How US chipmakers pressed Trump to ease Huawei export controls

November sales were up 21.5% from the US$31.0bil a year ago.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s decision to allow US companies to continue selling to Huawei followed an extensive lobbying campaign by the US semiconductor industry that argued the ban could hurt America’s economic and national security.

In multiple high-level meetings and a letter to the Commerce Department, the companies argued for targeted action against Huawei Technologies Co instead of the blanket ban the Trump administration imposed in May. That includes identifying specific technologies that the Chinese company shouldn’t be given access to, while allowing US firms to supply the rest.