US-China Trade War: Google cuts ties with Huawei

Ladesope Ladelokun

Sequel to the addition of Huawei to President Donald Trump’s administration’s “entity list”,

which bans the company from acquiring technology from firms in the U.S. without the approval of the government, the second biggest smartphone maker has been barred by Google from updates to the Android operating system.

Google has, however, defended its action by claiming it was ” complying with the order and reviewing the implications.

“Meanwhile, Huawei has vowed to continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold or those that are still in stock globally.

The company said it would continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.

Reacting to the development, Huawei’s Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei said, “we have already been preparing for this”, adding that the firm would push ahead with developing its own parts.

Analysts say when Google launches the next version of Android later this year, it may not be available on Huawei devices, noting that future Huawei devices may no longer have apps such as YouTube and Maps

but maintained that existing Huawei smartphone users will be able to update apps and push through security fixes, as well as update Google play services.

Earlier this month, Washington increased the tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods by over a double – a move which sparked retaliation in the form of tariff hikes on U.S. products by the Chinese government.

In the last one year, the U.S.-China trade war has negatively affected the global economy and caused uncertainty for businesses, according to analysts.