The decision seems to be almost final. The US is ready not to share intelligence information with the UK if the UK government continues to negotiate with the Chinese company Huawei Technologies for the construction of the fifth generation cellular communication infrastructure.
Many Western intelligence agencies believe that Huawei is very close to the Chinese Communist Party. In this regard, Washington has waged a worldwide campaign to limit Huawei's ability to build infrastructure for 5G around the globe.
Along with some allies, most notably Australia and Canada, the United States fears that the Chinese telecommunications giant may facilitate global wiretapping on behalf of Beijing's spy agencies. Last year, Washington warned two of its main European allies, Britain and Germany, that it would stop sharing information with them if they allowed Huawei to compete in orders for the 5G network.
Now the White House considers taking a more drastic measure. According to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, the Trump administration has already mandated its agencies to reduce intelligence activities and operations on British soil. Citing "half a dozen" current and former British and American officials, the paper says the review is still ongoing. It is conducted under the auspices of the National Security Council, America's highest decision-making body, chaired by the president himself.
The Daily Telegraph reports that US intelligence operations and hardware, both civilian and military, are under scrutiny. It is being considered whether operations with the Chinese telecommunications infrastructure could be compromised. The American hardware in question handles information on military installations and surveillance platforms, such as a number of RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, which operate from the Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Sussex, near the south coast of England.
Finally, the document highlights among the recommendations that of evaluating the possibility of interrupting the so-called "special relations" between the United States and the United Kingdom.