EU leaders: We won’t follow Trump’s Huawei ban
The leaders of Germany, France and the Netherlands said Thursday that their governments do not plan to follow the lead of the US and ban Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from building up their national 5G high-speed mobile networks.
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency for the telecommunications sector on Wednesday, citing “unacceptable risks” from “foreign adversaries” — including from cyberespionage and sabotage. The executive order empowers Washington to ban technology and services, including Huawei, which US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said would be blacklisted as of Friday.
The US has urged allied governments to exclude Chinese companies such as Huawei from the 5G expansion over concerns the Chinese government could use the equipment as a backdoor for spying.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, said Thursday companies could participate in expanding Germany’s 5G network if they met established safety criteria.
“For us, the security criteria are the decisive starting point in terms of deciding who will participate in the expansion,” Merkel said, adding that the criteria are not directed against individual countries or companies.
Speaking alongside Merkel in Berlin, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands would not exclude companies in advance of any auction for 5G networks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said separately that it was “not appropriate” to start a trade dispute over technology. The goal is not to exclude Huawei or other companies from network expansion but to provide the necessary security, he said on the fringes of an industry conference in Paris.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, has not told national governments to avoid using Huawei’s 5G equipment.
Nevertheless, the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands has started an investigation into possible “secret back doors” on Huawei products, according to a report in De Volkskrant newspaper.
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Trump’s tariffs and who they target
Solar panels and washing machines
The first round of tariffs in 2018 were on all imported washing machines and solar panels — not just those from China. A study by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Columbia University, and Princeton University found that the burden of Trump’s tariffs — including taxes on steel, aluminum, solar panels falls entirely on US consumers and businesses who buy imported products.
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Trump’s tariffs and who they target
China hike
On Friday May 10, 2019 President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on $200 billion (€178 billion) worth of Chinese goods. The move rasied tariffs from 10% to 25% on a range of consumer products, including cell phone, computers and toys. China’s Commerce Ministry said it “deeply regrets” the US decision.
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Issues with the EU
In April 2019, the United States said it wanted to put tariffs on $11.2 billion worth of goods from the EU. The list includes helicopters and aircraft from Airbus as well as European exports like: famous cheeses like Stilton, Roquefort and Gouda, wines and oysters, ceramics, knives and pajamas.
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EU fights back
The EU imposed import duties of 25% on a $2.8 billion range of imports from the United States in retaliation for US tariffs on European steel and aluminum. Targeted US products include Harley-Davidson motorcycles, bourbon, peanuts, blue jeans, steel and aluminum.
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European automakers next?
May 17, 2019 is the deadline for President Trump to decide on imposing tariffs on vehicle imports from the EU. According to diplomats, Germany, whose exports of cars and parts to the United States are more than half the EU total, wants to press ahead with talks to ward off tariffs on automakers Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW.
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Trump’s tariffs and who they target
India not exempt
India, the world’s biggest buyer of US almonds, on June 21, 2018 raised import duties on the nuts by 20% and increased tariffs on a range of other farm products and US iron and steel, in retaliation for US tariffs on Indian steel. Trump said last month that he would end preferential trade treatment for India, which would result in US tariffs on up to $5.6 billion of imports from India.
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Trump’s tariffs and who they target
North American neighbors in tariff spat
Mexico on June 5, 2018 imposed tariffs of up to 25% on American steel, pork, cheese, apples, potatoes and bourbon, in retaliation for US tariffs on Mexican metals. While to the north, Canada on July 1 imposed tariffs on $12.6 billion worth of U.S. goods, including steel, aluminum, coffee, ketchup and bourbon whiskey in retaliation for US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Huawei in UK
British ministers have discussed giving Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network. The final decision has not yet been published.
However, a former head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service said Thursday that Huawei poses such a grave security risk to the United Kingdom that the government should ban it from the expansion.
“I very much hope there is time for the UK government, and the probability as I write of a new prime minister, to reconsider the Huawei decision,” said Richard Dearlove, who was chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1996 to 2004.
“The ability to control communications and the data that flows through its channels will be the route to exercise power over societies and other nations,” Dearlove wrote in the foreword to a report on Huawei by the Henry Jackson Society.
Huawei is one of the largest suppliers of telecom equipment in the world. Founded in 1987, the company said on its website that its products reach over a third of the world’s population in 170 countries.
av/cmk (Reuters, AFP)
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