Huawei will not bow to US pressure: founder

BEIJING: Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is ready to deal with Washington´s crackdown and will reduce its reliance on US components, its founder told Japanese media.

President Donald Trump effectively barred Huawei from the US market on Wednesday and added it to a list which would restrict US sales to the firm amid an escalating trade war with Beijing.

"We have already been preparing for this," Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei told a group of Japanese journalists Saturday in his first interview since Trump´s move. Ren said Huawei would continue to develop its own components to reduce its dependence on outside suppliers.

Huawei is a rapidly expanding leader in 5G technology but remains dependent on foreign suppliers. It buys about $67 billion worth of components each year, including about $11 billion from US suppliers, according to The Nikkei business daily.