On May 15, 2019, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain (the “Executive Order”). The Executive Order seeks to protect U.S. communications infrastructure against threats of infiltration and sabotage by foreign actors. Based on other recent and contemporaneous actions by the Trump Administration, as discussed further below, the Executive Order is considered to have been motivated, at least in part, by U.S. government concerns relating to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (“Huawei”), the Chinese telecommunications company regarded by the Administration to be engaged in “activities that are contrary to U.S. national security [and] foreign policy interest[s].”
May 17, 2019
