Not a day goes by without Huawei getting a space in the tech news arena. The recent trade embargo slammed on the Chinese company by the US government continued to reverberate with several companies having ties with the US severing ties with Huawei. This is despite the US government extending the implementation by 90 days. The latest company to cut all ties to Huawei is Facebook Inc. Reuters reports that Facebook has stopped allowing Huawei to pre-install its apps on smartphones released under Huawei and related brands.

This is the latest blow for the Chinese tech giant in its aspiration to stay relevant in the smartphone market in the face of a simmering trade dispute between Beijing and Washington that has Huawei in the middle.

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The report indicates that existing Huawei phone owners will still be able to use the app on their smartphones and will equally continue to receive updates. But the Facebook app won’t be available on models that will be launched henceforth and according to a person familiar with the matter, it also affects models that are yet to ship. This development also affects Instagram and Whatsapp, two apps also owned by Facebook Inc.

This isn’t so much of a big deal since users can still download the apps manually. Where Google services become available after the ban expires, the apps can also be installed using Aptoide. We also expect Huawei to announce its own OS in August, possibly named ArkOS (or not).

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After ARM reportedly stopped all business dealings with Huawei because of technology being developed in the US to comply with the order passed by the Trump administration in the United States, it’s now Panasonic to seize dealing with the Chinese giant.

Japan-based Panasonic has announced that the company has stopped shipments of certain components to Huawei Technologies in order to comply with U.S. restrictions on the Chinese company. In a statement, the company said: “Panasonic has instructed employees to halt transactions with Huawei and its 68 affiliates covered by the U.S. ban.”

While the Osaka-based company does not have a major production site for components in the United States, it said the ban applies to goods having 25 percent or more of U.S.-originated technologies or materials.

However, the company has declined to comment on which components are subject to the ban and where they are getting produced. Panasonic makes a wide range of devices for smartphones, cars, as well as factory automation equipment.

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department blocked Huawei from doing any kind of business with the US-based companies and buying goods made in the U.S. It is claiming that the firm was involved in activities contrary to national security but has not provided any proof for its allegations.

Read More: Huawei’s own mobile operating system is coming in the Fall, features Android app compatibility

However, the United States temporarily eased the restrictions on Huawei on Monday, to minimize disruption for customers, for a period of 90 days. During this time, the company can purchase American-made goods for maintaining existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets.

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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.

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