Germany began the spectrum auction for 5G on Tuesday. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will not exclude any company, despite U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, the supreme allied commander for NATO forces in Europe, saying his forces would stop communicating with Berlin if it worked with Huawei. (Agence France-Presse)

Talking point: The U.S. has spent the past few months making increasingly pointed threats to allies that don’t ban Huawei. Germany will be a test case for which, if any, of those threats become reality. In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly punted on making a decision as to whether to ban Huawei. The company, however, is investing heavily in its Canadian future. In February, it promised to increase its Canadian staff by 20 per cent. And, last week, The Logic reported Huawei had hired a lobbyist to petition Trudeau’s office on the importance of its “long term investments” and its employment of over 900 Canadians.