Senator Tom Cotton also fears involving the Chinese state-backed firm in the tech revamp will leave Britain vulnerable to espionage. 

He spoke out as Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson claimed it is just as capable as Huawei in helping the UK roll out the next generation of ­wireless technology. 

Senator Cotton, 42, a Republican with close links to President Donald Trump, warned PM Boris Johnson that including Huawei in the UK’s infrastructure will directly affect the special relationship.

He added: “In choosing Huawei, Downing Street would grant the Chinese Comm­­unist Party the ­ability to conduct pervasive espionage and provide Beijing with long-term economic and political leverage over the UK.” 

The Arkansas senator, who two weeks ago launched a bill to block any nation which used the firm from sharing US intelligence, said: “In these circumstances, the US would also review any planned trade arrangements with the UK. 

“I strongly urge the UK to join the US, Australia, Japan and others in barring Huawei from all our shores.” 

Mr Johnson and President Trump discussed the issue yet again during a phone call on Friday. While a vital National Security Council summit will this week discuss a final decision, there are reports that Britain is set to approve Huawei for “non-core” ­elements of the network. 

Whitehall has claimed that Huawei is the only firm capable of delivering 5G speedily, allowing Mr Johnson to keep to his pledge of rolling out next-generation internet across the country by 2027. 

But last night Ericsson which, along with Nokia are Huawei’s competition, said it would be able to deliver 5G just as quickly – without including China in its supply chain. 

The firm has already delivered 5G to Euro­­pean networks, including Italy and Switzerland. 

Last night Gabriel Solomon, head of government and industry relations at Ericsson, said: “We’ve been present in the UK for more than 120 years and are at the forefront of 5G. We were first with live commercial 5G networks in Europe and three other continents. We have close to 80 5G agreements of which 24 are live networks.” 

An industry source said what the issue comes down to is cost. “Huawei is subsidised by the Chinese, and commercial firms aren’t. In addition, the likes of BT and Vodafone already use older Huawei components and, since they are footing the bill, they want continuity. 

“But in order to upgrade to 5G every cell site must be visited, so towers can be upgraded. This means 80 per cent of the cost is in the civil works, which will be carried out by UK telecoms companies regardless of any decision made. 

“That means we are only discussing 20 per cent of the total cost and it’s that which is being weighed up against national security threats. 

“Yes, Huawei is a reputable firm. But, should the Chinese government instruct it to use Britain’s network for data harvesting or industrial espionage, it might be powerless to resist such demands.”

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