President Donald Trump declares national emergency over cyber threats

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Wednesday with a motive to protect the US communications network from "foreign adversaries".

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The White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the executive order gives the federal government powers to restrict US companies from doing business transactions with certain foreign tech suppliers that pose an unacceptable risk to the national security.

President Trump signed an executive order as "part of his commitment to protecting the information and communications technology and services" of the US.

The White House said in a statement, "The President has made it clear that this Administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and prosperous, and to protect America from foreign adversaries who are actively and increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology infrastructure and services in the United States".

It added, "This Executive Order declares a national emergency with respect to the threats against information and communications technology and services in the United States and delegates authority to the Secretary of Commerce to prohibit transactions posing an unacceptable risk to the national security".

This could be directly related to the Chinese telecom major Huawei that according to the US could be using its equipment for surveillance.

China, on the other hand, has rubbished the allegation made by the US. President Trump last year had signed a bill that barred the US government and its contractors from using components from Huawei and other Chinese communications companies.

(With IANS inputs)

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