"I refuse to let you date him"... On concern that foreign governments could spy on, manipulate, or crank call Americans, President Trump just banned American phone/internet companies from using foreign-made telecom equipment. The obvious target is China's Huawei, and it's another escalation in the trade war.
Scandinavia is into it... Ericsson (🇸🇪Sweden) and Nokia (🇫🇮Finland) are the two other big competitors of Huawei, and their stocks jumped on the US move. The ban only applies to American telecom companies and only to future purchases:
- The majors: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile don't use Huawei.
- The regionals: Some smaller internet and wireless providers do.
- Abroad: Trump's hoping foreign countries resist the temptation of Huawei's lower prices to stand strong with America's blacklisting (and buy Scandinavian instead).
Stop China from dominating 5G... That's the goal here. China's epic "Made in China 2025" plan gives American foreign policy hawks night terrors. So does its ambition to lead in 5G, which will wirelessly connect phones, computers, appliances, and probably robo-pets to the web really, really and fast. But it could be too little, too late:
- Huawei is leading already — It's making both phones and the network (think cell towers and satellites), courtesy of the Chinese government's assistance.