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US-China relations
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DevelopingUS adds Alibaba, BYD and other Chinese tech champions to military company blacklist

Trump administration has designated top China firms as ‘Chinese military companies’ operating in the United States

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A visitor walks in front of the Alibaba booth during the third China International Supply Chain Expo at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing in July 2025. Photo: AP
Teresa Elena Frontadoin WashingtonandMark Magnierin New York
The Pentagon signalled on Monday that it was adding Alibaba, BYD, Baidu and dozens of other Chinese companies to its list of entities it says are linked to China’s military, widening a blacklist that increasingly targets sectors at the heart of US-China technological competition.
In a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication on Wednesday, the US Department of Defence designated a broad range of Chinese firms as “Chinese military companies” under Section 1260H of the National Defence Authorisation Act.

These include electric vehicle makers, artificial intelligence companies, battery manufacturers, biotech firms and solar suppliers. The designation can complicate companies’ access to US capital markets and government business, although it does not automatically trigger sanctions.

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Among the most prominent additions were e-commerce giant Alibaba, search and AI company Baidu, electric vehicle manufacturers BYD and Nio, pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company WuXi AppTec, robot maker Unitree, networking equipment maker TP-Link and solar companies JA Solar and Trina Solar. The list also included battery makers CALB and EVE Energy, lidar firms Hesai and RoboSense, and display-panel manufacturer BOE Technology Group.

Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

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The Pentagon said the companies met statutory criteria for designation based on factors including alleged affiliations with Chinese state entities, military-civil fusion programmes, the People’s Liberation Army or government industrial initiatives.

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