The United States is considering amending its ban on domestic companies so that those companies can deal with Chinese Huawei in setting standards for 5G networks, Reuters quoted its sources as saying.
The study of this amendment comes a little more than a year after the US Department of Commerce put Huawei on the "List of Banned Entities" which restricted the sales of goods and technology to the Chinese company, and asked questions about the extent of participation of local companies in organizations that set industry standards.
And engineers in some American technology companies stopped dealing with Huawei in developing standards, after the Ministry of Commerce included this company in the blacklist. This decision put local companies in a state of uncertainty as it is no longer known to them what technologies and information their employees can share with Huawei, the largest telecom equipment manufacturer in the world.
Industry and government officials say the matter has put the United States in a losing position. In standard setting meetings, as protocols and technical specifications for 5G networks evolved, Huawei gained a stronger voice and American engineers sat silent.
US Commerce Secretary Weber Ross confirmed to Reuters that it would allow local companies to cooperate with Huawei in developing standards for 5G networks. The government is expected to make a public announcement later.
"The United States will not abandon its leadership of global innovation," said Ross. "The ministry is committed to protecting national security and foreign policy interests by encouraging American industry to fully engage and defend American technologies to become international standards."
According to the sources, the US Department of Commerce and other agencies have signed the change of rule, and are awaiting publication in the Federal Register.