Last summer, the Trump administration started a campaign to convince its European allies to bar China's Huawei Technologies Co. from their telecom networks. Bolstered by the success of similar efforts in Australia and New Zealand, the White House sent envoys to European capitals with warnings that Huawei's gear would open a backdoor for Chinese spies. The U.S. even threatened to cut off intelligence sharing if Europe ignored its advice. So far, not a single European country has banned Huawei.
"There are two things I don't believe in," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a conference Tuesday in Berlin. "First, to discuss these very sensitive security questions publicly, and second, to exclude a company simply because it's from a certain country."
Europe, caught in the middle of the U.S.-China trade war, has sought to balance concerns about growing Chinese influence with a desire to increase business with the region's second-biggest trading partner. With no ban in the works, Huawei is in the running for contracts to build 5G phone networks, the ultra-fast wireless technology Europe's leaders hope will fuel the growth of a data-based economy.