US Commerce Department agents are asked to treat export requests to Huawei as blacklisted. (Image via First Post)

US Commerce Department Reviews Export Requests to Huawei with ‘Highest Scrutiny’

As China’s Huawei Technologies is still blacklisted, US Commerce Department said on Wednesday (7/3) that it still will be reviewing any requests from US companies that seek to export their products to the Chinese company under ‘the highest national security scrutiny’.

The department said it applied the ‘presumption of denial’ standard associated with Entity Listed companies while reviewing applications. This means that the applications submitted by the US companies are unlikely to be approved.

Deputy director of the Office of Export Enforcement in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, John Sonderman, wrote in an email to enforcement staff on Monday clarifying how agents should approach export requests from US companies seeking approval to sell and distribute product to Huawei. According to the email, he said that all applications should be based on merit—who was citing from the licensing policy of presuming denial. The companies will also be noticed by the Commerce Department once the review is complete, a spokesperson added.

During G-20 summit on Saturday, President Trump surprised global markets by saying his administration will resume trade talks with China and allow US companies to sell products to Huawei, which was placed Entity List in May over national security concerns.

US chip makers welcomed the news. However, after four days the statement was out, the US president said that the government was still uncertain what the policy will be.

In response to this, an international trade lawyer said that nothing will change if nobody hasn’t made up their mind. Therefore, he advised his client to not apply for an export license because it’s not worth their money and time under the review policy.

The US has been accusing Huawei as the Chinese government’s ‘tool’ to steal American intellectual property that threatens national security. Huawei denied the allegations.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/us-reviews-export-requests-to-huawei-with--highest-scrutiny---commerce-department-11688662