HONG KONG/WASHINGTON: Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies sued the US government on Thursday saying a law limiting its US business was unconstitutional, ratcheting up its fight back against a government bent on closing it out of global markets.
Huawei said it had filed a complaint in a federal court in Texas challenging Section 889 of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), signed into law by US President Donald Trump in August, which bars federal agencies and their contractors from procuring its equipment and services.
The lawsuit marks the latest confrontation between China and the United States, which spent most of 2018 slapping import tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods. The year ended with the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer (CFO) in Canada at US request, to the consternation of China.
Long before Trump initiated the trade war, Huawei’s activities were under scrutiny by US authorities, according to interviews with 10 people familiar with the Huawei probes and documents related to the investigations seen by Reuters.
“The US Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products. We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort,” Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping said in a statement.
While Huawei had very little share of the US market before the bill, it is the world’s biggest telecoms gear maker and is seeking to be at the forefront of a global roll-out of fifth generation (5G) mobile networks and services.
— Reuters
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