US President Trump is reportedly considering laws which will force domestic next-gen 5G equipment to be designed and made outside China – prompting speculation whether other Western governments (e.g. Australia) will follow suit.
Reported by The Wall Street Journal, the restrictions will further strain US-China trade tensions, and notably re-shape the international manufacturing landscape.
The move would also force telco giants such as Nokia and Ericsson to shift production outside China in order to maintain US contracts.
The news comes after the Trump administration largely banned Huawei Technologies last month, prompting backlash from other tech giants (e.g. Google) and the loss of its Android license.
Huawei has continued to reject allegations its telco equipment poses national security risks, and intelligence links to the Chinese government.
As per President Trump’s recent executive order, the United States government is currently undertaking a 150-day review of the global telco equipment supply chain.
According to the wsj the United States is engaged in “early”, “informal” talks with telco companies to gauge whether they can develop hardware and software (e.g. routers and switches) outside China.
