White House officials request extension of ban on Huawei equipment purchases to give US companies some reprieve

According to Reuters, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Walter, recently wrote to the U.S. Congress, requesting that the measures restricting China's Huawei be postponed to give U.S. suppliers that have business dealings with Huawei more time to adjust. At the same time, he requested that the previously issued ban on U.S. federal agencies purchasing Huawei equipment also be postponed.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has asked Congress for more time to phase in a provision that was passed as part of last year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to ban companies from doing business with Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei from awarding federal contracts.

The ban, which includes a ban on federal agencies directly purchasing Huawei equipment, will take effect this year.

In the letter, Water suggested that the part of the ban that prohibits third-party contractors from purchasing Huawei products would require an additional two years to further prepare the implementation details. In a letter to Congress, Water suggested that this part of the ban should be postponed until four years later to give these American contractors more time to adjust and exclude Huawei from their business.

Water also said that only by delaying the ban can the ban be implemented more effectively without hastily harming "national security." Otherwise, if all restrictions are implemented this year, Water believes that this will "significantly reduce" the number of contractors that can supply the United States.

Reuters did not provide detailed information on some of the bans that Watt wants to postpone. However, Reuters also pointed out that the ban on Huawei in the National Defense Authorization Act that Watt wants to postpone is not the same as the "Entity List" that the U.S. Department of Commerce has included Huawei on, so it will not affect the implementation time of the "Entity List" and its related bans on Huawei.