Huawei blames U.S. blacklisting for $12 billion revenue shortfall

Huawei has reported slowing profit growth in 2019 after the U.S. ban weighed on the Chinese company’s business.

The company reported a revenue of around $123 billion USD (about $175 billion CAD) for 2019, but it had wanted to reach $135 billion USD (about $192 billion CAD).

In May 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump banned Huawei from working with any U.S.-based company. Shortly after, Google pulled its business from the company, which included pulling services from Huawei phones.

Eric Xu, the rotating chairman at Huawei, is blaming the U.S. blacklisting for its $12 billion shortfall.

“We had to deal with the challenges around the supply continuity and we had to address the supply challenges in the short term, so as to supply certain products to our customers,” Xu told CNBC.

Huawei faced a tough year as the U.S. urged its allies around the world to ban the company from participating in the rollout of 5G. The U.S. government has stayed firm in its belief that Huawei is a national security risk.

There currently is not a timeline on when the Canadian government will make a final decision on its Huawei 5G review, but it’s possible that it could be delayed due to COVID-19.

Interestingly, Huawei notes that the impact from COVID-19 on its business is still unknown.

Source: CNBC