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Donald Trump extends U.S. ban on Huawei until May 2021

This means another year of Huawei phones missing out on the Google Play Store

In 2019 President Donald Trump banned Huawei from being sold in the U.S. and working with American companies.

Well, that hasn’t changed as Trump announced that the ban is extended until May 2021.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended for another year an executive order signed in May 2019 declaring a national emergency and barring U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms posing a national security risk.

The order invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency that threatens the United States. Members of Congress said Trump’s 2019 order was squarely aimed at Chinese companies like Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp.

Trump banned Huawei in May of 2019. The ban prevents companies like Google from working with Huawei, preventing these handsets from using Google Play Store apps like Maps, YouTube and Assistant. Additionally, Huawei’s own App Gallery, its replacement for the Play Store, can’t get other American apps like Spotify, Instagram and Uber.

The company was banned as the President deemed it a national security risk.

Oddly enough, the ban has yet to reach its full effect. Huawei has been granted a variety of extensions allowing the company to support current devices and give rural parts of the country time to get rid of their Huawei telecom equipment. However, Huawei has yet to receive another extension and the current one is set to end on May 15th.

Even without Google, Huawei has unveiled three flagship handsets, the Mate XS, the Mate 30 Pro and the P40 Pro. And Huawei launched two other versions of the P30 Pro, the latest Huawei smartphone that still has access to the Google Play Store.

Huawei is still permitted to sell phones in Canada and recently launched the Mate 30 Pro and the upcoming P40 Pro.

Huawei phones come pre-installed with the Huawei’s new ‘AppGallery,’ which has grown at a fast rate. The company notes that there are already 26 million monthly active users across Europe and over 400 million globally.

Source: Reuters, The Verge

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