Suppliers, including Google, are cutting off Huawei after a recent government order: what that means for consumers around the world
Hi all, welcome to Plain English, the best podcast for learning English with current events. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and you are part of the best audience in the world. Today is episode 159 and you can find a full transcript of today’s episode at PlainEnglish.com/159.
Coming up today: the US government has placed Huawei, the Chinese cell phone manufacturer, on a trade blacklist. That means big companies like Google and chip manufacturers need permission from the US government to work with Huawei. It’s just one facet of the current negotiations between the US and China. That’s today’s main topic; the expression is a phrasal verb, flare up. And we have a song from JR at the end of the episode.
Before we jump in, I wanted to let you know that this is not just a one-way communication here. I love hearing from listeners and a great way to engage with us would be via our e-mail community. Each Monday and Thursday, I send out additional study resources, totally for free, to my e-mail friends. And I love hearing from all of you. So many of you reply with your opinions on the topics and your own experiences and I just love hearing that. Sign up for that at PlainEnglish.com/mail . Later on in the episode, I’ll give you my WhatsApp number and our social media contacts.
Huawei caught in conflict between US and China
A game of political hardball between the US and China got a lot more serious last week, when the US put Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on a trade blacklist. The measure, signed by US President Donald Trump in an executive order, means that Huawei cannot buy products from American companies unless those companies have permission from the US government.
This is the latest chapter in two interconnected sagas: trade negotiations between the US and China is one, and the national security concerns over Huawei’s 5G equipment is the other. Start with the first one. The US and China have been locked in trade negotiations for about a year, ever since Trump made it a priority to adjust the terms of trade between the two countries. The negotiations have gone up, down, and sideways; but a conflict flared up recently and the US slapped additional tariffs on Chinese-made goods; China retaliated with their own tariffs on US-made goods. The tariffs were more than just symbolic, but less than a total trade breakdown between the two countries.
Still, it will have some bite. An American business group surveyed companies in both China and the US and asked how they would be affected by the increased tariffs on both sides. Three quarters of the respondents said they would be negatively affected. And tariffs are just fees for trading. So if two parties on either side of the Pacific Ocean were happy trading before, they’ll now have to pay more for the privilege to do so.
Right around the same time as the two countries were trading barbs, Trump decided to impose the new restrictions on Huawei. The real reason for doing this was probably to turn up the heat on China as part of the trade negotiations; the stated reason was national security. In addition to making cell phones, Huawei makes a lot of the behind-the-scenes equipment that your cell phone carriers use to deliver your service. That is the sensitive part. Since so much is built on the backs of these networks—phone calls, business, government communications, financial information, things like that—countries have a national security interest in making sure they are secure.
The US, Australia and Japan have the view that Huawei cannot be trusted to build the critical technology in their countries, out of suspicion that the Chinese government might use that equipment to spy or cause some kind of technological mischief. Huawei says that it is owned almost entirely by its employees, that it doesn’t and would not take orders from the Chinese government, that its equipment can’t be used for spying, and that there have never been any actual cases in which it has used its equipment dishonestly. That last part is undoubtedly true. As we discussed in Episode 114, some countries accept Huawei at its word; others, such as the US and Australia do not; and still other countries, such as the UK, partially accept it, but subject Huawei to their own security tests.
So these two distinct but related storylines—the trade negotiations between the US and China and the national security concerns about Huawei—converged on the national security order against Huawei.
What does it mean for consumers? A couple of things. First, Google cut off support with Huawei, which will affect Android users. But more importantly, Huawei needs American companies to supply parts to its phones. That could be the larger hurdle to overcome.
It seems that Huawei was prepared, to a certain extent, for this moment. They rely on US-made chips, processors, storage, and networking components, but the company said it has been stockpiling these US-made parts. They have supplies that can last between three months and a year of handset production.
As far as Android goes, Huawei itself will continue to support the Android operating system on phones that they have sold and they can continue to use the open-source Android software: that is free and open to anyone. But Google won’t be able to provide technical support, security updates, and help with Google applications. As a backup measure, Huawei says it has been developing its own operating system in case it needs it.
A lot of you have been asking what I think about what’s going on. I think what we’re seeing is the beginning of a great-power rivalry. Perhaps not even the beginning—perhaps we are seeing a great-power rivalry maturing. We haven’t really seen a rivalry between two world powers since the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. The two sides are trying to send a message to one another with their actions. The US is trying to send the message that it is the world’s biggest economic power and that with a few executive orders, it can cause companies to move their factories out of China and take their business elsewhere. China wants to demonstrate that they may once have been all about low-cost manufacturing, but they’re now integral to the world economy, producing high-value products and services used all over the world. And that they’re also sitting on a lot of the rare-earth metals that everyone needs to produce their technologies. So we’ll see how this all plays out. Both sides probably have an incentive to take some big actions, but then back off a little bit later. We’ll see.
A bunch of you suggested this topic—JR suggested it to me first, but also thanks to Song, Jorge, Michelle, Maria Paula for all contributing their thoughts.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we’re going to be dedicating a little more time to social media, so I wanted to let you know, we’re posting more and you’re more than welcome to—well, obviously share our posts with your friends—but also to send us messages on there. So Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WeChat are all the same user name: PlainEnglishPod. And I promised the WhatsApp number earlier. You can send me a WhatsApp message to +1 312 967 8757.
So I told you I had to read some books in English since I just read that one in Spanish. Let me tell you which ones I read. First up was “The Tattoist of Auschwitz.” I read that one in less than 24 hours. It’s a great story of love and survival during the Holocaust. It’s based on the recollection of one survivor, as told to an Australian author. And it’s available in multiple languages, including Spanish and Portuguese. It’s also available as an audiobook in English. I think this is one some of you might like to listen to or even try reading in English. And remember you can get a free audiobook from Audible by visiting PlainEnglish.com/book . The other book I read was called “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen. I just loved sitting out by the pool or on the porch listening to the ocean and night and getting lost in a book. One of my favorite things to do.
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