The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Thursday that it will extend a temporary license loosening restrictions on business deals with Chinese tech giant Huawei for an additional 45 days.
This is the fourth time that the U.S. government has allowed its firms to get an extension to have some transactions with Huawei since the Chinese tech giant was put on the Entity List over the so-called "national security concerns," in May of 2019. The previous three extensions are 90 days.
The extension authorizes "specific, limited engagement in transactions" involving the export, reexport, and transfer of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to Huawei and its non-U.S. affiliates on the Entity List until April 1.
The Department of Commerce statement also said the extension was a measure to prevent interruption of existing network communication systems in the country's rural regions, allowing U.S. telecommunication providers to continue to temporarily and securely operate existing networks.
After the U.S. export control decision last May, Huawei responded that the move was in no one's interest and would do significant economic harm to the American companies with which Huawei does business.
In an statement last August when Huawei was given a reprieve for the second time, the company said the extension did not change the fact that it has been treated unjustly, calling on the U.S. government to put an end to this unjust treatment and remove Huawei from the Entity List.
