EDITORIAL: Huawei ban threatens global economy
Chinese company’s ban further complicates the trade talks between the US and China, which had already taken a turn for the worse
US President Donald Trump’s move to restrict US companies from doing business with China’s Huawei poses a real threat to the global economy, which is already showing signs of strain. Last Friday, the US government blacklisted the Chinese phone maker and telecoms equipment provider on national security concerns but said the move was not linked to the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. Rather, the ban was aimed at preventing Beijing from using Chinese companies to spy on the US. In a blow to both companies, Alphabet’s Google, which provides the Android operating system for mobile phones, was obliged to cut most of its ties with Huawei. This has serious implications for consumers outside of China, since Huawei is the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones, and for network operators that rely on the firm’s equipment. Tech stocks, including Tencent-proxy Naspers, have slid on the news and on fears that the US-China trade tussle could escalate into a tec...
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