Three years after the US government banned Huawei over cybersecurity concerns , Canada is following suit. This situation is a result of ongoing trade tensions between the US and China .
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauis close to a final decision to ban Huawei from his own country. The outcome would be similar to what the company and users in 2019, although this time the backlash would be less severe.
The report goes on to say that Canada “delayed the decision,” in an effort to avoid provoking tensions between Canada and China. Relations between those two countries have continued to deteriorate in recent years, as evidenced by the arrest of Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer in 2018. In return, China responded by imprisoning former diplomat Michael Spavor and businessman Michael Kovrig.
Shortly after the report was released, Marco Mendicino , Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, and François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, held a press conference confirming the decision. But those officials also confirmed that ZTE is included in the trade ban over the same cybersecurity concerns .
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Tensions between the two countries continued to rise until the US intervened with a “deferred prosecution agreement with Meng.” But it now appears that the relationship between Canada and China can no longer be resolved, with Huawei caught in the middle.
We can expect to see a similar end result to what happened in the US. This would be another blow to Huawei, which has seen its sales plummet rapidly around the world, including in Canada. In 2018, Huawei claimed sales of around $428 million, which could be considered high. At the time, Huawei had only been selling phones in Canada since 2016 and was about to release the Huawei P30.
See also: Huawei's revenue fell by 29% in 2021
With the US trade ban in full effect, Huawei revealed its revenue for the first half of 2021 in August last year. The company's overall sales fell by almost 30% year-on-year, with the consumer business seeing a nearly 50% drop in sales year-on-year.
