Attorney-general William Barr took America’s tech offensive against China into new territory last week when he proposed a US takeover of Ericsson and Nokia to fend off Chinese giant Huawei. The Swedish and Finnish telecoms equipment companies could be acquired “either directly or through a consortium of private American and allied companies”, he said.
“Putting our large market and financial muscle behind one or both of these firms would make it a far more formidable competitor and eliminate concerns over their staying power,” he added.
The US has banned Huawei from its 5G mobile network, branding it a security risk and has lent heavily on European allies to do the same. Lacking an indigenous alternative, US officials have been exploring ways to bolster Ericsson and Nokia, Huawei’s main rivals. Presumably lending its muscle is meant to make it harder for European governments to claim that completely excluding the Chinese supplier would delay the rollout of 5G superfast data services and push up the price.