US Delays Adding Over 100 Chinese Firms, Including DeepSeek, to Trade Blacklist

China Urges U.S. to Stop Weaponizing Economic and Trade Issues

The United States is reportedly holding off on adding more than 100 Chinese companies, identified as national security threats, to its trade blacklist.

According to local media reports on the 16th (local time), approvals were already granted last year through interagency reviews to add Chinese companies—including artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), and others—to the "Entity List." However, the U.S. Department of Commerce has yet to release additional details about these listings.

The Entity List is a blacklist that restricts U.S. companies from exporting to designated entities. Since October of last year, the United States has not added new companies to the Entity List, marking the longest hiatus in more than a decade.

Experts generally agree that the Trump administration is delaying the disclosure of these company names in an effort to avoid escalating tensions with China.

A senior official from the U.S. Department of State claimed to local media last year that DeepSeek has supported activities by the Chinese military and intelligence agencies, and has attempted to illegally access advanced U.S. semiconductors through paper companies in Southeast Asia. CXMT, the largest memory chipmaker in China, was designated as a Chinese military-related company by the U.S. Department of Defense during the previous Biden administration.

Additionally, Reuters reported that candidate companies for sanctions include Chinese firms that supplied parts for Russian drones recovered in Poland last year, companies that sold Nvidia semiconductors to Chinese universities, and manufacturers and sellers of Chinese military drones and robotic dogs.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce stated in a related announcement, "We use a variety of policy and enforcement tools, including the Entity List, on a daily basis to counter malicious actors."

In response, China is urging the United States to stop weaponizing economic measures. Lin Jian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing on the 17th, "China has consistently opposed the U.S. for excessively broadening the concept of national security, and for using the Entity List and other export control tools to suppress and contain Chinese companies." He added, "The United States should stop politicizing, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing matters of economy, trade, and science and technology."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.