US reviews export requests to Huawei with ‘highest scrutiny’

The US government said on Wednesday it was reviewing license requests from US companies seeking to export products to China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd “under the highest national security scrutiny” since the company is still blacklisted.

In an email to Reuters, the Commerce Department said that as it reviewed applications, it was applying the “presumption of denial” standard associated with Entity Listed companies, meaning applications are unlikely to be approved.

President Donald Trump surprised markets on Saturday with an announcement that US companies would be allowed to sell products to Huawei, which was placed on the so-called Entity List in May over national security concerns.

US chipmakers, which had been seeking a carve-out for exports of less sensitive technology to the world’s top telecoms technology maker, welcomed the news.

But four days after Trump’s announcement on the sidelines of the G20 in Japan, industry and government officials were uncertain about the new policy.