The Huawei Ban Is Worth the Pain

Make no mistake: The U.S. decision to blacklist Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. will cause short-term economic pain. U.S. chipmakers such as Qualcomm Inc. have already announced they won’t be selling to Huawei until further notice. The Chinese government has threatened to retaliate, with a strong chance that it will limit or cut off U.S. exports of rare earth metals — key components used in everything from mobile phones to wind turbines. To quote my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Tim Culpan: The tech cold war has begun.

To which I can only say: It’s about time.