China has opposed the US government’s move to put telecom giant Huawei on the blacklist and said it will take prominent steps to protect its companies in a further test of relations as the two biggest economies clash over trade.

Further, China strongly criticised other countries forcing unilateral sanctions on Chinese entities, said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, emphasising that the US should avoid impacting the Sino-US trade relations further.

The move on Huawei came even as the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told he would come China soon for discussing more trade issues. Wishes for a deal, which will end their trade war, were washed away when the world’s two biggest economies increased tariffs on each other’s products in the past few weeks.

The US Department of Commerce said it was registering Huawei Technologies Co and 70 affiliates to its so-called “Entity List” in a decision that bans the Chinese company from buying components and technology from US entities without the prior approval from the government. 

The order did not particularly identify any company or country, but US officials had earlier tagged Huawei as a “threat” and persuaded allies not to use Huawei’s equipment for their next-generation 5G network.

“China has emphasised many times that the concept of national security should not be abused, and that it should not be used as a tool for trade protectionism.” Gao Feng, spokesman for the Chinese commerce ministry, told reporters.