Financial Times

US technology companies have rebuffed a Trump administration request that they pledge to stop sourcing supplies from some Chinese companies, amid concerns that such a policy could break competition laws. The state department asked telecoms carriers and chipmakers to sign up to a set of principles which would have in effect shut out Huawei, and possibly others, according to three people briefed on the proposals.

Why is President Donald Trump putting so much energy into defending Silicon Valley — not his most natural constituency — through US trade policy? President Trump is treading a politically delicate path as he tries to help Big Tech improve its access to foreign markets at a time when the sector is increasingly becoming a punching bag in Washington.