DJI And SMIC Added To US Sales Blacklist

Today the United States Commerce Department added the drone company DJI to their trade restrictions blacklist. More specifically, this is the U.S. Commerce Department Entity List, making DJI subject to Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This is a move very similar to the U.S. government's move against other China-based companies like Huawei and ZTE.

Once the latest update to the Entity List is made live, DJI and a variety of other companies will be subject to trade restrictions inside the United States and with US businesses.

The list update will be made live at approximately 11:15 AM Eastern Time. It's not currently clear whether chain stores will need to remove DJI products from store shelves immediately or if there will be a buffer between the release of the list and the point at which restrictions take effect.

UPDATE/Clarification: The company SZ DJI Technology Co will be added to the U.S. government's economic blacklist as part of a larger expansion of the list that'll go into effect at 11:15 EST. At that time, the restrictions will take effect immediately.

The newest additions to the official government Entity List include more than 60 Chinese institutions, including China's top chip maker SMIC. Per Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, "We will not allow advanced U.S. technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary."

"Between SMIC's relationships of concern with the military industrial complex, China's aggressive application of military civil fusion mandates and state-directed subsidies, SMIC perfectly illustrates the risks of China's leverage of U.S. technology to support its military modernization," said Ross.

Back in September of 2020, the US Defense Department first recommended that SMIC be put on trade restriction lists and/or banned from interaction with official US organizations. The appearance of DJI on the list this week comes as a bit more of a surprise.