China announced restrictions on drone exports to the United States and blacklisted six companies on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) in response to trade sanctions imposed by Washington over forced labour and national security concerns.

The move comes days after the United States imposed fresh tariffs on China and 59 other countries, adding to a series of recent trade measures.

The U.S. actions “seriously harm China’s legitimate rights and interests”, a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

“China can only take necessary countermeasures in response, including strengthening export controls on drones, and their key components and technology to the U.S.”

Beijing’s measures also include suspending factory follow-up inspections by Chinese certification bodies, blacklisting U.S. compliance testing companies, and launching national security investigations into imports of office printers and copiers, according to the Ministry.

It also imposed sanctions on six U.S. businesses, including biotech company Applied DNA Sciences and geoscience research firm Stratum Reservoir, barring organisations and individuals within China from “engaging in relevant transactions, cooperation, or other activities with them”.

The six entities “have assisted and supported illegal US sanctions related to Xinjiang; the nature of their actions is egregious”, the Commerce Ministry said.

The UN has warned of possible crimes against humanity in Xinjiang region targeting the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority — accusations China vehemently denies.

China’s top trade official He Lifeng expressed “serious concern” to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in a call over the recent restrictions, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China also accused the United States last week of seeking to “suppress” Chinese companies, after Washington banned imports of humanoid and quadruped robots manufactured abroad in a move separate from the new tariffs.

China and the United States spent much of last year embroiled in an escalating trade war but reached a truce when U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met last October.

The latest U.S. tariffs against China and other trade partners however have threatened that truce, with Beijing warning Washington against waging a trade war.

China said on Monday (November 10, 2025) it would suspend for one year the “special port fees” on U.S. vessels “simultaneously” with Washington’s pause on levies targeting Chinese ships, as a fragile trade truce between the superpowers continues to take shape.

The United States and China have been involved in a volatile trade and tariff war for months, but agreed to walk back some punitive measures after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met last month in South Korea.

At one point, duties on both sides had reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world’s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains.

The suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships operated by or built in the United States that visited Chinese ports, began at 13:01 (05:01 GMT) on Monday (November 10), a transport ministry statement said.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry was dominant after the Second World War but has gradually declined and now accounts for just 0.1% of global output.

The sector is now dominated by Asia, with China building nearly half of all ships launched, ahead of South Korea and Japan.

Separately, Beijing said it would suspend sanctions against U.S. subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders.

The year-long suspension of measures against Hanwha, effective from November 10, was linked to the U.S. halting port fees it had levied on Chinese-built and operated ships, China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement.

“In light of this [U.S. suspension]… China has decided to suspend the relevant measures” for one year, the statement said.

China had imposed sanctions on five U.S. subsidiaries of Hanwha in October, accusing them of supporting a U.S. government “Section 301” investigation that found Beijing’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry unreasonable.

Organisations and individuals in China had been banned from cooperating with Hanwha Shipping LLC, Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc., Hanwha Ocean USA International LLC, Hanwha Shipping Holdings LLC and HS USA Holdings Corp.

A planned probe into whether the Section 301 investigation impacted the “security and development interests” of China’s shipbuilding industry and supply chain had also been shelved for one year, according to the transport ministry.

The suspensions are the latest sign of a thaw in economic ties since the Xi-Trump meeting.

On Wednesday (November 5), China said it would extend the suspension of additional tariffs on U.S. goods for one year, keeping them at 10%, and suspend some tariffs on soybeans and other U.S. agricultural products.

China also suspended an export ban on gallium, germanium and antimony, metals crucial for modern technology, on Sunday (November 9).

Also following talks, Beijing agreed to halt for one year restrictions on the export of rare earths technology.

Washington, in turn, agreed to suspend for one year export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies in which they had at least a 50% stake, the Chinese commerce ministry said Wednesday (November 5).