Of course, there is no indication what the Trump administration thinks might be a threat to its security. Donald (Prince of Orange) Trump seems to think that a diplomat was secretly telling his bosses Trump is nuts a good reason to cut off trade negotiations in which your farmers can off-load their chlorine contaminated food on a country dumb enough to eat what they are told.

The move is thought to be a bid by Trump to revive trade talks with China.

While American chipmakers welcomed Trump’s announcement, many industries and government officials were confused about the new policy.

A spokesman confirmed that Huawei would remain on the Entity List, meaning winning licenses would require overcoming a presumption of denial, and said the scope of items requiring licenses would not change. However, he opened the door to some approvals.

 “Within those confines, we will try to make sure that we don’t just transfer revenue from the US to foreign firms”, he said.

Industry observers said Ross’ comments lacked the clarity and relief many hoped for after Trump’s announcement.

“The actual policy, of what is not going to endanger U.S. security, is not clear”, Washington trade lawyer Doug Jacobson said. “The only way that industry can determine the line is by submitting (license) applications and knowing what types will be approved and which types will be denied.”

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that relaxed US government restrictions on Huawei could help the technology giant but would only be in place for a limited time.

He said US government purchases of Huawei parts, components or systems would remain off-limits, as would any transactions involving 5G, but the licensing requirements had been relaxed for so-called general merchandise that involved “no national security influences or consequences”.

That meant some chip companies would be permitted to sell to Huawei, on a limited basis, items generally available on the global market, including from vendors in South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, he said.