Biden nominee vows to protect U.S. networks from Huawei, ZTE

President Joe Biden's nominee to head the U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday vowed to protect U.S. telecommunications networks from Chinese companies including Huawei and ZTE Corp.

"I would use the full toolkit at my disposal to the fullest extent possible to protect Americans and our network from Chinese interference or any kind of back door influence," said Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo in testimony before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. Congress in December approved $1.9 billion to fund the replacement of ZTE and Huawei equipment in U.S. networks.