Rubio on Huawei

Sen. Marco Rubio is confident that Congress will codify in law Trump administration restrictions imposed on China’s telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, a company the Florida Republican says poses a national security threat to the United States.

Huawei, which was sanctioned by the administration in May, is “an instrument of state power” for China, Mr. Rubio told Inside the Ring.

The senator is among a bipartisan group in Congress that recently introduced legislation in both the Senate and House that would permanently impose a Commerce Department ban on sales of U.S. semiconductors and other items to Huawei.

President Trump signed an executive order in May imposing curbs on the use of any foreign adversary equipment by U.S. telecommunications companies and severely limited Huawei’s business by placing the company on the Commerce Department’s entities list. Designation on the list requires obtaining an export license for any exports to Huawei with a presumption of denial.

Mr. Trump, under pressure from both China and American technology companies, has signaled that he is willing to back off the tough sanctions on Huawei.

More