Trump Administration Shields DeepSeek and 100+ Chinese Firms From US Trade Blacklist

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Approved but Not Published

The US Commerce Department maintains a so-called "Entity List" — a trade blacklist that prohibits American companies from selling goods, software, or technology to listed firms without a special government license. Such licenses are typically denied.

According to a Reuters exclusive published on June 17, 2026, more than 100 companies identified as national security risks have been approved for listing by an interagency committee — but the Trump administration has refused to publish the additions. The committee includes officials from the departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, and sometimes Treasury.

At least 75 of those companies operate in advanced semiconductor production, chipmaking equipment, or AI development. The list has not been updated since October 2025 — the longest pause in over a decade.

DeepSeek: Military Ties and Stolen AI Capabilities

Among the companies blocked from blacklisting is DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup whose low-cost AI model surprised the global tech industry in January 2025. A senior US State Department official previously told Reuters that DeepSeek has actively supported China's military and intelligence operations and attempted to use shell companies in Southeast Asia to illegally obtain advanced US chips.

The situation is even more serious: Anthropic — the company behind Claude AI — reported it had identified a coordinated campaign by DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI labs to secretly extract capabilities from its platform. OpenAI separately warned US lawmakers that DeepSeek was also targeting its own models.

Despite this documented record, DeepSeek remains off the Entity List.

CXMT: Already a Designated Military Company

Also kept off the blacklist is ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's leading memory chipmaker. The US Defense Department under the Biden administration had already designated CXMT as a Chinese military company. The Commerce Department had been considering Entity List placement for well over a year.

CXMT did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Drones, Chips, and a Deliberate Delay

The scope of the backlog goes beyond AI firms. According to Reuters' sources, several Chinese companies were recommended for listing after supplying drone components recovered from Russian drones found in Poland in September 2025. Dozens of other Chinese firms were flagged for illegally supplying Nvidia chips to Chinese universities. Companies producing military drones and robot dogs for the Chinese People's Liberation Army were also on the list of potential targets — but none have been added.

Sources familiar with the matter say Jeffrey Kessler, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, has been actively resisting new listings since late 2025 to avoid escalating US-China tensions.

Experts Sound the Alarm

National security analysts are blunt in their assessment. Philip Luck of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington told Reuters the Entity List works like a constant game of whack-a-mole — you have to keep hitting the targets or they advance unchecked.

Former Commerce Department official Kevin Kurland was more direct: the absence of new listings since October shows that diplomatic trade considerations are overriding a critical national security instrument.

Beyond the Entity List, the Bureau of Industry and Security has still not published a replacement regulation for Biden-era rules governing global access to US-made AI chips — and is not enforcing the old rules either. Experts warn this may have opened a loophole allowing advanced chips to reach Chinese companies through indirect channels.

A Pattern of Inaction

The stalled Entity List is part of a broader pattern under the second Trump administration: the Bureau of Industry and Security appears to be systematically avoiding confrontational moves against China, even as documented evidence of technology theft, military support, and sanctions evasion piles up.

For American companies supplying components or software without knowing the nature of their customers' business, the lack of listings creates a serious liability — and for US national security, a widening gap.

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Sources:

1. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-holds-off-blacklisting-chinas-deepseek-more-than-100-firms-deemed-security-2026-06-17/
2. https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/us-holds-off-on-adding-deepseek-cxmt-to-trade-blacklist-reuters-reports-4746250
3. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/us-blacklists-50-chinese-companies-in-bid-to-curb-beijings-ai-chip-capabilities.html
4. https://cryptobriefing.com/us-deepseek-blacklist-security-review/

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