US imposes trade restrictions on dozens of entities with eye on China

According to the Commerce Department, the United States placed dozens of organizations on a trade blacklist on Tuesday, partly to thwart Beijing’s sophisticated computer and artificial intelligence capabilities.

According to the department, the action targets 80 organizations from nations such as China, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran because of their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.”

Without permission from the government, those added to the “entity list” are prohibited from acquiring US goods and technologies.

“We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” said US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The entities targeted include 11 based in China and one in Taiwan, accused of engaging in the development of advanced AI, supercomputers and high-performance AI chips for China-based users “with close ties to the country’s military-industrial complex.”

These include subsidiaries of the massive IT company Inspur Group and the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence.

For “contributions to unsafeguarded nuclear activities” or ballistic missile projects, others were added.

According to Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler, the goal is to stop the exploitation of US products and technologies for purposes such as military aviation training, hypersonic missiles, and high performance computing.

According to the Commerce Department, two organizations in China and Iran were also added to the list of organizations looking to purchase US goods for Iran’s drone and defense industries.

Beijing condemned the blacklisting of its firms, accusing Washington of “weaponizing” trade and technology in a “typical act of hegemonism”.

“We urge the US side to stop generalizing the concept of national security… and stop abusing all kinds of sanctions lists to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a daily news conference.

China would take “necessary measures” to defend its firms’ rights, Guo added.

Several of the blacklisted companies did not respond to AFP’s request for comment on Wednesday.