Huawei revenue up despite blacklisting by US government

Chinese telecom giant Huawei said Tuesday that itsrevenue grew 23.2 per cent in the first half of 2019 despite itsblacklisting by the US government. The company posted revenues of just over 401 billion RMB (58.3billion dollars) in the first six months of the year. It posted a netmargin of 8.7 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2018.  Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said in a statement that business was as"robust as ever," with smartphone shipments up 24 per cent.  The news comes as top US and Chinese trade officials meet in Shanghaion Tuesday and Wednesday, where they hope to resolve the year-longtrade war.  Huawei has been a major casualty of the trade war and was blacklistedin May from working with US companies due to national securityconcerns.  The US accuses Huawei of facilitating Chinese government spying andhas put pressure on Western allies to not use the company'stechnology.US President Donald Trump, however, has back-pedalled since then andsaid some US companies may collaborate with Huawei.