Three Republican senators on Wednesday demanded answers from Google on its relationship with China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. after reports that the companies were developing a Huawei-branded smart speaker and were "even closer than previously understood" on the project.
Sens. Tom Cotton, Ark.; Josh Hawley, Mo.; and Marco Rubio, Fla., made the request in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, noting that the technology giant tried three weeks ago to play down its ties to House legislators in congressional testimony.
"These devices can enable untrustworthy companies to listen in on Americans' conversations," the senators wrote. "Your attempts three weeks ago to downplay your involvement in China, plus new revelations about your close relationship with Huawei, raise serious questions.
"It is hard to interpret your decision to help Huawei place listening devices into millions of American homes as anything other than putting profits before country," the senators said.
Cotton, Hawley, and Rubio also referenced a report last month by TheInformation.com that Google and Huawei were working on the device before President Donald Trump banned the Chinese company's access to American technology suppliers on national security concerns.
Sources told TheInformation.com that the collaboration, suspended in May, was far more advanced "than previously understood" and that the speaker was to be powered by Google Assistant.
Huawei had planned to introduce the product at a global trade show in Berlin in September, according to the report.
In their letter, the GOP senators asked Pichai why, for instance, did the company partner with Huawei on such a product in the first place and whether Google considered the national-security implications of such an arrangement.
Cotton, Hawley, and Rubio gave Pichai until Aug. 30 to respond to their letter.