Wednesday 29 May 2019 8:47 am | Updated: Monday 17 June 2019 10:20 pm

Huawei steps up lawsuit against US federal government

Huawei has today ramped up its lawsuit against the US which argues the ban on the government purchasing its equipment, which was signed by US President Donald Trump in August 2018, is unconstitutional.

The Chinese tech giant said it had filed for a motion of summary in the Texas court in which it is suing the government, which would see the court rule on the lawsuit without a full trial.

In March, Huawei announced it was going to the US courts to take on the ban, which prohibits departments of the national government from buying the Chinese firm’s technology on national security grounds.

It came into force as part of the National Defense Authorization Act 2019 (NDAA) and is a separate piece of legislation from Trump’s more recent and severe blacklisting of Huawei from doing business with US companies.

However, the company today also called on the US “to halt its state-sanctioned campaign against Huawei,” saying “it will not deliver cybersecurity”.

On the federal ban, Huawei’s chief legal officer, Song Liuping, said: “Politicians in the US are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company.” He added: “This is not normal. Almost never seen in history.”

“The US government has provided no evidence to show that Huawei is a security threat. There is no gun, no smoke. Only speculation,” he said.

Huawei has previously said that it does very relatively little business with the US, but has argued that the case had caused reputational damage.

Speaking on the more recent blacklisting of Huawei, Song said: “This sets a dangerous precedent. Today it's telecoms and Huawei. Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers.”

“Huawei has confidence in the independence and integrity of the US judicial system. We hope that mistakes in the NDAA can be corrected by the court,” Song added.