https://wccftech.com/huawei-to-be-excluded-from-the-u-s-financial-system-if-the-trump-administration-decides-to-activate-its-nuclear-option/

The Trump administration might activate its nuclear option pertaining to Huawei from earlier this year. According to inside sources quoted by Reuters, the activation of this option depends on the administration’s calculus vis-à-vis the U.S. – China trade war as well as mounting national security concerns specific to Huawei. The plan, according to those sources, hinges on denying the Chinese tech giant access to the U.S. financial system and forms a part of a host of policy measures weighed by the Trump administration earlier this year to frustrate the threat posed by Huawei.

Though the so-called nuclear option was shelved at the time, new details that have emerged recently show that it entailed Huawei’s placement on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. The designation prohibits American companies and citizens from trading or conducting financial transactions with individuals and firms included in the list. It also freezes the assets of the sanctioned individuals and entities that are held within the United States. The plan was reportedly deliberated in the U.S. National Security Council as a backstop option to sanction the Chinese tech behemoth in a way that would render the company’s transaction in U.S. dollars inoperable. Additionally, depicting the gravity with which this matter was considered in the White House, administration officials not only prepared a memo but also held interagency meeting on the subject before the plan was shelved in favor of other measures such as the blacklisting of Huawei through its placement in the Entities List in May.