US officials are reportedly set for a meeting with Dominic Cummings on Wednesday, to demand that the UK rethinks its decision to allow Huawei a role in its 5G infrastructure.
The US is seeking a possible compromise that will allow the two countries to work together on developing an alternative, according to The Guardian.
Donald Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, will meet with Boris Johnson's chief aide at Downing Street with reports that the US wants the UK to commit to removing Huawei equipment from its mobile networks in three to five years time.
Since the UK's government granted Huawei "limited" access to its networks, a number of US officials have warned about the risks the Chinese company poses, even claiming it embeds backdoors in its telecoms networks.
Trump himself has remained relatively quiet on the subject. The US ambassador to Germany tweeted that the president called him from Air Force One with instructions to make clear that: "any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardise our ability to share intelligence and information at the highest level."
Huawei has hit back at the US with counter-accusations that cite the Edward Snowden leaks detailing American surveillance on other countries.
"US allegations of Huawei using lawful interception are nothing but a smokescreen - they don't adhere to any form of accepted logic in the cyber security domain," Huawei said in a statement. "Huawei has never and will never covertly access telecom networks, nor do we have the capability to do so."
Mulvany is also scheduled to meet Sir Edward Lister for his two-day visit, which will also see him address the Oxford Union debating society. But it's thought that the US is particularly keen on meeting with Cummings, who is seen as the prime ministers most influential aide.
Members of Johnson's own party and the opposition have expressed similar views on Cummings. Labour Leadership candidate Keir Starmer quipped that Prime Minister's Question time may be renamed "DCQs" after Cummings as he "actually holds all the power", according to The New European.
