FedEx sues the U.S. government over the Huawei ban

The mishandling of Huawei packages has put FedEx in danger of being added to China's Unreliable Entities List.

What you need to know

• FedEx is suing the U.S. government over enforcing the ban on Huawei.
• FedEx faces the possibility of being banned by China.
• A Huawei spokesperson says the company is not currently using FedEx or UPS.

The latest fallout from the U.S. ban on Huawei now involves a lawsuit between FedEx and the U.S. government. The lawsuit comes in reaction to some recent troubles FedEx has run into with handling packages from Huawei.

In the filing, FedEx says the export restriction rules:

Essentially deputize FedEx to police the contents of the millions of packages it ships daily even though doing so is a virtually impossible task, logistically, economically, and in many cases, legally

You might remember that we reported a few days ago about PCMag having a Huawei phone returned when it attempted to ship from the UK to the U.S. There was also an incident back in May where FedEx routed two packages through the U.S. that were bound for Asia.

That incident placed FedEx in China's crosshairs, facing the possibility of being added to China's Unreliable Entities List, which would effectively ban FedEx in China. The Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, even tweeted out that FedEx is likely to be added to the list.

FedEx has since responded to the incidents, claiming both were operational errors, and it plans to deliver Huawei products to addresses except for those placed on the U.S. national security blacklist. UPS has also confirmed it will not ship to addresses on the blacklist but will continue delivering Huawei products.

A Huawei spokesman says the company is not using either FedEx or UPS at the moment, and a recent tweet from Huawei seems to believe FedEx has a vendetta against the company.

Was FedEx within its rights to prevent a P30 Pro from being delivered from the UK to the U.S? No. Representatives from #Huawei, UPS and PCMag slam the courier’s vendetta. #HuaweiFacts https://t.co/7wc6xxy8Z8

— Huawei Facts (@HuaweiFacts) June 23, 2019

Right now, FedEx in a very difficult position, walking a tightrope between the two largest economies in the world and trying not to lose business from either. The recent lawsuit shows how far-reaching and complicated the ban is making business in a global economy.

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