Huawei earned itself another narrow and temporary reprieve from a blanket ban against doing business with U.S. companies. Amid a worsening trade war with China, the U.S. government appears to have blinked as its first 90-day exemption was set to expire today.

The U.S. government has, despite day-old comments to the contrary by President Donald Trump, extended a set of exemptions that allow some rural network operators and other U.S. businesses to continue doing business with Huawei through Nov. 19.

“There is another 90 days for the U.S. telecom companies. Some of the rural companies are dependent on Huawei so we’re giving them a little more time to wean themselves off,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a televised interview on Fox Business.

The new order was also designed to remove “loopholes” in the original and added 46 more Huawei subsidiaries to the entity list, he explained. “When something is added to the entity list it means that the American companies cannot sell to it except if they get a specific license. We have not granted any specific licenses thus far.”

The Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against the Chinese vendor is now central to its bitter and prolonged war with China over trade. However, the U.S. government’s arguments have also been diminished or challenged as the debate about unbalanced trade and national security concerns about Huawei’s ties to the Chinese military blend together.

“Within this administration, Huawei has two sides. The hawks want an outright ban on its products in the United States. The pragmatists know that there is an economic stake as many American tech companies supply Huawei with parts and components,” said William Ho, founder and principal analyst at 556 Ventures.

The purpose of the entity list is to “make sure we don’t endanger U.S. security,” Ross said. “Adding more entities makes it more difficult for Huawei to get around the sanctions.”

Rural network operators that rely on Huawei equipment are in a particularly tough spot because there aren’t many alternatives that will help keep their networks up to date, and their capital is already stretched thin, Ho explained. Without software updates and new components, those operators will suffer service level impacts and “it’s not trivial to rip and replace” existing equipment, he added.

It’s unclear if the U.S. government will consider another extension when the next deadline occurs around Nov. 19. From Ross’ perspective there’s been “plenty of notice,” and Trump has made it clear that “he’s very concerned about more dealings with Huawei.”

The about-face today could be as much a reaction to troubling flashpoints in the U.S. economy and rising fears of a recession as anything else. The U.S.-China trade war shows no end in sight, and investors are increasingly concerned about the economic outlook overall.

“The give and takes can be viewed as blinks as there are a lot of moving parts on tariff impact,” Ho concluded. “It’s unclear how this will play out as Huawei is a major factor in overall trade negotiations.”