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Huawei is the world's leading telecom equipment provider and an important customer of American companies. It's also central to China's technology ambitions and the global rollout of 5G wireless networks. The US government targets it as a national security problem.
"A lot of people are surprised, we sell to Huawei a tremendous amount of product that goes into the various things they make," Trump said. "I've agreed to allow them to continue selling that product."
That was last Saturday. The administration has since offered few public details about what will happen next.
The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment and has not released any additional guidance on Trump's remarks. Companies are awaiting a clear answer on just how -- and when -- they'll be able to resume billions of dollars in sales to Huawei.
It also remains to be seen whether this easing of restrictions on Huawei will be enough to convince Chinese leaders to sign on to a trade deal. Trump said he would wait until the end of the negotiations to consider additional concessions for the company, even amid ongoing national security concerns.
Here are a few of the significant remaining questions about the announcement.
What products will US companies be able to sell to Huawei, and when?
Trump administration officials have said the loosened restrictions will allow only for the sales of "general merchandise."
It's not clear which products this does and does not include, but experts expect it will mean the sale of cell phone or 4G equipment components will resume, while sales of products used to build Huawei's 5G network equipment will not. The White House wants to curb Huawei's involvement in 5G over concerns that its equipment could be used by the Chinese government to spy on other countries — a charge that Huawei denies.
Michael Wessel, a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said that if the loosened restrictions did allow for sales of 5G equipment components, it would reignite the same security concerns the ban initially put in place to address.
"For Trump, this is the art of the deal, but it's an inappropriate conflation of two different policy goals — trade and national security," Wessel said.
But, while Trump's announcement eases controls for certain products, it may also get rid of those legal workarounds, according to Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
What does this mean for Huawei?
However, continued US pressure on Huawei's 5G efforts would be a significant negative to the company. Huawei itself said Tuesday it doesn't expect any significant changes as a result of Trump's initial announcement.
What about national security?
American officials have for years worried that Huawei poses a national security risk. They're especially fearful of the Chinese company's involvement in 5G, as the network is expected to power key technological innovations like self-driving cars and smart cities. The US government has also accused Huawei of stealing American companies' intellectual property. Huawei fiercely denies these claims.
After Trump announced the concessions for Huawei, lawmakers from both parties chided him for easing up on national security-related restrictions as part of a trade dispute.
Trump administration officials, however, said they remain committed to addressing the national security concerns and the president said the loosened restrictions were for sales of products that did not pose a security risk.
Kennedy, the Center for Strategic and International Studies adviser, said he thinks the shift could be a means of focusing more directly on the 5G technology that the government considers the most pressing concern.
"It seems that they are no longer focused on putting Huawei out of business or hurting their overall profitability, but restricting them in 5G," Kennedy said. "But can the administration really confirm that? And then do they have a longer term strategy to achieve this?"