This archive report was first published on 3 July 2019.
President Donald Trump's decision to relax sanctions on Huawei during the G20 Summit has left many wondering if the US government's ban on the Chinese tech giant is still in effect.
On May 16, 2019, President Trump issued an executive order effectively banning Huawei from trading with any American companies over national security fears, allegations which Huawei strongly denies.
However, on June 29, 2019, President Trump backtracked on his decision, announcing that he will relax sanctions on Huawei, effectively reversing US policy on the matter.
But, in a letter sent to enforcement staff on June 30, 2019, John Sonderman, Deputy Director of the Office of Export Enforcement in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), instructed them to continue treating Huawei as blacklisted.
According to the letter, applications from companies that want to sell to Huawei should be considered on merit and flagged with language that notes Huawei is on the entity list.
Additionally, the applications should still be viewed under a 'presumption of denial' policy that applies to companies on the blacklist, meaning license applications are scrutinized more closely and most of them are rejected.
Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder and CEO, has welcomed President Trump's G20 statements, saying they are 'good for American companies.'
However, Huawei has stated that it will continue to focus on its own job and not be impacted by the US government's ban.
