Trump admits he’s behind UK Huawei ban for 5G services

LONDON: US President Donald Trump has said that he was responsible for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network from the end of 2027.

As Britain prepares to cast off from the European Union, fears over the security of Huawei have forced Johnson to take sides in the global rivalry between the United States and China.

Johnson has ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britain’s 5G network by the end of 2027, risking the ire of China by signaling that the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker was not welcome in the West.

Read more: Britain bans China’s Huawei for 5G services

“We convinced many countries, many countries, I did this myself for the most part not to use Huawei, because we think it’s an unsafe security risk, it’s a big security risk,” Trump said.

“I talked to many countries out of using it: if they want to do business with us, they can’t use it. Just today, I believe that the UK announced that they’re not going to be using it,” he added.

However, Britain denied that Trump alone was responsible for the Huawei ban, while China said the remark showed the decision was about geopolitics rather than security.