WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will extend a reprieve given to Huawei Technologies that permits the Chinese firm to buy components from U.S. companies to supply existing customers, but also moved to add more than 40 of Huawei’s units to its economic blacklist.
The extension, dated Thursday and first reported by Reuters on Friday, was announced on Monday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, even though President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that no such reprieve would be granted.
Shares of U.S. chip makers that sell to Huawei rose, including chipmakers Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology.
The 90-day extension “is intended to afford consumers across America the necessary time to transition away from Huawei equipment, given the persistent national security and foreign policy threat,” the Commerce Department said in a statement on Monday.
“As we continue to urge consumers to transition away from Huawei’s products, we recognize that more time is necessary to prevent any disruption,” said Ross.
Trump had indicated at the weekend there would be no extension, saying what would happen would be the “opposite” of what was reported on Friday. “We’re actually open not to doing business with them,” Trump said on Sunday.
The U.S. government blacklisted Huawei in May, alleging the Chinese company is involved in activities contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. Shortly after, the Commerce Department allowed Huawei to purchase some American-made goods in a move designed to minimize disruption for its customers.
Ross said the latest extension was to aid U.S. customers, many of which operate networks in rural America.
At the same time he said he was adding 46 Huawei affiliates to the so-called “Entity List” - a list of companies effectively banned from doing businesses with U.S. firms -
