What you need to know

  • U.S. national security advisor John Bolton is lobbying the UK to ban Huawei from its telecom infrastructure.
  • The U.S. has long excluded Huawei from its networking infrastructure.
  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen as more supportive of Trump's policies, and Huawei could be used in trade negotiations between the two countries once Brexit is completed.

According to the U.S. national security advisor John Bolton, the UK might be rethinking its stance on banning Huawei from its telecom infrastructure. The news comes after Bolton's recent trip to the UK where he was visiting for trade purposes.

When speaking to the Financial Times, Bolton was quoted saying, "They were very concerned about not having any compromise in security of telecommunications in the 5G space." He also stated:

What they said was 'we would like to review this and be very sure about our decision and we too are concerned about the security of our 5G telecommunications network.'

Huawei and the U.S. have long been at odds with each other, far before the ban that was placed on Huawei earlier this year. Even though the U.S. has never provided any evidence, Huawei has often been the target of spying allegations. In turn, that has prevented the Chinese tech giant from having any involvement in the telecom infrastructure in the U.S.

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It has also lead to lobbying efforts from Washington, urging its allies to also exclude Huawei from its broadband networks for the sake of national and international security.

Despite Huawei's constant proclamations of its innocence and the lack of evidence, it has still placed the company under the microscope. The UK has been conducting its own investigation into Huawei and was expected to release results earlier this year.

So far, no conclusion has been made, but leaks have suggested Huawei could be excluded from the "core network infrastructure but not the radio element of 5G networks."

There are concerns that banning Huawei would increase prices since all four major UK networks are currently customers of the Chinese tech giant. It has also been noted that it could harm innovation.

Boris Johnson. who recently replaced May as Prime Minister. is thought to be more supportive of President Trump's policies, and his stance on Huawei could become part of trade discussions once Brexit has been completed. Meaning that Huawei could be looking at some more tough times ahead.

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