The US will restrict visas for Huawei employees, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says other Chinese tech firms 'should consider themselves on notice'

• The US will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during a press conference Wednesday.
• Pompeo said the US is eyeing other tech firms as well, "whether it's TikTok or any of the other Chinese communications platforms, apps, infrastructure."
• The move comes a day after President Trump imposed US sanctions against Chinese officials following the nation's crackdown on Hong Kong.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the US would be imposing visa restrictions on Huawei employees, per a CNN report.

Pompeo told the press on Wednesday that the Trump administration would be placing visa restrictions on "certain employees ... of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally."

He also said other companies "should consider themselves on notice: If they are doing business with Huawei, they are doing business with human rights abusers."

It's unclear exactly which employees would be affected or how many. The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The Trump administration has worked to distance itself from Huawei out of fear of the Chinese company taking advantage of its 5G networks to spy on foreign governments and companies.

Pompeo later told The Hill, "whether it's TikTok or any of the other Chinese communications platforms, apps, infrastructure, this administration is taking seriously the requirement to protect the American people from having their information end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."

The announcement comes a day after Trump announced the US was imposing sanctions against Chinese officials following a new national security law in Hong Kong, yet another move that experts say is eroding the region's autonomy. Tech giants like Facebook and Google in turn opted to pause data-processing requests from Hong Kong authorities.

The UK is also taking strides to block the Chinese telecom giant. The country announced Tuesday that a ban on the purchase of Huawei 5G network infrastructure would go into effect on December 31. It will also remove any existing 5G equipment from the company by 2027. Pompeo praised the nation for its decision at the Wednesday press conference, per CNN, and President Trump earlier claimed credit for the UK policy.

Huawei isn't the only Chinese tech company seeing pushback. The Senate is voting next week on a bill that would ban the use of Chinese social media app TikTok from federally-issued devices.