A US lawsuit against Huawei is headed to trial in early 2026

A long-running US Justice Department criminal case accusing Chinese technology company Huawei of misleading banks about its business in Iran is headed to court in January 2026.

At a meeting on Thursday in New York, Alexander Solomon, a senior department official, told a US judge that “settlement discussions have ended in an impasse.” “We believe it would be wise to set a trial date.”

According to Reuters, the judge said that she believes it is good for the start of the trial to be at the beginning of January 2026.

The case, which strained relations between the United States and China, began in 2018 with an indictment that led to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, in Vancouver, Canada, under a US arrest warrant.

As part of the 2021 agreement, the charges against Meng, the daughter of the company’s founder, were cancelled.

Solomon said prosecutors expect the trial to last between four and six months.

Huawei was accused in 2018 of bank fraud and misleading HSBC and other banks about its business in Iran, which is subject to US sanctions.

In 2020, the Justice Department added additional charges to the case, including that Huawei conspired to steal trade secrets from six US technology companies and helped Iran track down anti-government protesters in 2009.

Since 2019, the United States has restricted Huawei’s access to American technology, accusing the company of engaging in activities that harm American national security, which Huawei denies.