The licenses for the 260 companies that have applied to do business with blacklisted Chinese companies “will be forthcoming very shortly,” Ross told Bloomberg, as the US and China move towards signing the “Phase One” trade agreement.
“That’s a lot of applications - it’s frankly more than we would’ve thought,” Ross said. “Remember too with entity lists, there’s a presumption of denial. So the safe thing for these companies would be to assume denial, even though we will obviously approve quite a few of them.”
The Trump administration blacklisted the Chinese tech giant in March, forbidding US companies from selling software and components to Huawei due to national security concerns. It added 28 more companies, including artificial intelligence firms, to the blacklist last month, meaning US companies require a license to continue doing business with any of those firms.
Ross also told Bloomberg that a “Phase One” trade deal between the US and China would be agreed upon this month.
“We’re in good shape, we’re making good progress, and there’s no natural reason why it couldn’t be,” Ross told Bloomberg. “But whether it will slip a little bit, who knows. It’s always possible.”
Phase One of the trade negotiations is supposed to resolve issues concerning intellectual property, financial service and US agricultural exports. Trump said China agreed to purchase $40 to $50 billion of US farm goods under the trade deal.
The Phase One agreement could ease the looming US-China trade war, which has prompted economists to say that the trade confrontation may lead to a global recession.
