Now that Huawei has actually faded out of sight, the Trump administration has turned its attention to another major Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi. On Thursday, the U.S. administration added nine companies to its blacklist of Chinese military related companies, including the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, Xiaomi.
After this move, American investors will no longer be able to invest in companies that have joined the special blacklist. Reuters reported that they are banned from buying shares and securities of companies like Xiaomi, which will be included in the list and must divest their existing shares before November 11, 2021.
Unfortunately, so far, the Trump administration has not provided any evidence to prove the relationship between Xiaomi or other companies and the Chinese military.
Considering that Xiaomi is essentially a smartphone and electronic product company, the blacklisting of Xiaomi is very sudden and unexpected.
Prior to this, the work of the Trump administration focused on blacklisting companies from key industries such as telecommunications (Huawei) and semiconductor technology (SMIC).
At present, the United States has blacklisted more than 60 Chinese companies, including DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, and SMIC, China’s largest semiconductor company.
However, it is worth noting that this blacklist is different from the US entity list. Therefore, unlike Huawei or even DJI, Xiaomi can still import American technology without a license, at least for now.
The Biden administration, which will take office on January 20, is likely to overturn this decision. But until then, how Xiaomi and other Chinese companies respond to this sudden blacklist remains to be seen.
