(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration appears to have hit pause on banning TP-Link Wi-Fi routers in the US.
Late last year, The Washington Post reported that several agencies—including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense—had backed a Commerce Department proposal to ban TP-Link products in the US, citing security concerns, clearing the way for Commerce to implement it. However, according to Reuters, the White House has now postponed the ban, along with several security measures aimed at China.
The US reportedly wants to avoid antagonizing Beijing ahead of Trump's planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. The other security measures that were shelved include blocking the sale of Chinese equipment to US data centers, Reuters says, citing four people familiar with the situation. As a result, the pause might spark concerns about whether the US is doing enough to counter Chinese state-sponsored hacking, which included a high-profile string of attacks that infiltrated major telecommunication networks in 2024.
Rumors about a TP-Link ban have been circulating for months. However, on Nov. 1, the Trump administration announced an initial trade deal with China that included dialing back tariff threats.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado/PCMag)Some US lawmakers and federal agencies have been pushing for the ban over concerns that the Chinese government could secretly compel TP-Link to help it spy on Americans. They leveled similar accusations against Huawei, another Chinese company that’s effectively banned in the US.
TP-Link was originally founded in Shenzhen, China, and has since become popular for selling affordable Wi-Fi routers. But last year, a group of 12 Republican lawmakers claimed TP-Link had “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party” and was using “predatory pricing” to eliminate US alternatives, while also providing a foundation for Chinese hackers to infiltrate American networks.
Still, no one has publicly disclosed a deliberate backdoor in TP-Link products. Although TP-Link's Wi-Fi routers have contained vulnerabilities before, the company says its products remain “on par with, or in some cases ahead of, other major industry players” in terms of security.
In addition, US router sales are handled by TP-Link Systems in Irvine, California, which was spun off from its Chinese counterpart in 2022. "As a US company, no foreign country or government—including China—has access to or control over the design and production of our products," the company previously told PCMag.