US reportedly no longer demands Huawei ban from Germany

The US reportedly changed its tune in the weeks since it threatened to limit intelligence sharing with Germany if the country failed to drop huawei from its 5G rollout.

Senior US officials are “highly satisfied” with Germany's regulations setting strict 5G security standards, regardless of the provider, newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Sunday, citing anonymous German government sources.

The country's standards for 5G security are apparently so high that unreliable companies have no hope of meeting them, which the US says is the “perfect” approach. As a result, it's no longer demanding that Germany explicitly bans Huawei, according to the paper.

In March, US Ambassador to Germany Richard A. Grenell reportedly wrote to the country's economics minister, saying the US wouldn't be able to share intelligence with the same transparency for fear of the information reaching China.

It followed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo making several indirect warnings about Huawei equipment, which Washington says is used to spy for the Chinese government an allegation the company denies.