In addition to the recent 20% tariff imposition by President Trump on Chinese Imports, the U.S. has now added several Chinese companies to what is unofficially known as the “American Blacklist.” This includes a list of companies in select countries whose imports — or American exports — pose a certain kind of risk to the U.S. national security as well as trade sovereignty.
Maintained by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, this trade blacklist is officially known as the “Entity List,” where Chinese companies take the lion’s share amongst other countries.
Keeping the Biden administration screws tightened, President Trump’s administration in conjunction with the U.S. Commerce Department has taken significant action to protect America, specifically against its long-time adversary, China.
As such, due to contrary activities that were carried out by these entities, The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in a bid to protect the U.S. national security and foreign policy has now added 80 new entities from China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa, Iran, Taiwan and others to the list, with Chinese companies having the highest representation.
According to the press release by BIS, “The Entity List identifies entities and addresses for which there is reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable facts, that the entities — including businesses, research institutions, government and private organizations, individuals, and other types of legal persons — or parties that are operating at an address that present a high diversion risk, have been involved, are involved, or pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
This adds another level of strain and pressure to the already weakened relationship between the respective governments of the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China.
BIS says they have taken specific measures against these companies, most of which are of Chinese origin. For the fear that they might be using cutting-edge technologies sourced from the U.S., these measures were taken:
- Restrict the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ability to acquire and develop high-performance and exascale computing capabilities, as well as quantum technologies, for military applications
- Impede China’s development of its hypersonic weapons program
- Prevent entities associated with the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) from using U.S. items to train Chinese military forces
Hence, over 60 Chinese entities were added to the list for various reasons. According to BIS, some of these reasons are:
- Chinese entities engaging in the development of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), supercomputers, and high-performance AI chips for China-based end-users with close ties to the country’s military-industrial complex
- For acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of China’s military modernization, including the development of hypersonic weapons and the design and modeling of vehicles in hypersonic flight.
- For acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of advancing the CCP’s quantum technology capabilities, presenting serious ramifications for U.S. national security given the military applications of quantum technologies.
- For selling products to parties on the Entity List, including Huawei and affiliated entity HiSilicon.
“American technology should never be used against the American people,” says Jeffery Kessler, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security. “BIS is sending a clear, resounding message that the Trump administration will work tirelessly to safeguard our national security by preventing U.S. technologies and goods from being misused for high-performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and UAVs that threaten our national security.”
“The Entity List is one of many powerful tools at our disposal to identify and cut off foreign adversaries seeking to exploit American technology for malign purposes.”
People believe this expansion was done to disrupt the flow and advancements China has made so far in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing.
