With a stroke of his pen, Trump worsens Europe's Huawei dilemma

As if Europe didn't have enough to worry about.

On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order escalating his administration's campaign against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, raising pressure on allies to follow suit in banning the company from their 5G and other networks.

The US claims Huawei, one of China's most important companies, poses a spying risk to Western technology infrastructure. The latest move against the firm comes amid a worsening trade war between Beijing and Washington, after talks expected to bring a breakthrough fell apart, resulting in billions of dollars in further tariffs from both sides.

While some US allies -- notably Australia and New Zealand -- have followed Trump's lead on Huawei, others have been more reticent. Europe in particular is split over whether to ban the company, a market leader on 5G technology which is expected to be the lifeblood of the new economy.