The United Kingdom will remove Huawei equipment from its 5G networks by the end of 2020

In a surprising shift, reports from the United Kingdom state that the country will strip Huawei equipment from its 5G networks by the end of the year. The move comes after the U.K. sought to implement at least some Huawei gear in its burgeoning 5G infrastructure in January.

A potential cause of the change in direction lies with China’s tense relationship with the United States. The U.K.’s original plans to rely (at least in part) on Huawei-made equipment to flesh out its 5G network did not sit well with the U.S. Considering America’s ongoing trade war with China and continued efforts to stymie business dealings with Huawei, the U.K. may have felt pressured to rethink its roadmap for a 5G rollout.

The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) also may play a role in the policy reversal. An emergency security review, which was launched soon after the latest U.S. sanctions on Huawei were put into place, found that Huawei may resort to “untrusted technology that could make the risk impossible to control.” The United States recently instituted a policy requiring foreign businesses that use American-made microchips to obtain a license before dealing with Huawei.

Details on the plan are scant as of press time, but the U.K. now seems dead set on removing Huawei from its 5G telecom infrastructure over the next 6 months.