Esper signals Trump Administration debate on Huawei restrictions

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper seemed to acknowledge discussions within the Trump administration over whether to further restrict sales to Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co. that American officials suspect could be used for espionage.

Asked Friday about a Wall Street Journal story that the Pentagon opposed a proposed Commerce Department restriction on U.S. companies selling to Huawei, Esper didn’t specifically address the company but said there’s always a “back-and-forth” during interagency discussions about proposed rule changes.

Commerce officials have withdrawn proposed regulations making it harder for U.S. companies to sell to Huawei from their overseas facilities following objections from the Defense Department as well as the Treasury Department, the Journal reported, citing sources it didn’t identify.

The Pentagon is concerned that if U.S. companies can’t continue to ship to Huawei, a key maker of next-generation 5G technology, they will lose a key source of revenue needed to maintain a technological edge, the newspaper said. The Defense Department is one of several cabinet-level departments that can weigh in on the proposal.

Such issues are “never black and white,” Esper said in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but restrictions generally must consider “second and third-order effects” on American companies and “sustaining those companies’ supply chains and those innovators.”

The Commerce Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.