Huawei drops lawsuit over equipment seized by the U.S. government

Huawei has dropped a lawsuit against the Commerce Department and other agencies after the U.S. government released telecommunications equipment seized in September 2017. The suit was filed by the Chinese company’s U.S. subsidiary, Huawei Technologies USA, in June. In a statement, Huawei said it considers the return of the equipment, including servers and Ethernet switches, “as a tacit admission that the seizure itself was unlawful and arbitrary.”

The equipment was confiscated by U.S. officials in Alaska as it was on its way back to China after testing in California. Huawei said the U.S. government determined after an investigation that no export license was needed for the shipment, but did not give the company an explanation for why it had been withheld for two years.

The dropped lawsuit is separate from the one Huawei filed against the U.S. government in March, claiming that a ban on the use of its products by federal agencies and contractors violated due process and is unconstitutional.

Huawei has been on the U.S. government’s entity list since May over concerns that it poses a threat to national security and its equipment may be used for espionage, allegations the company has denied. The trade blacklist prevents it from purchasing from U.S. suppliers without getting clearance from the government first.

Along with ZTE, Huawei has been on the U.S. government’s radar since the House Intelligence Committee identified the companies as potential security threats. Scrutiny has intensified since the U.S.-China trade war began last year, however, and the U.S. government has put more legal pressure on Huawei, which the company described earlier this month as a “malign, concerted effort by the U.S. government to discredit Huawei and curb its leadership position in the industry.”