To counter Huawei threat, U.S. should consider taking 'controlling stake' in Ericsson, Nokia - attorney general

FILE PHOTO: Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina speaks during the Reuters Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, U.S., October 31, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Calling China the biggest threat to America, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday the United States should actively consider putting its "financial muscle" behind Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson to counter Huawei's dominance in next-generation 5G telecoms technology.

In a remarkable statement underscoring how far the United States may be willing to go to counter Huawei, Barr said in a speech to a Washington think-tank conference on Chinese economic espionage there had been proposals to meet the concerns "by the United States aligning itself with Nokia and/or Ericsson."