Trade Fight, Curbs on Huawei Threaten 5G Growth in US

The Trump administration’s offensives aimed at frustrating the 5G ambitions of China and mobile-technology giant Huawei might end up impeding America’s wireless ambitions, too. Recent White House actions land as China and the US race to launch the superfast cellular networks, with Huawei and its Chinese customers targeting a nationwide 5G rollout in 2020. A US Commerce Department measure, designed to hinder Huawei from buying critical components, might make it harder for American and European telecom-equipment makers to buy certain supplies as well, Western industry executives said. In addition, the Trump administration’s new 25% tariffs on Chinese goods are already making it more expensive for Western companies with Chinese factories, including Silicon Valley’s Cisco Systems to send products to the US. Together, this pair of actions could make it more expensive for US wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to buy the cellular-tower hardware, switches, and routers needed for 5G. “The service providers would be buying that stuff,” said K.C. Swanson, global-policy director at the Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group representing telecom-equipment makers that do business in the US. She said higher costs could lead carriers to charge customers more for wireless plans, making 5G less attractive for consumers.