SIA presses Trump to expedite Huawei licenses

“We encourage prompt action to issue approvals for sales that do not implicate national security concerns, particularly where there is foreign availability for competing products,” the Semiconductor Industry Association said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dated Sept. 11. Huawei is at the center of an ongoing trade conflict between Beijing and Washington that experts have agreed is straining the global economy. In late June, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he would relax restrictions on Huawei export licenses after Beijing agreed to buy more U.S. farming goods. Since June, neither the U.S. nor China has made good on those pledges. The U.S. has, in fact, increased tariffs on Chinese goods, sparking retaliation by China. Bloomberg News is reporting that in the letter to Washington, SIA underscored the fact that Huawei, as the third-largest buyer of U.S. semiconductors, does not represent a threat to U.S. security with its “non-sensitive” products, including mobile phones and smart-watches, and that furthermore, U.S. semiconductor companies are trying to compete with foreign competitors who are not governed by the same restrictions. The letter also warned that delays in granting the special licenses could result in lower profits for semiconductor firms, leading to an overall weakening of the U.S. semiconductor industry and erosion of its dominance in the global market.