A top US official urged politicians to delay implementation of a law banning federal agencies and contractors from using Huawei equipment, to allow more time for affected parties to adapt, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and several members of Congress, acting head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought sought a two-year delay in implementing the restrictions imposed on Huawei and other Chinese companies in a defence spending bill signed into law in August 2018.

The bill included a clause prohibiting the use of kit from Huawei and fellow Chinese vendor ZTE. Huawei subsequently challenged the move in a lawsuit, which has yet to be heard in court.

Vought said a wide range of stakeholders have raised “significant concerns” about how the move will affect them, adding the law has the potential to drastically reduce the number of companies able to supply equipment to the government.

An OMB representative told WSJ the goal is to give those impacted “time to extricate themselves from doing business with Huawei”. It would not represent a change in US policy and would not alter a recent ban on US companies selling technology to Huawei, the representative added.