US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency over technology designed or produced by ‘foreign adversaries,’ an act widely understood to target China’s ZTE and Huawei in an effort to freeze them out of 5G market.
Arguing that “foreign adversaries are increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services” the US increasingly depends on, Trump’s executive order on Wednesday declares an emergency over foreign-designed, developed, manufactured or supplied information and communications technologies.
Trump has signed the executive order prohibiting US firms from using telecom gear from companies deemed a national security risk: pic.twitter.com/ei2ltFJwfU
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) May 15, 2019
The emergency order gives the Secretary of Commerce the authority to block any transactions that would pose “undue risk of sabotage to or subversion” of IT or communications technologies and services, or “undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resiliency of... critical infrastructure or the digital economy.”
There is also a catch-all provision intended to block anything that “otherwise poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the US or the security and safety” of Americans.