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Huawei will reportedly lay off hundreds of US workers

Huawei will reportedly lay off hundreds of US workers

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The cuts are reportedly from an R&D subsidiary, Futurewei Technologies

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei is reportedly preparing to lay off hundreds of workers in the United States, reports The Wall Street Journal. The company has struggled in recent months after the Trump administration placed a de facto ban on US sales to the company, citing potential security threats and amidst the ongoing US-Chinese trade war.

According to the WSJ, Huawei is planning to lay off workers at a research subsidiary called Futurewei Technologies, which operates a number of research labs. Huawei will reportedly allow some Chinese employees the option of relocating back to China to remain within the company. Some employees have apparently already been notified that they will be let go, with other layoffs planned in the near future.

In May, the White House issued an executive order that allowed the US Commerce Secretary to give the US the authority to prevent US companies from selling to entities designated a threat to national security. As a result, Huawei is no longer able to buy some of the parts and software that it needs for its products. While it looked as though Huawei might be getting a bit of a reprieve from the US ban on sales last month, the Trump administration has indicated that things likely won’t change until the two countries resolve their differences.