Recently, Michael K. Spencer (Editor’s note: the FutureSin publication’s creator) told me he appreciated my “series on Huawei”.

In all honesty, that’s not something I really planned to do; my frequent coverage of the Chinese tech giant and its “U.S. ban” developed rather organically. I truly believe we’re witnessing a unique “East meets West” geopolitical and technological situation that is worth talking about.

Here is the latest from the saga: Huawei is laying off more than 600 workers in the U.S. as it continues to wrangle with trade restrictions imposed by the Trump administration.

“Chinese tech company Huawei set to lay off hundreds of workers in U.S. amid trade war” by WZDX News, YouTube.

The layoffs, announced Tuesday, will occur at Futurewei (the company’s US-based R&D subsidiary). Huawei blamed the layoffs on a “curtailment of business operations” provoked by the restrictions.

“Decisions like this are never easy to make… Futurewei will continue to operate in strict compliance with US local laws and regulations.” Huawei precised in a statement. “Given the United States’ vulnerability in cyberspace, I think the government is bending over backwards to make America safe, but they’re going too far,” stated Andy Purdy, Huawei’s chief security officer and former head of the US Department of Homeland Security’s national cybersecurity division. “If we are forced to go our way, we’ll be okay. But in the long term, I don’t know that Huawei will come back [to America] and I think America will be hurt,” he added.

I can’t say I’m surprised by this development. After being placed on the Entity List, Huawei’s U.S. research and development subsidiary has been quite underutilized. The “U.S. ban” has actually prevented Futurewei personnel from communicating with their colleagues in Huawei’s headquarters in China; it just didn’t make sense to keep the unit running at full capacity from an operational and economical standpoint. Such move can also be seen as a pressure tactic to convince the U.S. government that further easing up the sanctions is the way to go. On the other side of the coin, the layoffs may reflect poorly on the White House, as hundreds of well-paying jobs are being eliminated and… may never come back. And so, the trade war continues.