third element of Krach’s plan was a far more severe crackdown on Huawei itself. The Chinese company had easily circumvented the Trump administration’s first, ill-executed efforts to choke off the computer chips that the company needed to produce cellphones and network equipment. Huawei was able to buy almost all of what it needed from other countries. By the end of the administration, the Trump team had gotten smarter, expanding an obscure Commerce Department rule to require that any microelectronic component based on U.S. technology could be subject to American export controls—even if it was
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