The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it has dropped plans to impose new restrictions on Chinese-made drones aimed at addressing national security concerns, stepping back from a proposal that followed an earlier crackdown on passenger cars and trucks.
The decision comes after the Federal Communications Commission last month barred imports of new models of foreign-made drones and critical components on national security grounds, including products from China’s DJI and Autel. The FCC said this week it would exempt some non-Chinese drones from those restrictions.
The Commerce Department had said in September that it planned to issue rules that could restrict or potentially block imports of Chinese drones due to concerns over information and communications technology supply chains. The proposal was sent to the White House for review on October 8, but was formally withdrawn on Thursday, according to a government website posting released on Friday.
Under the FCC’s current measures, Chinese drone manufacturers cannot obtain the approvals needed to sell new drone models or key components in the United States. However, the rules do not ban the import, sale or use of existing drone models previously authorized, nor do they affect drones already purchased by users.
Records posted online show that the White House and the Commerce Department discussed the drone proposal through December 19 and met with DJI officials on December 11. During those discussions, DJI argued that blanket restrictions on drones manufactured in China would be “unnecessary, conceptually flawed, and extremely harmful to U.S. stakeholders.”
The withdrawal appears to be linked to a broader pause in actions targeting China ahead of a planned meeting in April between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a government official briefed on the matter.
The Commerce Department had previously warned that threats from China and Russia could allow adversaries to remotely access or manipulate drone systems, potentially exposing sensitive U.S. data. It had also been considering restrictions on key drone systems such as onboard computers, communications equipment, flight control systems, operating software and data storage — measures that some experts said could amount to an effective ban on Chinese drones.
Chinese imports account for the majority of commercial drone sales in the United States, with DJI alone representing more than half of the market. Neither the Commerce Department nor DJI immediately responded to requests for comment.