> An outright ban on Huawei is seen as legally impossible, but German officials are looking at tools that would have the same effect.
How can 'tools' with the effect of a ban be legal, when a ban isn't?
How can 'tools' with the effect of a ban be legal, when a ban isn't?
This is more common the other way around, where a government wants a specific company to do a job, but is required to issue a public call for bids. In that case the requirements are just written exactly for that specific company.
But must guess is that Germany will be very careful and still let Huawei have a footprint in the country because Germany is a heavy investor in China for decades, and Huawei actually moved their EU HQ from the UK to Germany. They will want to stay on good enough terms with China.