China's Export Crackdown Hits Boeing, Lockheed Martin And More

China's Ministry of Commerce implemented new trade controls on Thursday targeting U.S. defense contractors and technologies, citing national security concerns.  

The Details: In an escalation of ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, China’s Ministry of Commerce added 28 U.S. companies to an export control list and banned the export of dual-use items with both military and civilian applications to those companies. 

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China also added 10 companies to its Unreliable Entity List for participating in arms sales to Taiwan. Those companies are prohibited from doing any business in China and their executives may not enter or live in the country. Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT, Boeing Co. BA, General Dynamics Corp. GD and RTX Corp. RTX are among the companies affected. 

Andrew Gilholm, a China expert at the consulting firm Control Risks, told the New York Times that China has taken similar actions on these companies before. 

"Most of this is probably at the symbolic level because so many of these entities were already subject to sanctions," Gilholm said. 

"What we're seeing is the widening scope and number of entities being added in a single listing," he added. 

Why It Matters: The move is seen as retaliation to recent U.S. measures including the Biden administration’s restrictions on exports of advanced memory chips and chipmaking machinery to 140 Chinese companies and the addition of Chinese firms to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List. 

China's new trade controls come just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. Trump has pledged to raise tariffs on China-made goods and could use those tariffs to push for a new trade deal with China. 

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