The Commerce Department is apparently still treating Huawei as blacklisted. This news comes despite President Donald Trump's announcement that he'd ease limitations on companies selling equipment to the Chinese telecom.
A senior official emailed enforcement staff Monday to assert that Huawei remains on its Entity List and that a "presumption of denial" licensing policy is still in place, Reuters reports.
The email came two days after Trump agreed to lift some restrictions he put in place with a May executive order in an effort to kickstart trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. After that, National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow noted that US companies can only sell widely available products to Huawei.
Huawei has been the subject of long-running US national security concerns due to suspected links with the Chinese government and the belief that its equipment could be used for spying -- suspicions the company denies.
It still isn't sure where it stands with US companies. It's also reportedly waiting to hear from the Commerce Department about using Google's Android operating system in future mobile devices.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei also told the Financial Times that Trump's weekend move won't affect the company much.
"President Trump's statements are good for American companies. Huawei is also willing to continue to buy products from American companies," he said in a statement to the paper. "But we don't see much impact on what we are currently doing. We will still focus on doing our own job right."
He stressed that Huawei is confident in its ability to source equipment from other countries if Trump's agreement doesn't pan out.
Neither the Commerce Department nor Huawei immediately responded to requests for comment.
First published at 2:45 a.m. PT.
Updated at 5:40 a.m. PT: Adds Ren Zhengfei comments
