Though the Trump administration may not be planning to develop their own 5G network to prevent "the Chinese" from listening in to our phone calls, it seems they may be pressuring certain US-based carriers to drop Chinese handsets from their device line-ups.
According to a Bloomberg report, Verizon has "dropped all plans" to sell Chinese company Huawei's phones directly, including the new Mate 10 Pro. This moves comes not long after AT&T reportedly made a similar decision.
It's worth noting that this move does more than take a bite out of Huawei's US-based revenue. Phone carriers and Huawei alike have been pushing to bring lightning-fast 5G networks to their users, with the latter aiming to be the first phone company to release a 5G phone. If this alleged government pressure continues, those plans may be slowed down quite a bit as more Chinese devices are pulled from carrier line-ups over time.
It's unclear which branch of the government is involved in this matter but the Trump administration's focus on security is nothing new. Cell phone use was recently banned in the White House's West Wing among staff and guests and, as previously stated, low-level administration officials have raised concerns regarding the possibility of Chinese phone call monitoring.
Regardless of their reasoning, dropping plans to sell Huawei's phones could prove to be a controversial move in the eyes of Verizon and Huawei's shared customers.