China bans more US defense firms

MANILA, Philippines — China banned 25 more U.S. firms, the latest addition to a bourgeoning list of American defense firms barred from conducting economic activity there.

The Ministry of Commerce stated in a press release this week that the ban aims to protect the country’s “national sovereignty and security.” It effectively halts existing export activities, blocks imports, and prohibits companies from making new investments in China.

China’s response comes as President Donald Trump’s moves to increase trade tariffs against China take effect. The list was released by the commerce ministry a day ahead of President Trump’s two-hour speech to Congress in Washington on March 4.

In his speech, Trump pledged to impose “reciprocal tariffs” to take effect on April 2.

“Whatever they tariff us – other countries – we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal, back and forth. Whenever they tax us, we will tax them. If they give non-monetary barriers to keep us out of their markets, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market,” Trump said.

China’s ban list includes some 25 American firms; 10 companies are listed in the unreliable entity list while 15 are added to the export control list.

Companies in China’s expanding unreliable entity list include Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc, America’s largest military shipbuilder; S3 AeroDefense; Cubic Corporation; defense and space company ACT1 Federal; AI companies TextOre and Exovera; TCOM Limited Partnership; Stick Rudder Enterprises LLC; and Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc.

The statement also included US biotech firm Illumina Inc. which was ushered into the unreliable entity list last month.

The 15 U.S. companies in the export control list are General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Leidos, Gibbs & Cox Inc., IP Video Market Info Inc., Sourcemap Inc., Skydio Inc., Rapid Flight LLC, Red Six Solutions, Shield AI Inc., HavocAI, Neros Technologies, Group W, Aerkomm Inc., General Dynamics Land Systems, and AeroVironment.

The announcement came at the height of China’s much-awaited Two Sessions Meeting, an annual political gathering of more than 5,000 delegates to discuss key issues, including economics, foreign policy, and security.

Geopolitical watchers expected the meeting to include pronouncements on Taiwan, a rogue province China has threatened to take back by force.

In January, China hit Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and 26 other American defense and dual-use firms with an export ban after Washington’s arms sale to Taiwan.

Experts earlier warned that the tariffs could plunge China and the U.S. into a full-scale trade war. China has filed lawsuits against the additional tariffs at the World Trade Organization this week.

Before Trump’s congressional speech, China’s foreign ministry bemoaned tariffs related to fentanyl and China’s alleged inaction in countering the drug flow, an accusation the ministry said is a “flimsy excuse to raise U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports.”

“Instead of recognizing our efforts, the U.S. has sought to smear and shift blame to China, and is seeking to pressure and blackmail China with tariff hikes. They’ve been punishing us for helping them,” reads a March 4 government post on X.

“Intimidation does not scare us. Bullying does not work on us,” the post stated. “If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till (sic) the end.”

Leilani Chavez is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. Her reporting expertise is in East Asian politics, development projects, environmental issues and security.

菲律宾马尼拉——中国再次禁止25家美国公司在华开展经济活动，这是被禁止在华开展经济活动的美国国防公司名单中的最新成员。

商务部本周在一份新闻稿中表示，该禁令旨在保护国家“主权和安全”。它实际上停止了现有的出口活动，阻止了进口，并禁止企业在中国进行新的投资。

中国的回应正值美国总统特朗普提高对华贸易关税的举措生效之际。这份清单由商务部在特朗普总统3月4日于华盛顿向国会发表两小时演讲的前一天公布。

特朗普在演讲中承诺，将从4月2日起实施“对等关税”。

“其他国家对我们征收什么关税，我们也会对他们征收什么关税。这是对等的，一来一往。他们什么时候对我们征税，我们什么时候也对他们征税。如果他们设置非货币壁垒阻止我们进入他们的市场，那么我们也会设置非货币壁垒阻止他们进入我们的市场，”特朗普说。

中国的禁令名单中包括约 25 家美国公司；其中 10 家公司被列入不可靠实体清单，15 家公司被列入出口管制清单。

中国不断扩大的不可靠实体清单中的公司包括：美国最大的军用造船商亨廷顿·英格尔斯工业公司；S3 AeroDefense；Cubic Corporation；国防和航天公司ACT1 Federal；人工智能公司TextOre和Exovera；TCOM Limited Partnership；Stick Rudder Enterprises LLC；以及Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc.。

声明中还包括美国生物技术公司 Illumina Inc.，该公司上个月被列入不可靠实体名单。

被列入出口管制名单的 15 家美国公司分别是：通用原子航空系统公司、Leidos、Gibbs & Cox 公司、IP 视频市场信息公司、Sourcemap 公司、Skydio 公司、Rapid Flight LLC、Red Six Solutions、Shield AI 公司、HavocAI、Neros Technologies、Group W、Aerkomm 公司、通用动力陆地系统公司和 AeroVironment 公司。

这一消息是在中国备受瞩目的两会期间发布的。两会是每年一度的政治盛会，有超过5000名代表参加，讨论包括经济、外交政策和安全在内的关键问题。

地缘政治观察人士预计，此次会议将就台湾问题发表声明。中国曾威胁要武力收复台湾这个“叛逆省份”。

今年1月，在华盛顿向台湾出售武器后，中国对洛克希德·马丁公司、雷神公司和其他26家美国国防和军民两用企业实施了出口禁令。

专家此前警告称，这些关税可能使中美两国陷入全面贸易战。本周，中国已向世界贸易组织提起诉讼，反对这些额外关税。

在特朗普向国会发表讲话之前，中国外交部对与芬太尼相关的关税以及中国在打击毒品流入方面的所谓不作为表示不满。外交部称，这一指控是“美国提高对中国进口商品关税的站不住脚的借口”。

“美国非但没有认可我们的努力，反而试图抹黑中国，把责任推卸给中国，并试图通过提高关税来向中国施压和勒索。他们一直在惩罚我们帮助他们，”3月4日，美国政府在X网站上发布的一篇文章写道。

“恐吓吓不倒我们，欺凌对我们无效，”帖子中写道。“如果美国想要战争，无论是关税战、贸易战还是其他任何类型的战争，我们都准备战斗到最后一刻。”

莱拉尼·查韦斯是《防务新闻》的亚洲记者。她的报道专长是东亚政治、发展项目、环境问题和安全。