The new hires are part of an expansion of Huawei’s research and development efforts in Canada as it tries to secure a place in the development of the country’s 5G network.

The U.S. has been pushing its Western allies to ditch Huawei, a company that it claims Beijing uses for espionage.

Trend: Britain has not ruled out using Huawei to build out its 5G network, suggesting that the international alliances the U.S. has damaged with various unilateral actions may be shrinking its influence.

The U.S. perspective: On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the U.S. would reconsider its relations with countries that choose Huawei to build out their networks.

“If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we won’t be able to share information with them, we won’t be able to work alongside them,” he said.

That could threaten the so-called Five Eyes security arrangement, in which the U.S. and four other close allies, including Britain and Canada, share intelligence.

Complications: The American effort to shut out Huawei — as well as the arrest of the company’s top executive, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada — have added to the intricate nature of U.S.-China trade talks, which continue in Washington over the next two days.