The shockwaves over President Donald Trump preventing US companies from conducting business with Huawei continue to reverberate around the world and Africa is now addressing the fallout. Legalbrief reports that Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko this week called for a co-ordinated South African response to the blacklisting of the Chinese tech giant. After all, Huawei is facing major disruptions throughout its global network. The Trump administration last week widened its dragnet on Chinese companies barred from selling to the US or buying components from American firms in a push to slow China’s technological advances. After crippling Huawei Technologies, China’s biggest telecommunications company, the administration followed up by threatening to cut off US components or software to five Chinese video surveillance firms. However, a Tech Central report notes that the plan might backfire because US companies are so inextricably involved in the global technology supply chain. Concerns over Washington’s punitive measures and possible retaliation by the Chinese rattled markets last week. It’s 5G that embodies most of Washington’s fears – by powering a wealth of upcoming technologies from self-driving cars to advanced medical procedures, the new wireless standard is set to be the backbone of the modern economy. By cutting off the Chinese tech giant, the US will only slow the expansion of 5G. That’s bad news for some of the most important US companies, particularly component makers, that were banking on it for a major surge in orders.