Foreign gadget bans: all the news about the FCC’s clampdown on Chinese tech

A gavel anterior to an unfastened committee gathering astatine the FCC. | Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What bash drones, routers, and Roombas person successful common? The US authorities wants to support Chinese ones from entering the country. They’re the archetypal user gadgets that are facing de facto import bans due to the fact that of the US government’s xenophobic stance — and they mightiness not beryllium the last.

Originally, the US authorities was conscionable disquieted astir US networks. It’s been distrustful of Chinese telecom instrumentality providers Huawei and ZTE for well implicit a decade, yet requiring telecom providers to “rip and replace” their gear. (Many telecoms person still failed to bash so.) It established an “Entity List” for companies whose cogwheel should beryllium banned from import, marketing, and sale.

But nether the 2nd Trump administration, that database has been weaponized against full location user gadget categories excessively — starting successful December 2025 erstwhile Trump and Brendan Carr’s FCC banned each aboriginal overseas drones unless their companies obtained a waiver.

Next was a prohibition connected each aboriginal overseas routers, each future overseas robots and powerfulness inverters, and wrong the robot ban, each aboriginal overseas robovacs. In each case, the authorities claims it’s due to the fact that those gadgets fundamentally airs an unacceptable menace to US nationalist security. But successful each case, the US has provided zero nationalist grounds of a threat, has done thing about existing drones and routers and robots that mightiness airs specified a threat, and hasn’t fixed america immoderate crushed to spot that its waivers have thing to bash with security.

Besides, determination are seldom immoderate US companies to capable the gaps near by overseas ones. Consumer gadgets are mostly made overseas, including practically each routers and practically each drones — conscionable similar however your Apple, Dell, and HP laptops are not made successful the US.

In this StoryStream, we’re pursuing the latest connected the overseas gadget bans.

• MSI conscionable got a router prohibition waiver — but not a broad one.
• Will TP-Link truly marque routers successful the US? Here’s what it told us
• Another ‘DJI beforehand company’ bites the dust.
• It definite would beryllium bully if these congresspeople would accidental wherefore DJI is simply a threat.
• Unlike Netgear and Asus, TP-Link says it’s prepared to walk $1 cardinal to marque Wi-Fi routers successful the US.
• The FCC plans to prohibition each Chinese labs from investigating US gadgets by 2029.
• The FCC has decertified 2 much Chinese trial labs.
• The Matic is the archetypal robovac to get an FCC prohibition waiver, not that it needs it
• Asus won’t accidental however it escaped the US router ban
• Etsy is disquieted it’ll get caught up successful the FCC’s gadget bans.
• We flew the banned drone with snap-on propeller wings.
• HoverAir’s transforming modular drone has already been halted successful the US
• I bought DJI’s banned camera — it was inexpensive and easy
• Does giving a camera wings dodge the FCC’s drone ban?
• That lying drone institution we caught? The FCC has present banned Odyssey Robot.
• The prohibition connected robot vacuums won’t marque them safer, lone worse
• The US authorities conscionable banned Roombas
• DJI camera clone institution Xtra claims it’s ‘in adjacent communication’ with the FCC.
• DJI camera clone institution Xtra is halting and refunding each preorders
• Whack-a-drone
• The FCC is readying to retroactively prohibition disguised DJI gadgets
• The FCC is cracking down connected DJI tech that dodged the overseas drone ban
• The FCC is redeeming Amazon’s Eero and Leo routers from its ban, too.
• Netgear and the FCC person not responded to our emails.
• The FCC conscionable saved Netgear from its router prohibition for nary evident reason
• Sorry kid, drones are for warfare now
• Asus is the latest with a thing connection astir the US router ban.
• The United States router ban, explained
• The US authorities conscionable banned user routers made extracurricular the US
• DJI sues implicit the FCC’s determination to artifact caller drone imports
• The FCC’s overseas drone prohibition is here
• The FCC conscionable gave itself the powerfulness to marque a DJI drone prohibition stick
• Xtra: the institution that lets DJI sneak its fashionable cameras into the US
• DJI couldn’t corroborate oregon contradict it disguised this drone to evade a US ban
• DJI explains wherefore it won’t halt drones from flying implicit the White House — and what happens successful a US ban
• US targets TP-Link with a imaginable prohibition connected the Chinese routers
• DJI mightiness get banned adjacent successful the US