A group of prominent Republican senators is calling on President Joe Biden’s Commerce Department nominee to keep Chinese telecommunications company Huawei on trade blacklists over national security concerns.
Following her testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee, Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo a letter emphasizing they want the Trump administration’s policies blocking Huawei from U.S. markets to carry over into the new administration. The letter suggested any commerce nominee they deem to lack adequate anti-Huawei resolve may face “substantial opposition from Congress.”
The letter, dated Jan. 29, asks Raimondo, Biden’s Commerce Secretary nominee, for a response in writing to one question: whether she could conceive of any scenario under which she, if confirmed as secretary, would remove Huawei or any of its spin-offs and subsidiaries from the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List or “permit any relaxation of the Foreign Direct Product Rule as it relates to 5g technology.”
The Entity List restricts companies from purchasing or otherwise integrating U.S. technologies without a waiver. The letter suggests Raimondo’s testimony regarding Huawei and security during her confirmation hearing last Tuesday was not stringent enough.
Raimondo stated she would “use the full toolkit” at her disposal to protect American networks, such as emerging 5G networks, from Chinese interference or backdoor influence. But later in the hearing, in response to questions from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Raimondo declined to commit to keeping Huawei on the Entity List.
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