Which in the precise moment when Linux is a serious threat is not possible since there is no assurance that the hardware vendors would accept, given they now have an alternative.

They've been busy doing that for the past 20+ years. It's been an annoyance, but not really a deterrent.

They cannot do that to every manufacturer, as most of countries are incentivized to not dependent on American or any foreign product.

I can see China or European manufacturer will slowly move from Windows. At least China already learning the hard way from Android-Huawei relationship.