Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Chinese Firms Rebranding Products to Evade Restrictions

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China asked the Commerce Department last week to describe the steps the Biden administration is taking to address attempts by Chinese companies to offer their products through different companies to evade U.S. restrictions.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the committee’s chairman and ranking member, respectively, said they’re concerned that U.S.-based Anzu Robotics and Hong Kong-based Cogito Tech are selling products nearly identical to those of Chinese drone maker DJI to get around U.S. restrictions. DJI is on several U.S. restrictive lists, including the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which bans U.S. companies from exporting technology to DJI.

“While the United States government welcomes and encourages a robust domestic [unmanned aerial vehicle] manufacturing base, we cannot afford to allow these manufacturers to operate on behalf of [China] and an Entity Listed firm,” the lawmakers wrote.