Trump blasted for placing foreign manufacturers on government ban list reserved for terrorist nations

In an examination into how Donald Trump is waging multi-front trade wars that are roiling the world's economy, an intelligence analyst pointed out that the president is placing foreign manufacturers on an official government list reserved for terrorist-supporting nations.

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has "added the telecom gear maker Huawei to what is known as an Entity List, which effectively cuts the company off from buying American technology," adding that Trump "had previously placed two other big Chinese companies — the telecom giant ZTE and a memory chip maker, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit — on the list and is now considering adding HikVision, a Chinese video surveillance giant."

Speaking with the Times, James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that Trump's move is unprecedented as well as inappropriate.

“The Entity List is reserved for our most dangerous opponents,” Lewis explained. “It used to be you had to be a terrorist supporting nation or a proliferator, so this is a new chapter.”

Accordingly, Trump's move has increased tensions, with the Chinese Commerce Ministry which is reportedly "putting together a list of foreign companies and individuals it considered 'unreliable,' a response to the American move to blacklist Huawei," the Times reported, adding, "The Chinese government also summoned major tech companies from the United States and elsewhere to warn that they could face steep consequences if they cooperate with the ban."

For their part, executives at Huawei responded in a statement, saying : “We believe this sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s telecoms and Huawei. Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers.”

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