Washington halts rule targeting Chinese drone imports

The United States Commerce Department has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have imposed new restrictions on Chinese-made drones, according to a government notice posted Friday.

The reversal ends a months-long review process and comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Beijing this April.

According to documents published on the federal website, Commerce formally sent the draft rule to the White House for review on October 8, before withdrawing the proposal on Thursday. The rule had been introduced in September as part of an effort to address information and communication technology supply chain concerns related to Chinese drone manufacturers.

In remarks cited by Reuters, Ali Wyne, senior research adviser with the International Crisis Group, said: “This decision underscores President Trump’s desire to sustain the trade framework that he and President Xi approved this past October and ensure a cordial meeting between the two leaders during his April visit to Beijing.”
He added that the move “underlines that his affinity for Xi and his narrow, trade-centric view of strategic competition between the United States and China make Trump an iconoclast within the Beltway.”

The proposal had targeted Chinese drone makers, including DJI and Autel, and was designed to address national security risks identified by Commerce in its January 2025 request for public input. At the time, Commerce stated that threats from China and Russia “may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive U.S. data.”

The decision to reverse course follows a parallel action by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission last month, when the agency barred imports of new drone models and critical components from foreign manufacturers, including DJI and Autel, on national security grounds. Earlier this week, the FCC announced that it would exempt certain non-Chinese drones from those restrictions.

As noted in federal filings, the FCC’s order prevents Chinese manufacturers from receiving the approvals required to market new drone systems in the United States. The ruling does not restrict the import or use of existing drone models previously authorized by the agency.

The Commerce Department held meetings with White House officials through December 19 as part of the review process, including a December 11 session with DJI representatives, according to records posted online. During that meeting, DJI told officials that blanket restrictions on Chinese-made drones would be “unnecessary, conceptually flawed, and would be extremely harmful to U.S. stakeholders.”

A U.S. government official cited by Reuters said the withdrawal appeared directly tied to efforts to prevent new confrontations with Beijing ahead of the Trump–Xi summit planned for April.

The administration has frozen other enforcement actions targeting Chinese technology sectors in recent weeks. In September, Commerce also previewed the possibility of new rules addressing medium- and heavy-duty truck imports from China, following earlier restrictions finalized in January 2025 under former President Joe Biden that barred nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market.