US politicians again escalated efforts to keep Huawei from doing business in the country, introducing new legislation which would ban domestic companies from transacting with certain 5G vendors.

Specifically, the measure would require the President to place telecommunications companies which have committed sanctions violations or “economic espionage” (such as stealing trade secrets) on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list.

US companies are generally prohibited from transacting with businesses on the list, meaning the move would effectively sever access to the US financial system by blocking banks from processing payments to or from an SDN.

The legislation specifically targets transactions related to 5G, carving out exceptions for deals related to 3G and 4G.

While Huawei was not named in the bill, the Department of Justice previously accused the company of stealing trade secrets and violating trade sanctions against Iran. Huawei strongly denied the allegations.

The company was added to the Department of Commerce’s trade blacklist in May 2019.

Mike Gallagher, who backed the latest measure in the House of Representatives, in a statement cited the need for a “full court press against malevolent actors like Huawei” to protect against security threats in the 5G era. “It’s time to go on the offensive by cutting Huawei out of the US banking system,” he said.

In order to become law, the bill must be approved by both chambers of congress and signed by the President.