DJI drones and other Chinese makers could face new US ban

In brief: Popular drones from Chinese makers such as DJI could be banned from sale in the United States. According to a new report, Donald Trump is set to sign several executive orders this week that will expedite existing reviews on whether these drones pose national security risks.

According to a report by The Washington Post, the White House will announce multiple executive orders relating to Chinese-made drones this week.

The orders don’t include an outright ban on Chinese drones in the US. However, they do include provisions for US intelligence agencies to accelerate current reviews of whether Chinese drone makers such as DJI and Autel are national security risks.

In June last year, the House of Representatives rolled out their version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2025 (NDAA FY25). It resurrected the “Countering CCP Drones Act” – the same provision that previously pushed for a blanket prohibition on the sale of Chinese-made drones. But the Senate Armed Services Committee released its counterpart to the NDAA FY25 a month later, omitting the controversial drone clause.

In December, the Senate passed the NDAA, beginning a one-year deadline until DJI and Autel Robotics products were automatically banned from sale in the US. The only way out was for the companies to convince “an appropriate national security agency” to publicly declare that their products do not “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

Jonathan Rupprecht, a lawyer specializing in drone regulations, told The Washington Post, “If listed, there will most likely not be new or updated DJI or Autel equipment to be sold on the market because the manufacturers will not be able to obtain FCC certifications for the wireless transmitters.”

The orders will reportedly require the federal government to invest in the domestic drone industry, which has long struggled in the face of cheaper, more advanced products from China that have wide availability.

There will also be updates to drone regulations in the US. It’s believed that restrictions on commercial drones staying within visual line of sight of operators will be relaxed. There may also be requirements for owners of private infrastructure, such as amusement parks, to request FAA approval for commercial drone operations over their sites.

Chinese drones were banned from use by the US military in 2018 by the Department of Defense. There are also several states that prohibit police forces from buying Chinese-made UAVs.

In addition to Chinese drones, US security agencies are reviewing whether routers from TP-Link should be banned from sale in the US, citing alleged links to China and anti-competitive behavior.

Image credit: Mitch Nielsen