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Huawei
This Week in AsiaEconomics

Trump’s Huawei ‘ban’ gives Asian tech firms 70 billion reasons to worry

  • The US move has sent Huawei’s suppliers scrambling to see how they will be affected, particularly those who rely on it as their main customer
  • More than half of the company’s core global suppliers are from Asia, and many see their shares tumble after the announcement

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The Trump administration has added Huawei and 70 of its affiliates to its list of firms deemed threats to US national security. Photo: EPA
John PowerandMeaghan Tobin
The United States’ move to blacklist Huawei sent ripples through supply chains in Asia this week, as companies scrambled to assess how the effective ban would impact the US$70 billion global market for components used by the Chinese telecommunications giant.

In Japan, Finance Minister Taro Aso on Friday said Washington’s fresh salvo against the beleaguered tech firm could impact the country’s firms and economic growth.

“There could be direct and indirect effects on Japan,” Aso said, following a cabinet meeting. “There are Japanese companies that supply parts to Huawei, and supply chains are intertwined in complex ways.”

The Trump administration this week added Huawei and 70 of its affiliates to its “entity list” of firms deemed threats to national security, effectively prohibiting the firm from buying US technology and components. The ban went into effect on May 17.

Trump also issued an executive order banning US firms from using technology produced by any company assessed to be a national security risk.

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