Johnsons decision comes after a series of efforts by the U.S. to block the Chinese-owned company from gaining a foothold in 5G, amid warnings from national security leaders that Huaweis involvement could open the door for espionage. The Trump administration has described the issue as crucial to the Wests struggle with Beijing for dominance of the technologies of the future, but has had only limited success in getting U.S. allies to go along.<\/p>\n
The latest warnings from Reps. Liz Cheney<\/a> of Wyoming, Jim Banks<\/a> of Indiana and Mike Gallagher<\/a> of Wisconsin echoed many months of similarly strong rhetoric from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is due in London on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Theres reason to be skeptical of these threats from China hawks in Congress, as Trumps Pentagon and his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, have said the U.S. should not punish those who are already doing business with Huawei, a global leader in telecom technology.<\/p>\n \nThe Trump administrations inconsistent response could allow Huawei to avoid repercussions.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Trump administrations inconsistent response could allow Huawei to avoid repercussions if Johnson decides to work with the Chinese company, a person familiar with the companys thinking told POLITICO on Monday. A move by the United Kingdom to include Huawei equipment in its 5G networks could also give political cover for Canada, Germany and other countries to follow suit, the person said.<\/p>\n The person acknowledged that such a decision could lead to more attacks from the Hill, \u201cpotentially even a congressional hearing. That wouldnt surprise me in the least.\u201d<\/p>\n But the U.K. should not underestimate the risks of refusing to exclude Huawei, the three GOP lawmakers said. They said such a decision would be \u201cshort-sighted,\u201d harming the two nations intelligence ties as well as prospects for a U.S. trade deal with the U.K. after it leave the European Union.<\/p>\n The U.K. is one of the so-called Five Eyes countries, along with the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand \u2014 an alliance whose members share many of their most sensitive intelligence secrets in an attempt to head off emerging threats.<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump | Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cOur relationship with the U.K. right now is among our very closest, if not the closest in the whole world,\u201d said Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican leader. \u201cI think that if they make the decision that if theyre going to have Huawei in their 5G that we have to recalculate [and] reassess whether or not they can continue to be among the closest of our intel partners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no choice,\u201d she added. \u201cIts our own security at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheney and Banks introduced legislation last week to halt intelligence-sharing with countries that permit Huawei to operate their 5G networks. Sen. Tom Cotton<\/a> (R-Ark.) offered a similar bill this month, saying the U.S. \u201cshouldnt be sharing valuable intelligence information with countries that allow an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party to operate freely within their borders.\u201d<\/p>\n Pompeo has sent similar messages during the past year, including a February 2019 interview<\/a> with Fox Business in which he said any country that allows Huawei into its \u201ccritical information systems\u201d would pay a price: \u201cWe wont be able to share information with them, we wont be able to work alongside them. In some cases, theres risk we wont even be able to co-locate American resources, an American embassy or an American military outpost.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTheres real risk, and we want to make sure they know not only the risk to their own people but their risk of being able to work alongside the United States in keeping the world safe,\u201d Pompeo added at the time.<\/p>\n \nTrumps own Defense Department has been opposing tougher Commerce Department restrictions on U.S. companies sales to Huawei.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Pompeo upped the pressure on the British on Sunday, tweeting in support<\/a> of a Conservative member of Parliament who wrote in a Daily Mail op-ed<\/a> that \u201cHuaweis 5G sets us on a path that undermines our autonomy and the repercussions could be grave.\u201d<\/p>\n But such warnings have largely been met with skepticism in Britain. Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, told the Financial Times<\/a> he has \u201cno reason to think\u201d that the U.K.s intelligence-sharing relationship with the U.S. would suffer if Britain adopted Huawei technology in its 5G network, as POLITICO Europe noted<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n And Trumps own words have undermined the message at times, including a February 2019 tweet<\/a> in which he appeared to cast doubt on the strategy of excluding Huawei. \u201cI want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Just last week, The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> that Trumps own Defense Department has been opposing tougher Commerce Department restrictions on U.S. companies sales to Huawei, for fear that the loss of revenue would harm defense contractors ability to invest in research and development. Defense Secretary Mark Esper acknowledged as much in a D.C. appearance on Friday, contending that<\/a> \u201cwe also have to be conscious of sustaining those companies, supply chains and those innovators. \u2026 Thats the balance we have to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Esper warned against the myriad threats China poses to U.S. technology and said the military regards Beijing as the United States top strategic challenge.<\/p>\n Espers comments drew a sharp blowback Monday from Cotton, who joined Republican Sens. Marco Rubio<\/a> of Florida and Ben Sasse<\/a> of Nebraska in requesting a briefing on the Pentagons rationale for opposing the restrictions.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo | Ezequiel Becerra\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIts bad enough when capitalists are willing to sell the rope that will be used to hang us, but worse still when our military acts as their lobbyist,\u201d Cotton said.<\/p>\n Besides cutting off intelligence-sharing, Trump has another potentially huge piece of leverage over Johnson: With the U.K. poised to leave the European Union, London needs to negotiate a new trade agreement soon with its biggest trading partner, the United States. And Trump could simply refuse to make a deal.<\/p>\n However, Mnuchin has said repeatedly in recent days that the administration is interested in reaching an agreement with the U.K. this year. He has given no indication that the Huawei issue is a potential impediment.<\/p>\n Trump could also wield his broad powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to threaten tariffs on U.K. exports, in the same way he used the law last year to threaten escalating tariffs on Mexican goods because of illegal immigration.<\/p>\n But slapping tariffs on British goods would not be without pain for the United States: Two-way goods trade between the United States and the U.K. totaled about $127 billion in 2018, with the United States enjoying a slight surplus of about $5.5 billion. The United Kingdom Read More \u2013 Source<\/a> [contfnewc] WASHINGTON \u2014 Top U.S. House Republican defense hawks warned Monday that Boris Johnson would risk a h..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/GettyImages-1195905627-1-714x476.jpg\")
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