Following the American government's bans on Chinese drone manufacturers in general and market leader DJI specifically, China has hit back with bans of its own.
Leading American companies Skydio, BRINC and Boeing's Insitu, and eight others, are now on China's "Unreliable Entity" list.
The sanctions followed President Trump's introduction of a tariff of 10% + 34% on all goods imported from China – but that's old news , as that's gone up to 145% now.
It's worth remembering that many historians will tell you that trade wars are often the driving force behind shooting wars – certainly the view of the FEE and (for now) even the US government historian warns of the perils of protectionism!
Tensions have been high in the drone industry for a while thanks to legislation aiming to ban Chinese Chinese-manufactured drones .
Skydio: Autonomous drones and former consumer drone company.
BRINC: Tactical and first responder drones.
Insitu: Boeing-owned intel & recon drone company.
Firestorm Labs: Military modular drone platform.
SYNEXXUS: Battlefield data systems company.
Red Six Solutions: Consultants for national security.
Kratos UAS: Defence UAS developers.
HavocAI: Swarm coordination.
Neros Technologies: Drone-mounted defense equipment.
DTC: Tactical comms for military/police.
Rapid Flight: Long-range defence drones.
Skydio CEO Adam Bry denied lobbying for a ban on DJI while making it very clear that it was something he'd support. It's very clear to the outside observer like me, safely in the UK, that Skydio's company's competitive struggles would seemingly be solved if the choice of better or cheaper Chinese drones were removed from American customers by their elected representatives. Skydio already charges more and doesn't like to sell on the open market.
Shortly after what was widely interpreted as an admission that his company was seeking to imbalance the US drone market through lobbying, Skydio found it was unable to source batteries for its "American" drones because they were made in China, as explained by this poster on Reddit.
Both governments use security justifications for the bans – America suggests Chinese drones are used in forced labour in Uyghur, while China links Skydio drones to action in Taiwan (which the country views as Chinese territory).
What's probably most interesting here is the lessons that the companies on this list can learn from Skydio's experience and other companies beyond the drone world since – now Trump has shown he is willing to apply trade sanctions without warning – American companies will want to understand the effect it will have on their supply chain.
Be prepared for life to get very difficult.
You might also like
If you're based in the USA and unable to buy the best camera drone because of laws restricting your freedom, check my guide to the best non-DJI drones.
