Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow on Sunday sought to alleviate the concerns of GOP lawmakers such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), saying President Trump is not backing off from sanctions on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
“Regarding the Huawei story, let me just try to clarify that. There will be sales from American companies but only in the sense of general merchandise, things that are available in other places around the world,” Kudlow said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
{mosads}“Anything to do with national security concerns will not receive a new license from the Commerce Department. I think that’s very important. I think people have to understand that,” he added.
Kudlow emphasized: “The president is not backing off on the national security concerns. We understand the huge risks regarding Huawei.”
He said the administration will not “fully address” Huawei’s future until “the end of the trade talks.”
Trump appeared to reverse his tough position on Huawei during the G-20 Summit in Japan when he announced Saturday that “U.S. companies can sell their equipment to Huawei” and predicting that doing so would not pose a “national emergency problem.”
Alarmed by the development, Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Saturday promised legislation to keep those restrictions in place.
“If President Trump has in fact bargained away the recent restrictions on #Huawei, then we will have to get those restrictions put back in place through legislation,” Rubio tweeted, adding: “And it will pass with a large veto proof majority,” Rubio tweeted Saturday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” predicted a negative response from Republicans and Democrats in Congress if Trump allows Huawei to gain access to national security-critical technology.
“There will be a lot of pushback if this is a major concession,” he said.
Asked about Rubio’s criticism, Kudlow said: “I hope that when President Trump comes back that he and others of us will be able to persuade Sen. Rubio that there will be no national security violations.”
“Any additional licensing from the Commerce Department to American companies will be for general merchandise — not national security sensitive — general merchandise meaning various chips and software and other services that are available all around the world,” he said.