Trump’s tweets would appear to be at odds with the stance taken by some in his administration. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said the US will not partner with countries that adopt Huawei’s technology.

“If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we will not be able to share information with them,” Pompeo said during an interview with Fox Business. “In some cases there's risk – we will not even be able to co-locate American resources, an American embassy, an American military outpost.”

Ren, normally low profile, has been giving interviews to foreign and domestic media in recent weeks to defend Huawei, the company he founded in 1987. Starting out as a trader in telephone switches to rural areas in China, the company today has more than 170,000 employees and business in more than 170 markets, raking in annual revenues exceeding US$100 billion.

Trump’s tweet that he would not stand in the way of other 5G competition should not be seen as an automatic green light for Huawei, according to Richard Hillgrove, London-based founder of 6 Hillgrove Public Relations.

“The US can always continue to play the 'security risk' card with Huawei to hold back their increased market dominance. Also with Trump, it’s very important to look at the overall pattern of his communications over a period of time. He blows incredibly hot and cold. A throw-away comment made today can be completely overturned or reversed tomorrow,” Hillgrove said.

Huawei, based in the city of Shenzhen in southern China, is facing growing pressure from the US over claims it has close ties with the Chinese government and that its equipment could be used for espionage purposes. Huawei has denied these claims. In the latest instance, Huawei chairman Liang Hua, told reporters in Toronto on Thursday that the company would deny any Chinese government request to open up “back doors” in foreign telecoms networks because they are not legally obliged to do so.

While US suspicions over Huawei have simmered over the years, the resistance on the company’s 5G plans has stepped up at the same time as trade tensions with China intensified. Trade negotiators from both countries began a fresh round of high-level talks in Washington on Thursday, amid reports of progress in their bid to nail down a meaningful deal ahead of the deadline for an agreement to end their trade war.

Tensions between the world’s two biggest economies will ease in the next few months as the two sides reach consensus on a series of trade issues, said Xie Maosong, assistant to the secretary general of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, a Beijing-based think tank.

Xie offered the assessment at the South China Morning Post’s annual China Conference on Thursday in Hong Kong. Xie, an adjunct professor at the Central Party School, which trains senior party cadres, also said he was optimistic that Huawei chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou would be released in the coming weeks.

“My personal assessment is that there should be some sort of deal in March and Meng Wanzhou is likely to be released in April or May,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Xie said that he was confident of such a result because of the countermeasures China had taken – specifically the detention of two Canadian citizens accused of endangering state security – to put pressure on Canada.

Meng was detained in Vancouver at the request of the US, which is seeking her extradition to face criminal charges. US law enforcement officials announced 23 charges against Huawei and Meng, including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and intellectual property theft. Her next hearing is set for March 6.

"I personally think Donald Trump is offering an olive branch to Huawei, telling from his tweet," said James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Research. "But he is also a capricious man."