By David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Commerce Department official who helped lead the administration's efforts to impose export restrictions on China's Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL] is resigning effective Friday, officials said on Monday.
Earl Comstock, who has served for three years as director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the department, often clashed with other administration officials on a range of issues. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement he valued Comstock's "wise counsel, his deep policy expertise, his innovative thinking and leadership." Ross added that he thanked Comstock "for his service to the American people."
Comstock was also a key person at the department on trade issues, notably the Commerce Department's Section 232 investigations into the national security impacts of automotive, steel and aluminum imports, and the unsuccessful effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census. Comstock did not respond to a request for comment.
Comstock was a driving force behind an effort to put further restrictions on Huawei. Among these were possible rules changes aimed at curtailing foreign shipments of products with U.S. technology to the No. 2 smartphone vendor amid frustration that the company’s placement on a U.S. trade blacklist in May failed to cut off supplies.
Comstock helped convince the Defense Department to go along with a draft rule that would broaden U.S. authority over items with some U.S. content shipped from overseas. The Defense Department initially opposed the rule.
The fate of those restrictions are uncertain after President Donald Trump expressed alarm that new curbs on sales to China could have blocked General Electric’s ability to get a license to continue supplying engines for a new Chinese passenger airplane that is expected to go into service next year.