President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order laying the groundwork to block Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei from selling equipment in the U.S., a move aimed at neutralizing Beijing’s ability to compromise next-generation wireless networks and U.S. computer systems.

The order prohibits the purchase or use of any communications technology produced by entities controlled by “a foreign adversary” and likely to create an “undue risk of sabotage” of U.S. communications systems or "catastrophic effects" to U.S. infrastructure.
The Commerce Department has 150 days to produce rules that can identify "particular countries or persons" as foreign adversaries. Those rules are almost certain to name China, Huawei, or both.

Foreign adversaries are increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services,” Trump said in his executive order, “in order to commit malicious cyber-enabled actions, including economic and industrial espionage against the United States and its people.

The order is sure to raise Beijing’s ire at a time when the world’s two largest economies are struggling to resolve a market-shaking trade war. The directive also comes as the Justice Department seeks the extradition from Canada of a Huawei executive charged with violating sanctions on Iran.