U.S. removes smartphone maker Xiaomi from blacklist

The U.S Department of Defense will remove China’s Xiaomi from a government blacklist, a court filing showed.
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The development would be marking a reversal by the Biden administration of one of Donald Trump’s last jabs at Beijing before exiting office.

The filing stated that the two parties would agree to resolve their litigation without contest, bringing to an end a brief and controversial spat between the hardware company and Washington that had further soured Sino-U.S. ties.

A Xiaomi spokeswoman said the company is watching the latest developments closely, without elaborating.

The department had designated Xiaomi as having ties to China’s military and placed it on a list that would restrict U.S. investment in the company.

Seven other Chinese companies were also placed under similar restrictions.

Xiaomi went on the offensive by filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government, calling its placement unlawful and unconstitutional and denying any ties to China’s military.

In March, a federal judge blocked enforcement of the blacklisting, citing the U.S. government’s deeply flawed process for including Xiaomi in the ban.

Xiaomi was among the more high-profile Chinese technology companies that former President Donald Trump targeted for alleged ties to China’s military.

Xiaomi’s local smartphone rival Huawei Technologies was also put on an export blacklist in 2019 and barred from accessing critical technology of U.S. origin, affecting its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors.

The measures effectively crippled Huawei’s smartphone division.