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China creates blacklist of ‘unreliable’ foreign firms in response to Trump’s Huawei attacks



China is to set up a blacklist of “unreliable” foreign firms causing harm to Chinese interests, the Xinhua news agency reports.

The move could affect hundreds of firms including Google, Apple and UK-based chip maker ARM. It appears to be in direct retaliation to Donald Trump‘s attacks on Chinese technology giant Huawei. Details of China’s list are expected to be disclosed shortly.

China will set up a mechanism listing foreign enterprises, organisations and individuals that don’t obey market rules, violate contracts and cut off supplies for non-commercial reasons or severely damage the legitimate interests of Chinese companies, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said. 

It is as yet unclear exactly which companies will be subject to what restrictions but speculation has centred on those firms that have cut supplies to Huawei in response to Mr Trump’s recent executive order.

The US added Huawei and 68 of its overseas subsidiaries to a trade blacklist on 16 May. It means US firms are effectively banned from doing business with the company because Washington deems it to present a national security risk.

Google, Intel and Qualcomm are among the firms to have halted trade with Huawei in response to the ban, which is likely to severely hamper the Chinese firm.

The blacklisting marked a ramping up of tensions between the world’s two largest economies, which have already imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of imports.

Higher duties on about $200bn (£160bn) of goods arriving in the US from China will be subject to additional tariffs from this weekend while Beijing will also implement its own retaliatory duties. Talks between the two sides broke down after Mr Trump accused China of backing out of a deal on various trade reforms.

On Thursday, Mr Trump announced further tariffs on Mexico, another big US trade partner.

The US will impose a 5 per cent tariff on all goods incoming from Mexico that will gradually increase unless America’s southern neighbour moves to bring an end to US-bound illegal immigration.

“The tariffs certainly put the USMCA (United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement) on ice,” said Gary Hufbauer, an expert in trade law at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who panned the move but said Mr Trump does have the legal authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by citing a national emergency. 

“The drama is legal, but it’s preposterous,” he said. 

Ahead of his visit to the UK next week, Mr Trump praised Conservative leadership contender Boris Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage as “good guys” and said he “may” meet with them in London.



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