FILE PHOTO: The Silicon Valley office of Huawei and its U.S. subsidiary Futurewei Technologies Inc. in Santa Clara, California, U.S., July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Lanhee Lee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department is continuing to evaluate requests by U.S. companies to sell certain equipment to Chinese telecoms company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a White House official and Commerce Department spokesman said Friday.

President Donald Trump earlier said the United States would not do business with Huawei for the time being, but the White House official said that comment referred only to a ban on U.S. government purchases of Huawei equipment.

The Commerce Department process was continuing, said the White House official and the Commerce spokesman. Commerce in May had put Huawei on a national security blacklist, effectively banning sales of U.S. technology, software and services to the firm.