A little more than 130 U.S. firms have applied to the U.S. Commerce Department for such a license.
According to sources familiar with the matter at hand, the United States is set to soon issue licenses to a few U.S. companies to supply non-sensitive items to China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
The Chinese company has been placed on a U.S. trade ban list since mid-May 2019 over national security concerns with Washington accusing the company of being a front for Chinese intelligence, a charge that Huawei has naturally denied.
The U.S. ban has had a significant impact on Huawei and has limited its access to essential technologies, including Google Mobile Services.
U.S. companies can seek a license for specific products to be exempted from the ban. So far, the U.S. Commerce Department has received around 130 applications from U.S. companies for licenses to sell U.S. goods to Huawei.
Neither, Huawei nor the U.S. Department of Commerce immediately responded to requests for comments.
The development comes midst Washington and Beijing set to meet in order to continue trade negotiations in the 15-month trade war.
Earlier this week, Washington has expanded its blacklisting of Chinese companies and has added 28 Chinese entities which includes its top artificial intelligence startups.
