Donald Trump isn’t the president of the United States but TikTok’s battles are far from over. The US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has unanimously passed a bill that would restrict federal workers from downloading Chinese social networking and video-sharing app TikTok into US government devices. The bill is sponsored by Senator Josh Hawley, who released a press statement on Wednesday confirming the development. A search through the US Senate and Congress records shows that this is not the first time a bill of this nature would scale through the committee level.

There are rising concerns in the US that TikTok is growing rapidly in its popularity, especially among teens, amidst accusations that ByteDance, the app’s owner, is connected with the Chinese government. TikTok continues to insist that it has no relationship whatsoever with Beijing.

Senator Hawley insists TikTok is an immediate security threat to the US. He is also calling out his colleagues across the partisan divide to unify to give the bill full bipartisan support as the Senate continues to address Beijing’s covert data collection campaign using apps like TikTok.

In another development, the Italian data protection regulator has asked TikTok to strengthen measures to prevent underage users from accessing the app after TikTok removed up to half a million users under age 13 within the past three months. This followed closer regulatory scrutiny of the app in the aftermath of the death of a 10-year old girl who participated in a breath-holding challenge on the platform.

The regulatory body has directed the social networking platform to cancel any accounts linked to users under 13 years within 48 hours and prevent access to underage users. TikTok has also been mandated to launch communication initiatives that would clearly specify that the app is not open to children under the age of 13.

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(source 1, 2)

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Foxconn, a known Apple supplier, is significantly scaling down its plans for the Wisconsin factory that it had announced with the former US President, Donald Trump, who called the site as the “eighth wonder of the world.”

For those unaware, the previous President had showcased the plans of Foxconn to build a factory in Wisconsin, which would’ve been a major win for his economic goals. But a year and a half later, this deal’s future seems a lot more uncertain. Now, the supplier has announced that it will be scaling down the plan significantly earlier this week. The Taiwanese based manufacturing giant is also hoping that it would return blue collar jobs back to the hard hit state as well, as per a TechCrunch report.

The report added that the 10 billion US Dollars investment plan is now being scaled down to just 672 million US Dollars. In the new plans, Foxconn will also be cutting down employee count from 13,000 to just 1,454. Furthermore, Tony Evers, Wisconsin Governor, said in a press release issues earlier this week, that the reduction would be a tax saving deal as well.

The Governor further added that “When I ran to be governor, I made a promise to work with Foxconn to cut a better deal for our state—the last deal didn’t work for Wisconsin, and that doesn’t work for me. Today I’m delivering on that promise with an agreement that treats Foxconn like any other business and will save taxpayers $2.77 billion, protect the hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure investments the state and local communities have already made, and ensure there’s accountability for creating the jobs promised.”

Evers had also played a crucial role in negotiating the deal under Trump. The package also included incentives worth about 4 billion US Dollars in incentives for Foxconn. At the moment, the state has already spend upwards of 200 million US Dollars over infrastructure, training, and more, ahead of the planned factory.

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Former U.S President Donald Trump who suffered a massive media blackout in the aftermath of the Capitol riots in January that led to the loss of lives may soon unveil his own social networking platform in a few months. One of Trump’s aides, Jason Miller hinted in a Fox News interview that the former president will launch his own social network in about three months.

Donald Trump had endured an anticlimactic last few days as President following his open support for protesters who later overran the Capitol while a session was ongoing to cement his loss to his contender Joe Biden in the Presidential polls. Twitter and Facebook had responded swiftly by blocking him from their platforms on the accusation that he encouraged violence. Millions of his supporters had quit the platforms in support of Trump but the ban had remained.

While the details of this new social network by Trump are not yet available, he will certainly have to overcome several hurdles to establish the platform. There would be both regulatory and operational challenges that must be overcome for Trump’s plans to become reality. Although he might have a strong conservative support base that may form the backbone of this new social network, it remains to be seen whether this is another of Trump’s usual theatrics and alternative facts or a real response to the humiliation and isolation he suffered in the last days of his presidency.

Part of the stumbling blocks that must be overcome is the fact that Trump had become a sort of heavy-duty public personality and may not be able to muster the much-needed support of companies who had publicly severed ties with him in the aftermath of the Capitol incident, in terms of provision of cloud services.

There are also regulations in force that will seriously limit Trump’s ability to float the social network. The coming months will therefore reveal whether the dream will become a reality or if we have to wait much longer, or forever!

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In his final hours as the President of the United States, Donald Trump is trying to do whatever he can do to hurt the Chinese companies. In the latest move related to the US-China trade war, Donald Trump has signed an executive order.

As per the report from Reuters, the newly issued executive order signed by the President of the United States asks for agencies to assess security risks from Chinese-made drones in American government fleets and to prioritize removing them.

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Donald Trump has directed all agencies in the U.S. to outline the security risks posed to the existing government drone fleet from drones built by Chinese companies or by other countries deemed as foreign adversaries

A few weeks ago, the Commerce Department in the United States had blacklisted DJI Technologies, the world’s leading company in making drones. Last year, the Interior Department had grounded over 800 Chinese-made drones.

Prior to that, in May 2019, the Department of Homeland Security warned American firms of the risks to company data from Chinese-made drones. In a notice, DHS said U.S. officials have strong concerns about American data falling into the hands of an authoritarian state.

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Automakers around the world are now feeling the pinch from the restrictions on Semiconductors from China put in place by the Donald Trump administration. It has now been reported that many car manufacturers are shutting assembly lines because of the mainly Trump-induced global shortage of semiconductors as a result of the Trump administration’s extended actions against several Chinese chipmakers.

The shortage, which obviously came unexpectedly in some quarters, may not abate in the next few months and has led some major car makers like Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp, and Toyota Motor Corp to scale down their production quota in the United States. In Europe and Asia, the problem also persists and some automakers affected include Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co Ltd, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

The shortages could be traced to a combination of factors as carmakers compete against the electronics industry for the supply of chips from chipmakers, some of whom are experiencing grave problems as a result of what they see as unfair restrictions by the US government. There had been a surge in the acquisition of laptops, gaming consoles, and other electronic products during the period of the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and this has seemingly tilted the demand-supply balance towards demand, thereby creating tight chip supplies throughout last year.

However,  in at least one case, the shortage could be directly linked to President Trump’s policies which had stymied business and technology transfers between US and Chinese companies.

One automaker moved chip production from China’s SMIC, which was hit with U.S. government restrictions in December, to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in Taiwan, which in turn was unable to meet demand because it was overbooked.

TSMC Chief Executive C.C. Wei, in a statement on Thursday, said that the company was taking steps to mitigate the impact of the shortages on its customers.

To put in proper perspective the importance of these little marvels of technology, it only takes the tiniest of chips to bring production to a grinding halt. It was reported that a Ford plant in Kentucky idled because of a shortage of a chip in the vehicle’s brake system. Similar stories abound in various manufacturing plants across the US and other parts of the world.

The situation is unlikely to improve quickly, since all chips, irrespective of the use it will be put to, begins as a silicon wafer that takes about 90 days to process into a chip.

Huawei and SMIC are at the heart of the restrictive policies by the Trump Administration that may have led to this shortage of chips, as Huawei had stockpiled US chips before the ban came into force and SMIC production expectations were damaged with the restriction on their business with American supplies of some components of their chips.

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YouTube has removed a new video uploaded to outgoing US President, Donald Trump’s account for violating what is termed as the company’s content policies on inciting violence. In line with the standard protocols, the account has also been issued a “strike” and the user (either President Trump or any of his aides with access to the account) will be unable to upload new content for at least one week. At this time, it is not yet clear the exact video that warranted the YouTube action on the account, or the content that was deemed offensive. YouTube is yet to provide a definitive statement on the incident and had declined to provide specific details of the matter.

The YouTube statement that revealed action taken on Trump’s account stressed that the decision was arrived at after a careful review of recent violent incidents and in order for the company not to yield itself as a vehicle for propagating violence, it had to remove new content uploaded to the Donald J. Trump channel. They further issued the account a strike for violating YouTube policies for inciting violence. The statement further revealed that the channel is now prevented from uploading new videos or live streams for seven days in the first instance.

YouTube has also gone further to remove content from the White House’s official channel. Two videos that were on the White House’s official YouTube page earlier today, both relating to the President have since been removed. In addition, comment on President Trump’s videos have been disabled indefinitely due to what it terms “ongoing concerns about violence,” an action which it claims is in line with YouTube’s existing policy on violence and on channels with “safety concerns found in the comments section.” A second strike on the account would result in a minimum two-week suspension, while a third strike leads to the permanent ban on the account.

Previously, YouTube had removed a Trump video in which he addressed a mob that assaulted the Capitol and also contained widespread false claims about the election results. In response to the unprecedented onslaught by the outgoing President, YouTube last month instituted a new policy that prohibited content of any kind designed to spread misinformation about the outcome of the 2020 US Presidential election by promoting false theories about fraudulent votes or other unverified claims.

YouTube now joins several other organizations that have taken firm action against President Trump after the Capitol attack as he winds up a tumultuous four years as President, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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The Trump administration is apparently planning on making another move against Chinese corporations. This time, the President seeks to add SMIC and CNOOC to its blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.

According to a Reuters report, documents and sources have surfaced, which claim that Donald Trump is aiming to add to new companies to the blacklist over alleged ties with the Chinese government. Reportedly, the administration plans on cutting their access to US investors, which will likely raise the tensions between Beijing and Washington. This also arrives weeks before the President-elect Joe Biden takes office as the next president of the United States.

Previously, it was reported that the DOD (Department of Defense) was planning on designating four more Chinese firms as owned or controlled by the Chinese military. The new companies being added to the blacklist would bring the number of Chinese companies affected to 35 in total. For those unaware, SMIC is the top chipmaker in China while CNOOC is a known Chinese offshore oil and gas producer.

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Furthermore, a recent executive order issued by the President Trump would prevent US investors from buying securities of the listed firms starting next year. While it is unclear when the administration will add both firms to the list, documents and three sources have pointed at SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp) being added soon to the Federal Register.

SMIC has since stated that it will continue “to engage constructively and openly with the U.S. government,” and even refuted the allegations and saying that its products and services were solely for civilian and commercial use rather than military. It further added that it “has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses.” SMIC heavily relies on equipment from US suppliers, so facing scrutiny by the Trump administration might create significant obstacles in its operations.

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The Trump administration recently confirmed that the Tencent-backed WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok will be banned in the United States from 20th September. It also blocked all the transactions to WeChat from the same day while broader restrictions for TikTok were related till November because of the on-going negotiations.

Now, in a major relief, a judge has blocked the ban on WeChat just as the restrictions were about to go into effect. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said in an order that WeChat users, who filed a lawsuit, “have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of hardships tips in the plaintiffs’ favor.”

The ruling also temporarily halts the ban on transactions for the application in the United States. This is a major setup for President Donald Trump who has labeled the service as a national security threat, just as election date nears.

In her order, Judge Laurel Beeler said that she had chosen to grant the motion because of some serious questions raised by the plaintiffs about the harm of First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs had also argued that the ban would shut down the primary means of communication for the Chinese community.

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The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, which says that it has no connection with Tencent or its affiliates. The group argues that the ban violates several constitutional provisions, including the right to free speech, due process, and equal protection against arbitrary discrimination.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has approved the deal of TikTok with Oracle and Walmart where both the American companies will take up a minority stake in TikTok Global while the Chinese group will continue to hold the majority stake.

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Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he wasn’t ready to approve a proposal from ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok. This is in regard to recent news of Oracle becoming a technology provider for ByteDance’s popular short video sharing app.

For those unaware, Oracle was apparently interested in the acquisition of TikTok in the US, with ByteDance even submitting a proposal with the Treasury Department and is waiting for a response. However, Trump stated that the deal must be “100 percent as far as national security is concerned,” and that he would see the deal first before deciding on signing off on it, as per a CNBC report.

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Since the looming threat of the complete ban in the US, ByteDance has been looking for various companies to strike a deal for the popular social media platform. Although, the recent statement from the US President makes the situation a bit more difficult for the TikTok owners since political differences between Washington and Beijing might affect the outcome of the deal being signed off.

Trump had also said that the government had looked into accepting payment as a part of the transaction but he further added that “Amazingly I find that you’re not allowed to do that. I said, ‘What kind of a thing is this?’ If they’re willing to make big payments to the government, they’re not allowed because there’s no way of doing that from a — there’s no legal path to do that.” The US President is also against ByteDance holding a majority stake in TikTok during the acquisition. Thus, it remains the be seen how the situation plays out, so stay tuned.

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Earlier this week, the US President, Donald Trump, said that the deadline set for ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell its popular social media platform’s US assets will not be extended.

In a statement to reports, Trump said that “It’ll either be closed up or they’ll sell it. There will be no extension of the TikTok deadline.” TikTok has yet to comment on the matter. For those unaware, the Trump administration is seeking to ban TikTok, with the only saving grace being that ByteDance sells all of the US assets of the app within the country or stop their operation in the region completely.

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Since then, numerous reports have surfaced pointing at other tech giants taking a possible interest in the acquisition of the short video sharing application. The reason for the ban was touted to be national security and data protection, as the government alleged that users’ information could be passed forward to the Chinese government. Although, TikTok has not complied with any request to share data with Beijing.

According to Republican Senator Josh Hawley, “I’m sure there are any number of backdoors that are built into the code and of course, ByteDance knows exactly what they are, so there needs to be a clean, clear, total separation.” At the moment, it is still unclear who would be acquiring the US assets of TikTok from ByteDance. So stay tuned as will be providing more updates.

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During this period of crisis, the world is gripped by the Coronavirus pandemic, especially the US that has the highest number of confirmed cases. Now, the US President, Donald Trump, has threatened to cut trade ties with China due to the spread of COVID-19, which Chinese media has mocked by calling it “lunacy.”

While the US struggles with the viral outbreak, the President of the nation has expressed his dismay regarding the Chinese government’s lack of action during the virus’s early stages. Trump had mentioned on various occasions that he shared a good relationship with Xi Jinping, China’s President. However, he further added that he no longer wishes to talk with the latter anymore.

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According to Trump, “they should have never let this happen. So I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn’t feel the same to me. The ink was barely dry and the plague came over. And it doesn’t feel the same to me.” With this, the President of the US said that there are various measures they could take against China, with the most prominent being cutting relationship completely.

Donald Trump believes that the US can save about $500 billion by halting imports from China. This is something he called “lost money,” and stated that this would only seek to benefit the US. In response to this, a state backed Chinese media reporting agency, Global Times, mocked the US leader. Stating, “Such lunacy is a clear byproduct, first and foremost, of the proverbial anxiety that the US has suffered from since China began its global ascension.”

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(Via)

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After successful talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at G20 Summit in Japan, the US president Donald Trump allowed the American firms to keep doing business with Huawei. The new move will significantly benefit both the US companies and the Chinese manufacturer.

While addressing a press conference at the summit, Trump said, “I did agree to allow our companies – you know, jobs, I like our companies selling things to other people. So I allowed that to happen. Very complex things. Not easy – this is not things that are easy to make.” He further added, “We’re talking about equipment where there’s no great national security problem with it.”

However, the ban will remain active on all Huawei products, including laptops, smartphones, communications infrastructure technologies in the United States. It is currently unclear whether the talks have paved the way for lifting the Android ban on Huawei devices or not. We need to wait for the confirmation.

The new move is seen as a concession to Huawei. However, it contradicts the ban imposed by the US commerce department a few months ago. The trade ban forced various US companies to cut ties with the Chinese telecom equipment maker. As a result, Google also barred Huawei from using its services, including Android. It was later lifted for 90 days temporarily until August 19.

On the other hand, Huawei kept stressing about the timely rollout of Android security and software updates on all its current devices.

It is a good move for the Huawei which is crippling due to the absence of raw material. We hope to see some more healthy improvements in the US-Huawei trade war very soon.

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(source)

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The US President seems to be in a hurry, as he wants 6G rollout very soon in the country. Well, it is quite surprising to see that Donald Trump is talking about 6G. In the recent tweets, the president of the US announced that he’d like to see 6G availability in the country “as soon as possible.” Although, it not clear why Trump is so keen on bringing the 6G in the US. Although, it can be linked to Chinese companies huge involvement in building 5G networks.

In a pair of tweets, US President Donald Trump said that American companies must step up efforts or get left behind. He emphasized on the availability of the 5G and moreover 6G networks as soon as possible. In actual, Donal Trump tweeted, “I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster and smarter than the current standard.”  In order to speed up implementation of the new technologies, Trump further added that “American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on..”

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on………

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

The tweets are addressing the concerns of the US president that Chinese companies are leading in 5G technologies development. Even though he tweeted that the administration won’t block any more advanced technologies in order to favor local players. The saying is conflicting with the works the US administration has done in the past by blocking some Chinese companies from selling 5G equipments.

The comments came after the Korean Giant, Samsung launched a 5G compatible device. The new Samsung Galaxy S10 will give “the power of 5G in consumers’ hands” said the company. The new technology will allow users to download games, full TV shows within a few minutes or seconds. Users will be able to play graphics enriched cloud games without any virtual lag. The new 5G technology will make real-time 4k video calls a reality.

….something that is so obviously the future. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

Various US telecom carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint are working onto bringing the 5G availability through the US very soon. Even the carriers are building partnerships with the major smartphone manufacturers to bring 5G into reality. Recently, Samsung has partnered with the Verizon and AT&T to launch the new Galaxy S10 5G in the country. In a leap ahead, Samsung has partnered with AT&T to create America’s first manufacturing-focused 5G innovation zone.

Currently, the United States is lagging behind China and South Korea in readiness for 5G. A report by CTIA even cited some reasons about why the US is still behind these countries.

Talking about 6G, then some researchers are working onto underpin the key points if the next-gen technology. A researcher and director of New York University’s NYU Wireless program, Theodore Rappaport said that “I’m glad he [Trump] is talking about it, It’s time to start talking about what 6G will be.”

• Read More: Trump says made in China smartphones and laptops including iPhone may get hit with 10-25% tariffs

Recent tweets can be taken as a speed up call for American telecom carriers to bring 5G and concerning technologies to reality in the United States.

Do share your views about Trump’s recent tweets with us via comments below.

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Huawei seems to have changed strategy in its bid to whittle down rising mistrust over the integrity of the company’s security in the face of the control Beijing is perceived to wield over Chinese companies. Before now, the company has always insisted that it poses no risk to users’ data but Richard Yu, Huawei CEO of its consumer division, gained notoriety for his public outbursts about the US government treatment of the company. It may not be a coincidence that we hardly hear from Mr Yu and the company’s latest statement wasn’t from him but from Huawei’s highest executive who doesn’t seem to share the same exact same sentiment.

Huawei’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei, granted a rare interview to the international media, aided by a translator, where he defended his company’s independence from Beijing’s control. However, quite surprising in Mr Ren’s praise of US President Trump, considering the frosty relationship China has had with the US government since Mr Trump assumed office, of which Huawei got caught in the middle. The Huawei CEO labelled Trump a “great president” according to the what his translator conveyed. He also extolled Trump’s bold moves that would be conducive for the development of industries in the US.

We doubt if Mr Trump thinks the same of the Huawei exec as Huawei came under suspicion as a result of Zhengfei’s history as a former soldier and a current member of the Communist Party. He’s adamant, though, that his political leaning has nothing to do with the way the company runs its business. The CEO assured that Huawei will always side with its customers when it comes to cybersecurity and privacy. He equally disclosed  that there is currently no Chinese law that requires adding backdoors to software or hardware and neither has Huawei or himself received any request to provide customer data.

He did not rule out the possibility of the Chinese government making such obnoxious request someday since there are laws that require companies to cooperate and comply with such requests. However, Zhengfei disclosed that he is prepared to fight against any such request to hand over user data, should that day come. In Communist China, we don’t see Huawei winning such fight but chances of the Chinese government making such open request that will hurt the country’s investments overseas are very low.

Read Also: China once again insists allegations against Huawei are “fabrications”

Huawei has seen its efforts in developing 5G infrastructure scuttled in some countries like the US, Japan , New Zealand and Australia. As such, Zhengfei admits the year will be a tough one for his company. Nonetheless, he expressed confidence that Huawei’s fate would be similar to ZTE which nearly went under after major sanctions from the US.

(source)

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In the latest report from the Wall Street Journal, it is believed that the Trump administration could hike up tariffs on smartphones and mobiles made in China. It is highly likely that the increase in tariffs from 10-25% will take place from January 1st. It would impact all the companies who have their manufacturing hubs in China. Even, it’s own Cupertino giant will reel under this new hike as Trump added that it might include Apple’s premium iPhone product lineup also.

Well, reacting to these developments, Apple’s stocks crashed about 1.6 % on Monday. The Cupertino giant is already reeling from huge competition and a decline in sales; this will add up more uncertainty in the investor’s minds. Exactly, the president said, “Maybe. Maybe. Depends on what the rate is, I mean, I can make it 10%, and people could stand that very easily.”

The new US sanctions will affect the trade worth $200 billion of goods from China. All the mobile and laptop companies who are manufacturing products in China will have to pay 10-25% tariffs if they export their products to the US. Majorly, it is a huge setback for Apple. Until now Apple is exempted from any tariffs. The exemptions were made as several parts used in Apple products were manufactured in the US.

This latest development has made it clear that Trump is eager to get all the production back in the States. He has already recommended that the companies which are “running to China” should “build factories in the United States and to make the product here.”

• Read More: China mocks US over claims of iPhone tapping, suggests Trump use a Huawei phone

Economists are terming this decision a bad one as it will slow down the US economy. If we go with either way i.e. opening factories in the US and increasing the import tariffs on items, both the roads are leading to the economy slow down.

Apple has not yet made an official statement, but we guess it is coming in the next few hours.

What’s your point of view? Share your thoughts via comments below.

(Source)

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There were reports that the US had reached a deal with China with respect to ZTE’s ban. The US President Donald Trump, is reported to have disregarded the reports saying no deal has been made.

However, President Trump says ZTE may get a hefty fine that is over $1 billion and will be required to form a new board of executives and make significant changes in its leadership. It has also been reported that ZTE may be required to increase the quantity of hardware it buys from American companies.

“What I envision is a very large fine of more than a billion dollars, could be [$1.3 billion]. I envision a new management, a new board and very, very strict security rules. And I also envision that they will have to buy a big percentage of their parts and equipment from American companies,” – Trump

ZTE at the moment has put its losses at about ¥20 billion ($3.1 billion) since the ban took effect. It has stopped production for weeks now but has its workers on standby to resume work in a matter of hours if the ban is lifted. Even though work isn’t going on, ZTE is reported to be spending between 80 to 100 million Chinese Yuan in daily operational expenses.

READ MORE: Taiwan Govt Permits MediaTek to Supply Components to ZTE

Bloomberg says that there are concerns Huawei may be slammed with a similar ban as ZTE as investigations are currently ongoing to know if the Chinese giant has violated sanctions too.

(Sources: 1, 2 | Via)

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Broadcom’s bid to buy fellow chipmaker Qualcomm has dominated discussions in the industry for quite some time now. Qualcomm has rejected Broadcom’s offer but that has not deterred the tech giant. However, it looks like the bid has finally hit the rock. Slashgear reports that U.S President Donald Trump has blocked the planned takeover, citing national security concerns. 

We wouldn’t want to get caught up in U.S politics but this seems to bear the same colouring as the U.S president’s recent economic policies of putting the interest of American companies first. It played out recently in the increased tariffs on Steel and Aluminium imports and may be what is making the U.S authorities block Huawei’s bid to take on Apple on home turf by advising U.S citizens against buying Huawei’s smartphones under the guise of national security concerns. Broadcom is a foreign-owned firm and is presently based in Singapore although the company is planning a return of its headquarters to the U.S. In this case, though, Donald Trump might just be doing us all a whole lot of good by blocking such a massive takeover which would have been the biggest in the industry.

Read Also: Xiaomi, OPPO, And Vivo Are Against Broadcom’s Qualcomm Takeover Bid

According to the report, Trump’s order cites concerns that a Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm could “impair the national security of the United States.” The order further states that Broadcom and Qualcomm should immediately and permanently abandon the proposed takeover. Both firms are also required to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that such termination is effected.

(source)

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