Trump u-turns on Huawei ban and will restart trade talks

Donald Trump (front C) attends a session at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. Photo / Getty.

Donald Trump has softened his assault on Chinese tech giant Huawei by promising to allow it to buy products from US firms following talks with the country's president Xi Jinping.

The US president said American suppliers could sell to the company provided there was no national security problem, u-turning on his decision in May to add Huawei to a trade blacklist.

That was a huge blow for the company, which relies on US-manufactured microchips and other technologies to make its products.

Huawei buys around US$12 billion of components per year from US companies including Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Micron Technologies - whom in recent days have been both skirting the ban and complaining it would do long-term damage to the US economy by spurring China to build its domestic high tech industry.

Trump's decision came after the world's two largest economies agreed to restart trade talks following a lengthy dispute.

"We're right back on track and we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters after meeting Mr Xi at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan yesterday.

He also said that he would hold off on adding new tariffs to Chinese exports, easing the tension between the two sides.

Trump added that the US commerce department would meet in the coming days to decide whether or not to officially take Huawei off its trade blacklist, a list of companies blocked from buying products and services from US businesses without the government's explicit approval.

Huawei's chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, said in May that the sanctions could cause delays to the company's expansion. ZTE, another Chinese technology company added to the list in 2016, fell to a $1bn loss just before Trump lifted the restrictions.

Trump previously threatened to limit intelligence shared with the UK if the government continues to allow Huawei to develop its 5G network, which the US says could be used for espionage by the Chinese government.

Huawei has always denied it would share user secrets.