Huawei's Founder Says He Would 'Protest' if China Retaliates Against Apple Over U.S. Trade Ban

Earlier this month, the Trump administration added Huawei to a trade blacklist over national security concerns, effectively forbidding U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese smartphone and telecom giant.

huawei apple logos
As the U.S.-China trade war continues to escalate, it has been suggested that China could retaliate to the Huawei ban by enforcing a similar ban on a large American company like Apple. However, even Huawei's own founder Ren Zhengfei admitted that he would oppose such a move, offering praise for the iPhone maker.

Speaking through a translator, Ren told Bloomberg that Apple is both the "world's leading company" and his "teacher":

That will not happen, first of all. And second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest. Apple is the world's leading company. If there was no Apple, there would be no mobile internet. If there was no Apple to help show us the world, we would not see the beauty of this world. Apple is my teacher — it's advancing in front of us. As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that.

Last week, investment firm Goldman Sachs warned that Apple's per-share earnings could take a 29 percent hit if China stops importing its products.

Ren appeared confident that Huawei can prevail despite the U.S. trade ban, suggesting that the company will ramp up its in-house technologies if necessary. Huawei already designs its own Kirin processors for some smartphones, but that relies on ARM, which severed ties with Huawei after the U.S. trade ban.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Huawei

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Clicks Communicator Feature

'Clicks Communicator' Unveiled — Will You Carry This With Your iPhone?

Friday January 2, 2026 6:35 am PST by
The company behind the BlackBerry-like Clicks Keyboard accessory for the iPhone today unveiled a new Android 16 smartphone called the Clicks Communicator. The purpose-built device is designed to be used as a second phone alongside your iPhone, with the intended focus being communication over content consumption. It runs a custom Android launcher that offers a curated selection of messaging...
Low Cost MacBook Feature A18 Pro

Low-Price 12.9-Inch MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Reportedly Launching Early This Year

Friday January 2, 2026 9:08 am PST by
Apple plans to introduce a 12.9-inch MacBook in spring 2026, according to TrendForce. In a press release this week, the Taiwanese research firm said this MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with "competitive pricing." TrendForce did not share any further details about this MacBook, but the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more...
Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature Pink

Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Friday January 2, 2026 4:33 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
Apple Fitness Plus hero

Apple Announces New Fitness+ Workout Programs, Strava Challenge, and More

Friday January 2, 2026 6:43 am PST by
Apple today announced a number of updates to Apple Fitness+ and activity with the Apple Watch. The key announcements include: New Year limited-edition award: Users can win the award by closing all three Activity Rings for seven days in a row in January. "Quit Quitting" Strava challenge: Available in Strava throughout January, users who log 12 workouts anytime in the month will win an ...
Mac Pro Feature Blue

What's Happening With the Mac Pro?

Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro. Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...

Top Rated Comments

farewelwilliams Avatar
86 months ago
see samsung? no shame in admitting something like this
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
omihek Avatar
86 months ago
If there was no Apple, how would we get the technology for our next phone release?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
realtuner Avatar
86 months ago
Uh, oh.

So much for all the people "hoping" China would retaliate. This guy is smart - he knows how much Apple means to the Chinese economy and how much revenue/employment they generate. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is never good business practice.

I also think that by praising Apple he's hinting that they don't want to see this trade war escalate and would like to come to a settlement. So he's avoiding being critical of Apple.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nipommu Avatar
86 months ago
Silly Americans

China has been banning American tech companies in the name of 'national security' for the past forever. US did not retaliate on the ban of Google or Facebook or Amazon. The US didn't retaliate because 2 reasons: 1. US - China import/export/manufacturing relations were too important to jeopardize. 2. The US government upholds the notion a country has the right to protect themselves in the name of national security (I'm not going to go over issues in the Middle East etc etc that's a very different animal compared to US-China relations).

US should have banned Huawei when China banned American tech companies but didn't due to above reasons. China has been taking advantage over different countries and companies for a very long time few examples are: the tech that companies bring into China to use for mass production tools (and other means to produce tech goods) turns into Chinese asset when they are done with it (its their law). You ever hear why Trump keep saying that China must stop stealing tech? This is one of MANY tactics they use to acquire other country's R&D for free. It goes beyond stealing trade secrets from within like Qualcomm, Microsoft, Dell, and other American tech companies and also not paying for royalties or going through proper licensing procedures to using other companies' tech among others. Not only this, the Chinese government provides rewards and even cash payouts for people/organizations to bring secrets or company plans/blueprints/R&D to the Chinese government. They are rewarded and therefore this type of practice is encouraged.

China has been and still riding on the fact that they mass produce for the world and using this not as negotiation piece but rather a weapon to coerce companies and countries to follow their way or else the supply line would be destroyed. What can companies do but to listen when their profits are going to be effected. Not to mention there are heavy sacrifices companies must make in order to have their goods produced in China and not only stealing assets but unfair trade agreement that favours China heavily. This is what initially got Trump to start the trade war due to the unfairness that China has been practicing for a very long time.

Samsung knew this would happen and moved most of their manufacturing to Vietnam where no such ridiculous laws exist and have been doing it for the last 5 years. It took them 10 years in total to set up in Vietnam so they have the production power as similar to China. Foxconn is also about to leave among many other companies because of this coercion and relentless stealing and unfair bargaining chips for China when international supply chains are concerned.

This goes deeper than just Huawei and America. The US has had enough and are now just pushing back when an alternative approach should have been a backup plan since the 70s but nothing happened as China was not seen as a threat like how they saw the Soviet Union way back in history. This pushback should have happened several decades ago and now it is happening and what the US is doing is they are slowly finding equilibrium in power balance between them and China. China wants to be the number 1 super power and that is their objective and will try as long as they have the coercion powers (manufacturing advantage) and will die trying. If this happens the US will no longer be the super power and the dollar will be deemed worthless and must bow to China's demands and coercion. Seeing this happening in the next 50 years if nothing is done about it is a high probability.

The hypocrisy is this, when China banned all the American tech companies it was because of their national security and was accepted by the US. But when US does it to 1 of their companies all hell breaks loose and suddenly America is a tyrant, a bully, an unfair trading partner and China is a victim. US is banning Huawei (for the most part) because of national security same reason as China when they banned Google. This is 1 to 1 fairness and SHOULD be this way. American is just looking after its security and China must accept and back away without taking a shot at Apple (???? how does this make sense).

Samsung has far superior 5G technology than Huawei and the reason Huawei is known for being the global distributor for 5G is because they are significantly cheaper (due to lower tech, government subsidies, and to be competitive) and they force other countries to use (in some cases) by threatening their import/export operations just like how Huawei "demanded" South Korea to use their 5G network and if they don't they will stop importing from them. Yes this actually happened please look it up. This type of thing is sadly extremely common in the Chinese government as a strategy. Irony is that South Korea is practically number 1 in terms of networking tech, internet speeds, and 5G in the world but the Chinese government is still trying to coerce them by threatening Korea's export business.

Samsung right now is in talks with American companies and the government to bring about them the 5G infrastructure. This is million miles better since Samsung is not owned and subsidized by the Korean government there is far lower risk of espionage. For those who don't know, Huawei is essentially owned and dictated by the Chinese government so all the data they obtain can and will be used by their government. Imagine that? All of US military security networking equipment can be spied on and remotely controlled by the Chinese at desperate times? America will not come out on top.

Want to be patriotic this is the right time to do so if you don't want America to become a foot stool for China starting early as 2050. The Chinese media and government can victimize themselves and try to draw sympathy all they want but their plans are incredibly transparent that in the long term they want to overthrow the US and become the sole and leading super power. A country that steals, use coercion as a tactic, invade weaker nations (still doing this look it up), bring no aid or relief programs for other countries...this is a terrifying country to hold the number one global position don't you think?

China needs to be dismantled in terms of their bargaining and coercion power just a little bit. This NEEDS to happen right now. This is a good thing.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BootsWalking Avatar
86 months ago
He's being quite magnanimous considering our country is using its worldwide political power to try and destroy his company, not to mention having his daughter arrested and used as a political pawn in a trade dispute.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mzs.112000 Avatar
86 months ago
Obviously Huawei wants Apple to keep manufacturing in China. Otherwise, how would Huawei get all of their new tech?
Without American or Korean companies to steal from, Huawei is nothing...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)