US pressure unlikely to turn Brazilians off TikTok, Huawei and other Chinese tech

Brazil’s politicians conflicted over whether to follow American bans but China’s technology products are people’s choice

Even if Huawei is excluded from 5G in Brazil, popularity of TikTok and cheap, reliable mobiles from China set to continue

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Brazil’s vice-president said Huawei would not be banned from taking part in the bid for the country’s 5G network scheduled for 2021. Illustration: Henry Wong

Published: 1:00pm, 14 Aug 2020Updated: 11:04am, 15 Aug 2020

As US President Donald Trump launches an unprecedented assault on China’s most powerful tech conglomerates, Brazil finds itself locked in a political struggle – between those who want the country to follow Washington’s lead, and those who advocate for a more pragmatic approach.

The US and Brazil, the two largest countries in the Americas by population and GDP, have had markedly different policies towards Chinese technology.

On August 6, Trump issued two executive orders banning TikTok and WeChat, two apps owned by Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent, respectively.

Only a week earlier, US ambassador to Brazil Todd Chapman warned in an interview with local news outlet O Globo that his host country would face “consequences” if it allowed one of Trump’s other targets, Huawei, to build Brazil’s 5G network.

Chapman’s warning was promptly refuted. On August 3, Brazilian Vice-President Hamilton Mourao said Huawei would not be banned from taking part in the bid for Brazil’s 5G network scheduled for 2021.

“Huawei has capacity above its competitors and we do not yet see US companies capable of defeating international competition,” Mourao said during a videoconference with foreign correspondents in Sao Paulo.

This is the latest of Mourao’s many statements defending the Chinese telecommunications giant’s presence in Brazil, where it has built more than a third of the country’s 4G networks.