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The greater the economic sense that a particular trade transaction constitutes, the greater is the will to exploit that transaction's intrinsic benefits by circumventing trade barriers. Look no further than the curious case of Huawei's selling of beef products on its online store.
As most of our readers would know by now, Huawei is currently under stiff Western sanctions that have severely dented its overseas 5G telecommunication equipment retail business and eliminated the company's ability to procure high-end chips from the likes of TSMC. Despite this inhospitable business environment, Huawei has apparently found a novel solution: using beef as the mode of payment for its 5G gear.
There are reports circulating on 🇨🇳 media / social media that Huawei is now the largest importer of beef in China as the company had to accept beef as payment in lieu of cash from Argentina for 5G equipment purchased by the South American country… Huawei has been selling beef… pic.twitter.com/wLckga6yPo
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) June 12, 2024
Several Chinese blogs, including this one, have noted over the past few days that Huawei is now selling beef products in its online Mossel Store.
At first glance, this appears to be an aberrant product choice. After all, Huawei is a quintessential tech company with not much expertise in selling relatively low value-added beef products that carry a short shelf life.
However, as speculated by Chinese citizens themselves, this aberrant product choice makes perfect economic sense if Huawei were using beef products as a payment mechanism for selling its 5G telecommunication gear to countries such as Argentina.
This case perfectly encapsulates the emerging multi-polar nature of the world that is not only devolving into select camps but also regressing toward barter-based trade and commoditized currencies.
Of course, US export sanctions on Huawei are having a material effect on the company's ability to transact with maximum possible economic efficiency. In fact, TSMC's Chairman recently noted that it's "impossible" for Huawei to catch up in the ongoing semiconductor race. Yet, the company did manage to release a new smartphone recently, replete with a 7nm-based home-grown chip.
Meanwhile, Huawei is doing all it can to circumvent Washington's sanctions noose. As an illustration, Optica Foundation recently cut ties with the Chinese tech giant after facing criticism for the fact that Huawei had used the foundation as a conduit to funnel millions in prize in money to US-based researchers and scientists.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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