Whereas people should not be afraid for their privacy for connecting to US-based services and provide data to US companies?
Doubt it there is any country with a larger and more permeating global surveillance programme than the USA...
...and the US govt is a benevolent actor in foreign affairs, as well so we should not worry.
Would love a Google-free OS, of course would depend on how it'd make it work, what options would be in place...difficult task to meets the needs of customers world-wide.
Of course if this comes from a large smartphone manufacturer with good products, as is the case with Huawei, it has greater chances of success than the odd, "alternative" phone company out-there....
...also better than the mods/custom roms you'd have to invest on...a manufacturer-supported google-free OS is a nice option to have...
...especially if you also get a price-gcut
If you got the phone with the specifications you want, and if the OS is smooth/relatively bug-free, I would not reject the notion out-right.
Despite the fact that private companies can also be in direct cooperation with secret services of a given govt (no, none example available), having a private interested party, also "individually" willing to play with your data is not comforting either.