"Was FedEx within its rights to prevent a P30 Pro from being delivered to the U.S?" tweeted Huawei, answering "no" to its own question and slamming the FedEx action as a "vendetta." Of all the headlines generated by the conflict between Washington and Huawei, none is quite as unusual as the spat with FedEx. It has been weeks in the making, starting when packages dispatched from Japan to China were rerouted to the U.S., but has now reached new levels of surreality.

The smartphone in question had been sent by the U.K. office of PCMag to U.S. colleagues. The note attached to the returned parcel was unambiguous: "Parcel returned by FedEx due to U.S. Government with Huawei and China Government—return to sender."

PCMag reported that, according to tracking information provided by Parcelforce and FedEx, "the phone left London, flew to Indianapolis, spent about five hours in Indianapolis and was promptly returned to London the same day."

The package "was mistakenly returned to the shipper," FedEx explained later in a statement. The company apologized for the "operational error," and confirmed that they can "transport all Huawei products" except when shipped to listed Huawei companies "on the U.S. Entity List." In reality, there is no mandate one way or another for FedEx.

Shortly after the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei was announced, FedEx "misrouted" two parcels addressed to Huawei in China. Huawei claims there were at least two other deliveries that the courier attempted to reroute and that all the parcels involved contained paperwork and no technology. FedEx apologized and explained that the deliveries were "misrouted in error" without any "external pressure" from third-parties (read the U.S. government).

China is now investigating the original incident, emphasizing through state media the need for companies to adhere to the law and that the investigation will not lurch into any form of retaliation against FedEx. This despite another state-controlled outlet suggesting that this could line FedEx up for an early spot on China's own entity list, if and when it is launched.

China announced its "non-reliable entity list" at the end of May—a direct response to the U.S. sanctions against Huawei, its 70 affiliates and other Chinese firms. The language in the announcement suggested companies would be singled out for their discriminatory action against Chinese entities, for example adhering to U.S. sanctions against Huawei.

A government spokesperson explained at the time that it would target "foreign enterprises, organizations or individuals that do not comply with market rules, deviate from a contract’s spirit or impose blockades or stop supplies to Chinese enterprises for non-commercial purposes, seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."

According to Reuters, "China’s commerce ministry and FedEx did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the likelihood of the company being added to the ‘unreliable’ list."

There is no market for Huawei smartphones in the U.S. And if there was to be one, FedExing them a unit at a time is not the way they would likely be shipped. The latest package adhered to regulations for shipping cellphones, listing the manufacturer and model number and IMEI. Assuming no conspiracy, it was an awkward example of misplaced initiative being applied somewhere along the line. FedEx has been approached for any additional comments on the story.

Unsurprisingly, Huawei is reviewing its own options. "The recent experiences where important commercial documents sent via FedEx were not delivered to their destination... undermines our confidence," a company spokesperson told Reuters. "We will now have to review our logistics and document delivery support requirements as a direct result of these incidents."

Above all, this does illustrate the level of confusion that surrounds the blacklisting. We have seen endless speculation about the timing and levels of support for existing phones, the rumors around Chinese or Russian operating systems that may end up on new phones, and the U.S. companies lobbying behind the scenes for this all to be relaxed. Meanwhile, Huawei has said that it will take a $30 billion hit to its revenue line this year as it struggles to steady its ship.

But for PCMag, "none of these moves so far have been a total ban on importing any Huawei phones or transferring already-owned Huawei phones into the country. It looks like FedEx may now be going above and beyond even the Trump administration to enforce that ban on its own."

Surreal indeed.

By: DocMemory
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