WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is expected on Friday to add Chinese firms connected to Beijing’s suspected surveillance balloon program to an export blacklist, three sources familiar with the plans said.
Earlier this week the U.S. had said it would explore taking action against entities connected to China’s military that supported the flight of a Chinese spy balloon into U.S. airspace last week.
Washington is confident the manufacturer of the Chinese balloon, shot down by the U.S. military last weekend off the U.S. East Coast, has a “direct relationship” with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The United States has used restrictions on tech exports to China to keep that country from advancing militarily. The Biden administration, and before it the Trump White House, had added numerous Chinese companies to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
Chinese memory chipmaker YMTC and 21 “major” Chinese players in the artificial intelligence chip sector were added to the trade blacklist in December, broadening the crackdown on China’s chip industry.
The move, which will be published in the Federal Register, will bar suppliers from shipping U.S. goods to a listed Chinese company without a difficult-to-obtain license.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; writing by Tim Ahmann; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chris Reese)
