Chinese tech giant Huawei has conceded that U.S. sanctions have hurt its smartphone business after posting revenue declines in overseas markets on March 31. Huawei was put on an export blacklist by then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019 and later barred from accessing critical technology of U.S. origin, affecting its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors. The ban put Huawei’s handset business under immense pressure, with the company selling off its budget smartphone unit to a consortium of agents and dealers in November 2020 to keep it alive. But growth in other parts of the business meant Huawei recorded a net profit of 64.6 billion yuan ($9.83 billion) for 2020, up 3.2 percent—compared to growth of 5.6 percent a year earlier. On the impact of U.S. sanctions, Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating chairman, said, “It has damaged us a lot.” “In 2020, we saw a …