US government removes Xiaomi from Chinese military blacklist

The US government permanently removes Xiaomi from the blacklist of ‘Communist Chinese military companies’. A judge had previously ruled that Xiaomi had to be temporarily picked up there, but that decision is now final.

The US Department of Defense and Xiaomi have jointly released a statement concluding that a final order to remove Xiaomi from the list of Chinese military companies would be appropriate. The two parties will negotiate this out of court and will come up with a proposal for settlement before May 20, The Verge writes.

Xiaomi was blacklisted from the Department of Defense by the Trump administration in January this year. The Chinese manufacturer was identified as a company with close ties to the Chinese military. Xiaomi denied that and successfully challenged the decision.

In March, a federal court ruled that Xiaomi should be removed from the list for the time being. The court was skeptical whether sufficient national security interests would be involved. It was still waiting for a final decision, but because the Ministry of Defense and Xiaomi themselves have reached an agreement, it is no longer necessary.

The list of Chinese military companies is slightly different from the Entity List that includes Huawei and DJI, for example. This is a blacklist from the US Department of Commerce that ensures that US companies are only allowed to cooperate with companies that are on that list with specific permission.

Being placed on the military list had no direct consequences for Xiaomi, but would mean that American companies had to withdraw and reduce their investments. Xiaomi was the only consumer product manufacturer on the list. There are also industrial companies from, for example, the aviation sector, the chemical sector and the chip industry.