Good news for Xiaomi: it’s no longer on the black list

There's still no final agreement, but almost: Xiaomi exits the black list of companies suspected of ties to the Chinese military.

Xiaomi and the U.S. government have reached an agreement: the Chinese electronics giant is no longer on the black list drawn up by the Trump administration (and inherited from the Biden administration) of companies controlled by or otherwise linked to the People's Republic of China's military. Among the consequences of the blacklisting was a ban on U.S. citizens buying Xiaomi shares on the stock exchange.

The Chinese giant had reacted quite aggressively to Donald Trump's move, suing the U.S. government in early 2021. La mossa sembra avere sortito gli effetti sperati, tanto che Xiaomi e Dipartimento della Difesa americano hanno firmato un accordo che porterà Xiaomi a ritirare la causa e gli Stati Uniti a togliere la compagnia dalla black list. L’accordo, però, è al momento quasi del tutto segreto: si sa solo che verrà firmata una nuova intesa entro il 20 maggio, ma non se ne conoscono i dettagli. Non si sa, ad esempio, se Xiaomi dovrà fare qualche passo indietro per ottenere la riabilitazione. Né Xiaomi, né il Dipartimento della Difesa né il Governo cinese hanno voluto commentare la notizia.

Una vittoria per Xiaomi

Non si conoscono i dettagli dell’intesa, ma si può supporre che sarà favorevole all’azienda cinese che già a marzo aveva ottenuto una prima vittoria: un tribunale statunitense si è schierato con Xiaomi nella causa, sospendendo temporaneamente il ban del Dipartimento della Difesa.

Judge Rudolph Contreras at the time said that without a stop to the sanctions Xiaomi could suffer "irreparable damage."

USA vs. China

The current tense situation between Chinese companies and the U.S. government stems from the end of former President Donald Trump's term in office, who after hitting Huawei hard in 2019 by preventing it from doing any kind of business with U.S. (and non-American) companies turned his attention to other major tech biggies from China: Xiaomi, ByteDance (TikTok), and Tencent (WeChat).

To have the worst, until now, has been Huawei: in addition to having practically disappeared from the smartphone market because it cannot buy many components for its devices, in fact, the Chinese giant has been excluded from many international tenders for 5G network infrastructures. Also in Europe, including Italy.