(Credit: Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images)
UPDATE 6/7: President Trump signed two executive orders on Friday that stop short of ordering a full ban on Chinese-made drones from companies like DJI or Autel. However, one of them calls on the Federal Acquisition Security Council to "publish a Covered Foreign Entity List…identifying companies that pose supply chain risks." So, DJI and Autel could end up on that list.
Original Story:
The Trump administration is reportedly planning several executive orders that could ban Chinese companies like DJI and Autel from selling their drones in the US.
The orders could be signed as soon as this week, according to The Washington Post. They won't include a flat-out ban, but the US intelligence community would be directed to accelerate existing reviews of whether Chinese drone makers pose national security risks.
In addition, the orders would reportedly require the federal government to invest in the US domestic drone industry, while also updating federal regulations about where commercial drones can legally fly. The US has its own domestic drone manufacturers, like Silicon Valley-based Skydio, but while DJI doesn't reveal sales figures publicly, its sales likely far exceed Skydio, according to estimates.
In a statement, DJI said it does not currently have any information about potential executive orders, but adds that, "DJI welcomes and embraces any opportunities to demonstrate our privacy controls and security features."
DJI notes that an FY 2025 defense bill signed by President Biden last year requires the US to evaluate whether communications and video surveillance equipment made by DJI and Autel Robotics "pose an 'unacceptable risk' to US national security." Officials are supposed to do that within one year of the bill's Dec. 23, 2024, signing. If they don't, DJI products will be automatically added to the FCC's Covered List of products that can't be sold in the US.
"This would result in DJI not being able to launch new products in the US market, not through any fault of its own, but simply because no agency undertook the study of our products," DJI says. "DJI has long advocated for policies based on technological merit, not country of origin. We look forward to continuing to engage with the proper government authorities to ensure that any decisions are made based on the quality and safety of our products."
DJI argues that users have control over their data; by default, photos, flight logs, videos, and mobile data are not synced with DJI. As of June 2024, DJI no longer offers the option for consumer and enterprise drone operators in the US to sync their flight records to DJI's servers. A Local Data Mode also lets people fly its drones without a connection to the internet.
Though photography aficionados using drones like the DJI Mini 4 Pro like don't support a ban, Lisa Ellman, co-founder and CEO of the Commercial Drone Alliance, told the Post that the new regulations could boost the US drone industry, adding that her organization has been lobbying “US leadership for a really long time.”
Rumblings of a potential ban on Chinese drones have been brewing for quite some time. In 2022, the US Treasury added DJI and seven other companies to its Chinese Military-Industrial Complex list, which indicates some level of national security concern and prohibits US-based companies from exporting technology to them. Since then, DJI has been locked in a legal battle with the US over its inclusion on the list.
The US military has been banned from using Chinese drones since 2018, as have police forces in Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee. DJI also narrowly missing being banned in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in December 2024.
Editors' Note: This story was updated with comment from DJI.