Officials at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) may sign off on the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile as early as this week, according to a new report. However, opponents of the transaction continue to work against it—the latest development on that front is the release of a new study arguing that, if the merger is approved, the average weekly earnings for U.S. retail wireless workers could decline by as much as 3% in some markets.

The various developments in recent days surrounding the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint highlight not only the financial and economic positions of the nation’s third and fourth largest wireless network operators but also concerns over the country’s overall macroeconomic balance—as well as global geopolitical issues arising from an ongoing trade battle between the United States and China.

Indeed, it’s that ongoing trade battle that appears to be hovering over some of the most dramatic developments in the ongoing Sprint/T-Mobile merger process. According to a report from Reuters, the U.S. government’s CFIUS will sign off on the proposed merger after having obtained agreements from Japan’s SoftBank (Sprint’s parent company) and Germany’s Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile’s parent company) that they will not use equipment from Chinese network equipment provider Huawei. CFIUS is a relatively secretive government agency headed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that in part reviews international business transactions for national security issues.

Already, Japanese media have reported that SoftBank plans to replace its 4G network equipment from Huawei with hardware from Nokia and Ericsson; and separately Deutsche Telekom said late last week that it is reviewing its vendor plans in Germany and other European markets due to the debate on the security of Chinese network gear.