Despite calling the Chinese company "very dangerous", United States president Donald Trump has said that Huawei could be part of a trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Good possibility

According to AFP, Trump told reporters on Thursday, May 23 that there was "good possibility" a deal between the two countries would be struck and that "it's possible that Huawei would be included in a trade deal".

In the midst of an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, Trump had previously targeted Huawei by putting it on a trade blacklist.

"You look at what they've done from a security standpoint, a military standpoint. Very dangerous," he said.

Trumps latest comments are the first time that he's linked the Huawei blacklisting with the trade war.

Contradicting the Secretary of State

However, AFP reported that they also directly contradicted a statement that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had given hours earlier.

In an interview with CNBC, Pompeo was asked about his thoughts on Huawei possibly being a part of the larger trade war narrative.

He replied:

"Remember there's two pieces to this: there's the national security component and then there's what President Trump has been driving at -- to create a fair reciprocal balance trade relationship between the two countries.

I hope that we can keep those issues in their own place."

When asked about Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei's recent assertion that Huawei did not work with the Chinese government, Pompeo said:

"To say that they don't work with the Chinese government is a false statement. They are required to, by Chinese law to do that. Huawei's CEO, on that at least, isn't telling the American people the truth, nor the world."

Top image from Donald Trump Facebook and Huawei Facebook