By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it has withdrawn a plan to impose restrictions on Chinese drones to address national security concerns after an earlier crackdown on passenger cars and trucks.
Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission barred imports of new models of foreign-made drones and critical components including from China’s DJI and Autel on U.S. national security grounds. The FCC this week said it was exempting some non-Chinese drones from the restrictions.
The Commerce Department said in September it planned to issue rules that could restrict or potentially bar imports of Chinese drones to address information and communication technology supply chain issues. It sent the proposal to the White House for review on October 8 before withdrawing the proposal on Thursday, according to a posting on a government website Friday.
The FCC restrictions mean Chinese dronemakers will not be able to obtain the necessary approval to sell new models of drones or critical components in the U.S. They do not prohibit the import, sale or use of any existing drone models the agency previously authorized, nor do they impact any previously purchased drones.
The White House and Commerce held meetings on the drone proposal through December 19 and met with DJI officials on December 11, according to records posted online. DJI told officials that imposing blanket restrictions on drones manufactured in China would be “unnecessary, conceptually flawed, and would be extremely harmful to U.S. stakeholders.”
The move comes as Washington has frozen some actions targeting China ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. A government official briefed on the matter said it appeared the decision to withdraw the drone rule was tied to that effort.
Neither the Commerce Department nor DJI immediately responded to requests for comment.
The Commerce Department in January 2025 said it was seeking input on potential rules to safeguard the supply chain for drones, saying threats from China and Russia “may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive U.S. data.” Commerce also said in September it was considering similar rules to address concerns about medium- and heavy-duty truck imports after finalizing rules in January 2025 under then-President Joe Biden that effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market over the same concerns.
The commercial truck proposal has not gone to the White House for review. Chinese imports account for the vast majority of U.S. commercial drone sales. More than half come from DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer.
The Commerce Department in January 2025 said it was considering restrictions on systems in imported drones like onboard computers, communications and flight control systems, ground control stations, operating software and data storage. Some experts said restricting key systems could have led to an effective ban on Chinese drones operating in the United States.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Editing by Franklin Paul and Matthew Lewis)
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