SHENZHEN China (Reuters) – The chairman rotating at China’s Huawei Technologies stated that geopolitics conflict, the COVID-19 Pandemic, possible increases in commodity prices and fluctuations in exchange rates would make 2022 more difficult for the tech company sanctioned.

Ken Hu delivered the comments at Tuesday’s company annual analyst summit.

Trump’s administration placed Huawei on an international blacklist. This put its once powerful handset business under enormous pressure. Huawei was deemed a security threat by the U.S., which Huawei denied.