Google has suspended its business ties with Huawei partially after the United States placed the Chinese firm on a blacklist, even as Google’s apps on Huawei smartphones will continue getting updates.
Last week, the United States had included Huawei to a list of companies that Americans cannot do business with unless they possess a licence.
Google suspended business that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services, except the ones that are publicly available through open source licensing, Reuters reported on Sunday. A version of the Android operating system is available through an open source license, so Huawei can continue using that.
However, a Google spokesperson later told Reuters that current users of Huawei smartphones that have Google apps will be able to continue using and downloading app updates.
“We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications,” the spokesperson said. “For users of our services, Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices.”
The suspension could adversely affect the Chinese company’s business outside China as it will immediately lose access to updates to Google’s Android operating system. The newer version of Huawei’s phones, which operate on Android, will also lose out on popular services such as the Google Play Store, Gmail and YouTube apps.
On May 15, United States President Donald Trump had signed an executive order declaring a national emergency to ban American telecom companies from using foreign-made equipment that are considered to be a threat to national security. Huawei is the biggest supplier of network gear in the world that is used by cellphone and internet companies.
Many other countries, along with the United States, have said that Huawei products may be used by China for surveillance. However, the company has denied these allegations.
The United States commerce department also added the Chinese company to its “entity list” in order to ban it from availing of technology from American firms without government approval. Reacting to the United State’s decision to put the Chinese company on the list, Huawei’s chief executive Ren Zhengfei said that they had already “been preparing for this”.
“Huawei has been working hard on developing its own App Gallery and other software assets in a similar manner to its work on chipset solutions,” he said, according to BBC. “There is little doubt these efforts are part of its desire to control its own destiny.”
Huawei has said that by restricting the company from doing business, the United States will have to resort to “inferior yet more expensive alternatives”. “...leaving the US lagging behind in 5G deployment, and eventually harming the interests of US companies and consumers,” the company had said in a statement. The company also said that it was willing to work with the United States government to ensure product security.
This is a direct effect of the trade war between the United States and China as the two countries have not been able to reach an agreement on dealings. On May 10, Trump increased import duty on Chinese products, worth a total of nearly $300 billion. Beijing had also announced plans to hike tariffs on $60 billion worth of imports from the United States beginning on June 1.
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