
USSecretary of State MikePompeosaid on Tuesday the United States was not sending "mixedmessages" onHuaweiTechnologies and he does not believe aUSblacklist of the Chinese telecommunications giant will block a trade deal with Beijing.
"I don't think there's amixedmessage at all,"Pompeosaid in an interview with CNBC.
"The threat of having Chinese telecoms systems inside of American networks or inside of networks around the world presents an enormous risk, a national security risk," he said.
Washington blacklistedHuaweiin May, alleging the Chinese company is involved in activities contrary toUSnational security or foreign policy interests.
The United States extended a reprieve that permitsHuaweito buy componentsfromUScompanies to supply existing customers, the Commerce Department said on Monday, but it also moved to add more than 40 ofHuawei's units to its economic blacklist.
President Donald Trump, however, indicated over the weekend there would be no extension, saying what would happen would be the "opposite."
"We’re actually open not to doing business with them,” Trump said on Sunday.
Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, is still prohibitedfrombuying American parts and components to manufacture new products without additional special licenses.
TheHuaweidispute coincides with a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Talks are at a standstill for now, with the threat of greater tariffs and other trade restrictions hanging over the world economy.
Asked if Chinese President Xi Jinping was stalling negotiations because ofUSactions towardHuawei,Pompeosaid: "That's not been our experience. That is not what's happening today."
"I think he's prepared to engage in a complex set of trade negotiations,"Pompeotold CNBC. "So, no, he hasn't walked away, he hasn't said 'I won't talk if you do these things.'"
The United States in May addedHuaweito the so-called Entity List, effectively banning the telecom giantfrombuying parts and componentsfromAmerican companies without government approval.
Shortly afterwards, the Commerce Department allowedHuaweito buy some American-made goods to minimize disruption for its customers, including ruralUS telecommunications companies that useHuaweiequipment in their networks.
Pomepo conceded "the world was late to the game" and let Chinese telecommunications companies get a jump start on providing supplies for the networks of the United States and its allies. He said it will take time to unravelfromHuaweiand other Chinese systems.
"There's enormous costs in some of these transitions. You can't rip and tear it all up at once," he said. "So our effort is to put together a pathway where ... the riskfromChinese Communist Party-connected telecom companies isn't present in the United States or the trusted networks in which the United States participates all over the world."
Huaweihas repeatedly denied it is controlled by China's ruling Communist Party.