US judge removes China’s Xiaomi from Trump-era blacklist

A US judge on Friday ordered Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi
temporarily removed from a government blacklist barring American
investment in the company.

Six days before Donald Trump left office last year, his
administration cemented its trade war legacy against Beijing with a
series of announcements targeting Chinese firms including Xiaomi,
state oil giant CNOOC, and social media darling TikTok.

Xiaomi was one of nine firms classified by the Pentagon as
“Communist Chinese military companies.”

But US District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington ruled
Friday the Departments of Defense and Treasury “have not made the
case that the national security interests at stake here are
compelling.”

He issued a preliminary injunction removing Xiaomi from the
blacklist and suspending the ban on US investors buying the
company’s securities.

In an appeal filed in January against its blacklisting, Xiaomi —
which overtook Apple last year to become the world’s third-largest
smartphone manufacturer — said Washington’s moves were “incorrect”
and had “deprived the company of legal due process.”

Contreras’s decision came the same day US regulators listed
Huawei and ZTE among Chinese telecom gear firms deemed a threat to
national security, signalling that a hoped-for softening of
relations is not on the cards.

Huawei chief and founder Ren Zhengfei last month called for a
reset with the United States under President Joe Biden, after the
firm was battered by sanctions imposed by Trump’s
administration.

The telecoms giant has been at the centre of the Sino-American
rivalry in recent years, against a backdrop of a trade and
technology war between the superpowers.

Washington claims Huawei has close ties to China’s military and
that Beijing could use its equipment for espionage — accusations
the company denies.

AFP

A US judge on Friday ordered Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi
temporarily removed from a government blacklist barring American
investment in the company.

Six days before Donald Trump left office last year, his
administration cemented its trade war legacy against Beijing with a
series of announcements targeting Chinese firms including Xiaomi,
state oil giant CNOOC, and social media darling TikTok.

Xiaomi was one of nine firms classified by the Pentagon as
“Communist Chinese military companies.”

But US District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington ruled
Friday the Departments of Defense and Treasury “have not made the
case that the national security interests at stake here are
compelling.”

He issued a preliminary injunction removing Xiaomi from the
blacklist and suspending the ban on US investors buying the
company’s securities.

In an appeal filed in January against its blacklisting, Xiaomi —
which overtook Apple last year to become the world’s third-largest
smartphone manufacturer — said Washington’s moves were “incorrect”
and had “deprived the company of legal due process.”

Contreras’s decision came the same day US regulators listed
Huawei and ZTE among Chinese telecom gear firms deemed a threat to
national security, signalling that a hoped-for softening of
relations is not on the cards.

Huawei chief and founder Ren Zhengfei last month called for a
reset with the United States under President Joe Biden, after the
firm was battered by sanctions imposed by Trump’s
administration.

The telecoms giant has been at the centre of the Sino-American
rivalry in recent years, against a backdrop of a trade and
technology war between the superpowers.

Washington claims Huawei has close ties to China’s military and
that Beijing could use its equipment for espionage — accusations
the company denies.

AFP