Lawmakers push AT&T to stop working with Huawei: report

Lawmakers are pushing AT&T to sever its ties with Chinese phone company Huawei and to reject telecommunications company China Mobile Ltd.’s plans to break into the U.S. market, Reuters reported on Tuesday. 

The move, which congressional aides said is motivated by national security concerns, comes amid mounting pressure from the government to curb Chinese firms’ entry into U.S. markets.

Earlier in January, AT&T scrapped a plan to offer Huawei phones following pressure from lawmakers. The government also recently blocked several attempted Chinese acquisitions of U.S. companies.

{mosads}The unnamed lawmakers are also reportedly suggesting to other businesses that working with Chinese firms could inhibit their ability to work with the U.S. government, according to Reuters.

“The next wave of wireless communication has enormous economic and national security implications. China’s participation in setting the standards and selling the equipment raises many national security issues that demand strict and prompt attention,” Michael Wessel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was set up by Congress, told the news outlet.

Two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Mike Conaway (Texas) and Liz Cheney (Wyo.), introduced legislation this week that would keep the government from entering contracts with Huawei or ZTE, another Chinese telecommunications company.

Over the past year, the U.S. government has taken measures to ban the government’s use of software manufactured by the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, citing national security concerns as well.

In 2012, the House Intelligence Committee issued a report criticizing Huawei and ZTE’s close ties to the Chinese government and accusing the two firms of stealing American intellectual property.