Huawei Technologies filed a lawsuit Feb. 8 in the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth District (TX, LA, MS) disputing its designation as a “national security threat” by the Federal Communications Commission. The ruling under the Trump Administration blocked American telecommunications operators from accessing a multibillion-dollar federal fund, set up for IT companies, to buy Huawei-made telecom gear. Huawei said the FCC’s ruling in December exceeded its authority and was “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion, and not supported by substantial evidence.”
Huawei filed its lawsuit hours before Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, told journalists in China that he hoped the Biden administration would be more open to policies “that are in the interests of U.S. companies,” adding that he would welcome a phone call from the new President. “We still hope to be able to buy a lot of U.S. components, parts and machinery so that U.S. companies can also develop with the Chinese economy,” he said on Feb. 9.
President Biden’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, vowed to protect the U.S. against Chinese technology threats but declined to promise to maintain the Commerce Department’s blacklisting of Huawei, pending a review, The Hill reported.
Huawei also challenged a U.S. law that barred the company from doing business with American contractors, but a federal judge in Texas threw it out last year. A separate challenge against the FCC filed in 2019, which also disputes the designation of Huawei as a security threat, is continuing.
