Trump’s Moves Against Huawei Will Cost Company Dearly, Founder Says

Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei said Monday that President Donald Trump’s decision to target his company left the telecommunications giant reeling with few business options outside China.

Trump’s ban against Huawei will cost the company $30 billion in revenue, according to Ren. His comments come are startling given past remarks from company executives who suggested Huawei was technologically self-sufficient and will absorb the blows.

“We did not expect they would attack us on so many aspects,” Ren said, speaking at the company’s Shenzhen headquarters on Monday.

He added: “We cannot get components supply, cannot participate in many international organizations, cannot work closely with many universities, cannot use anything with U.S. components, and cannot even establish connection with networks that use such components.”

Trump signed an executive order in May that would effectively ban certain types of technologies from foreign countries deemed a national security threat to the U.S. The president’s administration is also applying pressure on Britain and others to shy away from using Huawei to build out its fifth generation network.

The U.S. put Huawei on an export blacklist citing national security issues as well, barring American suppliers from selling to the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker and No.2 maker of smartphones, without special approval. American tech companies are moving production out of China in droves.

Google, for one, is shifting production of server hardware out of the communist nation and moving motherboards to Taiwan, as the company tries to avert pain from a 25% tariff. Other big tech companies are reportedly following suit and shifting production out of China and back to the U.S.