Huawei has called on the US to reverse its “illegal” trade ban on the company, claiming it will harm billions of consumers around the world.

The comments came after the US government placed Huawei on its “Entity List”, meaning US firms can’t do business with Huawei unless they have a special licence. The Chinese tech giant, which is the world’s largest maker of telecoms equipment and second largest smartphone maker, relies heavily on US firms like Google and Microsoft to build its equipment.

“Politicians in the US are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company,” Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal officer, said in a press conference in Shenzhen, China. “This is not normal.”

Huawei has also filed a motion for summary judgment asking a court in Plano, Texas, to rule on whether a US military spending provision that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment is constitutional.

The Trump administration claims the company could use its equipment to spy on behalf of the Chinese government and is thus a threat to international cybersecurity.

Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Show all 8 1 /8 Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Karl Theodor Bridge in Heidelberg, Germany Old Bridge Gate on Karl Theodor Bridge in Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Replica Karl Theodor Bridge in Huawei City, China DONGGUAN, CHINA - APRIL 24: Huawei workers walk by large statues of horses at the sprawling 'Ox Horn' Research and Development campus on April 24, 2019 in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, China. Huawei is Chinas most valuable technology brand, and sells more telecommunications equipment than any other company in the world, with annual revenue topping $100 billion U.S. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, considered Chinas Silicon Valley, Huawei has more than 180,000 employees worldwide, with nearly half of them engaged in research and development. In 2018, the company overtook Apple Inc. as the second largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world behind Samsung Electronics, a milestone that has made Huawei a source of national pride in China. While commercially successful and a dominant player in 5G, or fifth-generation networking technology, Huawei has faced political headwinds and allegations that its equipment includes so-called backdoors that the U.S. government perceives as a national security. U.S. authorities are also seeking the extradition of Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, to stand trial in the U.S. on fraud charges. Meng is currently under house arrest in Canada, though Huawei maintains the U.S. case against her is purely political. Despite the U.S. campaign against the company, Huawei is determined to lead the global charge toward adopting 5G wireless networks. It has hired experts from foreign rivals, and invested heavily in R&D to patent key technologies to boost Chinese influence. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Heidelberg, Germany "Location: Heidelberg, Germany." Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Replica Heidelberg in Huawei City, China DONGGUAN, CHINA - APRIL 25: Huawei's new sprawling 'Ox Horn' Research and Development campus is seen from the air on April 25, 2019 in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, China.Huawei is Chinas most valuable technology brand, and sells more telecommunications equipment than any other company in the world, with annual revenue topping $100 billion U.S. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, considered Chinas Silicon Valley, Huawei has more than 180,000 employees worldwide, with nearly half of them engaged in research and development. In 2018, the company overtook Apple Inc. as the second largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world behind Samsung Electronics, a milestone that has made Huawei a source of national pride in China. While commercially successful and a dominant player in 5G, or fifth-generation networking technology, Huawei has faced political headwinds and allegations that its equipment includes so-called backdoors that the U.S. government perceives as a national security. U.S. authorities are also seeking the extradition of Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, to stand trial in the U.S. on fraud charges. Meng is currently under house arrest in Canada, though Huawei maintains the U.S. case against her is purely political. Despite the U.S. campaign against the company, Huawei is determined to lead the global charge toward adopting 5G wireless networks. It has hired experts from foreign rivals, and invested heavily in R&D to patent key technologies to boost Chinese influence. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic Cesky Krumlov cityscape Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Replica Cesky Krumlov in Huawei City, China DONGGUAN, CHINA - APRIL 25: Huawei's new sprawling 'Ox Horn' Research and Development campus is seen from the air on April 25, 2019 in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, China.Huawei is Chinas most valuable technology brand, and sells more telecommunications equipment than any other company in the world, with annual revenue topping $100 billion U.S. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, considered Chinas Silicon Valley, Huawei has more than 180,000 employees worldwide, with nearly half of them engaged in research and development. In 2018, the company overtook Apple Inc. as the second largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world behind Samsung Electronics, a milestone that has made Huawei a source of national pride in China. While commercially successful and a dominant player in 5G, or fifth-generation networking technology, Huawei has faced political headwinds and allegations that its equipment includes so-called backdoors that the U.S. government perceives as a national security. U.S. authorities are also seeking the extradition of Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, to stand trial in the U.S. on fraud charges. Meng is currently under house arrest in Canada, though Huawei maintains the U.S. case against her is purely political. Despite the U.S. campaign against the company, Huawei is determined to lead the global charge toward adopting 5G wireless networks. It has hired experts from foreign rivals, and invested heavily in R&D to patent key technologies to boost Chinese influence. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Heidelberg, Germany Travel in Germany - cityscape of picturesque historic Heidelberg Getty Europe replicated in Huawei City, China Replica Heidelberg in Huawei City, China DONGGUAN, CHINA - APRIL 12: Huawei's new sprawling 'Ox Horn' Research and Development campus is seen from the air on April 12, 2019 in Dongguan, near Shenzhen, China. Huawei is Chinas most valuable technology brand, and sells more telecommunications equipment than any other company in the world, with annual revenue topping $100 billion U.S. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, considered Chinas Silicon Valley, Huawei has more than 180,000 employees worldwide, with nearly half of them engaged in research and development. In 2018, the company overtook Apple Inc. as the second largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world behind Samsung Electronics, a milestone that has made Huawei a source of national pride in China. While commercially successful and a dominant player in 5G, or fifth-generation networking technology, Huawei has faced political headwinds and allegations that its equipment includes so-called backdoors that the U.S. government perceives as a national security. U.S. authorities are also seeking the extradition of Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, to stand trial in the U.S. on fraud charges. Meng is currently under house arrest in Canada, though Huawei maintains the U.S. case against her is purely political. Despite the U.S. campaign against the company, Huawei is determined to lead the global charge toward adopting 5G wireless networks. It has hired experts from foreign rivals, and invested heavily in R&D to patent key technologies to boost Chinese influence. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Getty

“This decision threatens to harm our customers in over 170 countries, including more than 3 billion customers who use Huawei products and services around the world,” Mr Song said.

Huawei, whose US headquarters is in Plano, launched a lawsuit in March against the US national defence law, calling the provision a “bill of attainder” that selectively punishes Huawei and violates its due process by presuming its guilt without a fair trial. The summary judgment motion seeks to accelerate the legal process to give US customers access to Huawei equipment sooner, according to a statement from Huawei on Wednesday.

Mr Song said the “state-sanctioned campaign” against the company will not improve cybersecurity. The moves against Huawei are part of a broader trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has both sides imposing billions of dollars of punitive tariffs against each other’s products.

The dispute centres on China’s huge longstanding trade surplus with the US, and complaints that Beijing and Chinese companies use unfair tactics to acquire advanced foreign technologies.

The most recent round of negotiations between Beijing and Washington ended earlier this month without an agreement after Trump more than doubled duties on $200bn (£158bn) in Chinese imports. China responded by raising tariffs of 5 per cent to 25 per cent on $60bn worth of American goods.

The moves against Huawei have already affected the company’s US partnerships. Google said it would continue to support existing Huawei smartphones, but future devices won’t carry its flagship apps and services, including maps, Gmail and search – a change that will likely make Huawei phones less appealing.

Mr Song said the US has not provided any evidence to show Huawei is a security threat. “There is no gun, no smoke, only speculation,” he said, accusing the US of setting a “dangerous precedent”.

“Today it’s telecoms and Huawei,” he said. “Tomorrow it could be your industry, your company, your consumers.”

Mr Song said Huawei was asking FedEx about four packages containing paper work that were found to have been diverted to FedEx headquarters in the US instead of being delivered to Huawei offices in Asia.

FedEx apologised and said the packages were rerouted accidentally. It said the company wasn’t told by anyone to divert the packages.

Mr Song said Huawei was aware of FedEx’s apology over the incident. But the company has questioned if the diversions were purely accidental.

“I don’t think it is right for any company to intercept or detain individual documents or information. If our rights were truly infringed upon, we have the legal rights to defend ourselves,” he said.

In the UK, networks have also responded to the trade ban by dropping Huawei phones from their 5G offerings.