be an entryway for spying, especially among the implementation of new 5G technology around the world for which Huawei is a possible supplier.
Why is Huawei banned? A (very) quick summary
Huawei is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. At the start of 2019, the company was expected to become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer by the end of that year, stealing the crown from Samsung. Despite this success, Huawei has dealt with numerous accusations over the years of shady business practices. It also has been accused — although with no hard proof — of using its products to spy on other nations. This is a worrisome thought considering the company’s close ties to the Chinese government. In May 2019, United States President Donald Trump announced that Huawei — along with several other Chinese companies — was now on something called the Entity List. Companies on this list are unable to do business with any organization that operates in the United States. The Huawei ban thus begins, with Huawei suddenly unable to work with companies such as Google, Qualcomm, and Intel, among many others. In the case of Google, this means new Huawei smartphones are no longer able to ship with Google-owned applications pre-installed.
With the Huawei-US ban in effect, the company has had to completely revamp how it creates and releases smartphones. It also faces mounting scrutiny from other nations, many of which rely on Huawei for wireless networking equipment.
Since May 2019, Huawei has had some minor wins, but the bulk of the ban is still in place. It appears the Huawei ban will be in effect in perpetuity and the company will need to strategize around it until further notice. (Source: Huawei.com)
