Trump Administration Relents; Grants Microsoft Exemption To Export Mass-Market Software To Huawei

The Trump administration would allow some suppliers to restart sales to the Chinese telecoms giant, Huawei , reports The Hindu

Microsoft Corp which recently got a $10 billion contract from Department of Defense called the ‘Jedi’ said on Thursday (21 November) it had been granted a license from the US government to export software to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

“On November 20, the US Department of Commerce granted Microsoft’s request for a license to export mass-market software to Huawei. We appreciate the Department’s action in response to our request,” a Microsoft spokesman told Reuters via email.

Huawei was placed on a trade blacklist over national security concerns six months ago but Trump said this week, US would allow some suppliers to restart sales to the Chinese telecoms giant.

Microsoft declined to comment beyond its statement on which products had been approved, and the Commerce Department declined to comment.

An analyst from Wedbush Securities Dan Ives, said, “This will be a major relief for Huawei after an arduous period with large technology players like Microsoft, Google and others restricted on the platform.”

But the granting of the license to Microsoft met with opposition and a bipartisan group of 15 senators asked the Commerce Department to suspend the issuing of licenses, saying it could threaten ‘US security’.

The senators wrote a letter to Trump on Thursday (21 November) said, “The administration should halt issuing licenses until it provides Congress a report outlining specific criteria for determining whether or not the approval of any license poses a national security threat.”