The US has announced a temporary reversal of certain trade restrictions on Chinese technology firm Huawei after customer fears of disruption to services sent global tech shares sliding yesterday.

The US government placed the Chinese telecoms firm on an exports blacklist last week after long running concerns that the company’s hardware could be used to facilitate Chinese intelligence gathering – an allegation that has been vigorously denied by Huawei.

Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei hit back at the measures, saying that the US has “underestimated” his company’s preparations for such a move, according to transcripts from Chinese state media and reported by the BBC.

The move also came amid an escalation of the US’ trade war on Chinese companies, with billions of dollars of new tariffs levied on goods in the last fortnight.

However, according to Reuters, the US temporarily relaxed certain restrictions and granted Huawei a licence to buy goods until 19 August to keep telecoms networks and software updates running on Huawei smartphones.

Global tech stocks plunged yesterday on reports that US restrictions would cause Google to suspend business with Huawei that involved the transfer of commercial hardware, software, and technical services – with the exception of open-source technology and software.

Google later confirmed that it would restrict Huawei from some updates on its Android operating system, sparking concerns amongst users of Huawei devices about the continuity of popular apps such as Gmail.

However, the easing of US restrictions does not extend to a complete reversal, with Huawei still banned from buying US-made hardware and software without new licences.

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