The 90-day reprieve Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. that was granted to access U.S. technology May 20 could become permanent as President Donald Trump said today that the company was on the table as part of trade talks with China.

An executive order signed May 16 banned American companies from doing business with Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone maker on national security grounds. Based on the order, Google LLC and major chipmakers suspended business with Huawei, cutting the company off from the licensed version of Android as well as components it needs to manufacture its smartphones and other devices.

The 90-day reprieve, a temporary license issued by the U.S. Commerce Department to allow Huawei to continue buying U.S.-made products in order to maintain its existing networks and provide software updates, was welcomed. But the future wasn’t looking bright for the company, until possibly now.

Speaking at an impromptu press conference at the White House, President Trump first warned that “Huawei is something that is very dangerous” from a “security standpoint, a military standpoint.” But he went on to add that “it’s possible that Huawei would be included in a trade deal. If we made a deal, I can imagine Huawei being included in some form or some part of a trade deal.”

The exact status of the trade talks wasn’t made clear. Trump said that “it’s happening, it’s happening fast and I think things probably are going to happen with China fast because I cannot imagine that they can be thrilled with thousands of companies leaving their shores for other places.”

The trade talks, which have been ongoing for over a year, resulted in two rounds of tariffs imposed on Chinese-made goods by the U.S. government, the most recent in May. China responded by imposing tariffs on U.S. good later the same month.

Ostensibly the trade talks and tariffs are meant to be separate from Huawei’s ban, the latter having been justified on national security grounds. But with Trump dealing Huawei into trade negotiations, the question arises as to whether the ban may have been a ploy directly related to U.S.-China trade negotiations to begin with.

Photo: Duncan Riley