The giant U.S. internet search engine Google said last week that it is restricting China’s Huawei from access to its Android operating system in compliance with the Trump administration’s blacklisting of the world’s second biggest smartphone maker as a national security threat.
Google said it is “reviewing the implications” of last week’s order requiring export licenses for technology sales to Huawei.
The U.S. and Chinese companies said millions of Huawei phones already in use around the world would continue to have access to such popular Google services as Gmail, YouTube and maps.
But the U.S. order would curb the future transfer of hardware, software and services to Huawei, possibly limiting the Chinese company’s expansion globally and its efforts to overtake South Korea’s Samsung as the world’s biggest smart phone manufacturer.
The Chinese firm is at the center of ongoing trade disputes between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. contends that Huawei’s technology could be used to spy on Americans, allegations Huawei has repeatedly denied.
China and the U.S. are in the midst of months-long trade talks with the world’s two biggest economies engaging in tit-for-tat tariff increases on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each other’s exports.
Kelly warns that should talks between Huawei and the US fail, the company has a plan B to deal with the fallout. One of these plans is for Huawei to launch its own operating system on Huawei products that would compete with Android operating system.
He further notes that many Americans who work for Huawei stand to lose their jobs if the company finds that it can no longer operate in the US or deal with US companies.
