{"id":1496935,"date":"2024-10-18T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1496935"},"modified":"2024-10-18T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T04:30:00","slug":"us-cbp-agents-halt-some-dji-drone-imports-over-forced-labor-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/us-cbp-agents-halt-some-dji-drone-imports-over-forced-labor-concerns\/1496935\/","title":{"rendered":"US CBP Agents Halt Some DJI Drone Imports Over &#8216;Forced Labor&#8217; Concerns\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">US CBP Agents Halt Some DJI Drone Imports Over &#8216;Forced Labor&#8217; Concerns\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Chinese drone manufacturer <em>SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO LTD.<\/em>, commonly known by many pilots as &#8220;DJI,&#8221; is the\u00a0world&#8217;s largest drone maker. It produces billions of dollars worth of drones each year, which end up in the hands of US consumers, government agencies, and\/or\u00a0on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/military\/evolving-battlefield-how-ai-and-drones-redefine-modern-warfare\">modern battlefield<\/a> in Eastern Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>DJI is a privately held company. It has\u00a0received funding from\u00a0state-owned enterprises in China and is classified as a &#8220;Chinese military company&#8221; by the US Department of Defense, according to the think tank <a href=\"https:\/\/uhrp.org\/report\/surveillance-tech-series-djis-links-to-human-rights-abuses-in-east-turkistan\/\">Uyghur Human Rights Proj<\/a>ect, adding it supplies more than half of all drones in the US and is the most recognizable drone brand among consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/ccce86e5cde86884a4a58b3f605aef01.jpg?itok=a8HdDwsE\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, a new report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/us-customs-halting-some-drone-imports-chinese-manufacturer-dji-company-says-2024-10-16\/\">Reuters<\/a> says the popular drone brand has faced difficulties importing various drone models into the US after the\u00a0US Customs and Border Protection used the\u00a0Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>DJI notified US importers via a letter that the CBP stopped some drone imports from entering the US because CBP agents were\u00a0verifying documentation that\u00a0the drones were in good standing with\u00a0UFLPA. In other words, border agents were making sure the drones were not produced by\u00a0forced labor\u00a0in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The letter told importers that the action\u00a0appeared to be &#8220;part of a broader initiative by the Department of Homeland Security to scrutinize the origins of products, particularly in the case of Chinese-made drones,&#8221; adding that the US government&#8217;s claims are\u00a0&#8220;unsubstantiated and categorically false, but the law gives them the authority to withhold goods without any tangible evidence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Data from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sayari.com\/\">Sayari<\/a>, a top\u00a0counterparty and\u00a0supply chain risk intelligence provider, shows DJI has seven major risk factors. It has\u00a0exposure to a\u00a0Xinjiang-based entity with forced labor concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2024-10-17_16-06-43.png?itok=tW9-B9Ak\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The entity possibly owns (minority, majority, or wholly) a Xinjiang-based entity up to 3 hops away via direct shareholding relationships with 10% or more controlling interest, including beneficial owner, owner, shareholder, partner, subsidiary, or branch. Applicable to entities globally,&#8221; Sayari noted in the DJI profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2024-10-17_16-07-17.png?itok=M8FH-Pf9\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>DJI products are also widely used by\u00a0US\u00a0government agencies. US lawmakers have sounded the alarm (<strong>read<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/senators-introduce-bill-blacklist-chinese-drones-us\"><em>Senators Introduce Bill To Blacklist Chinese Drones In The US)<\/em><\/a> on the widespread use of these drones by consumers and government agencies, warning these unmanned systems are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/fbi-cisa-warn-risks-posed-chinese-made-drones\">national security threats<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, state-run Chinese media outlet Global Times spoke with\u00a0L\u00fc Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, about the incident first reported by Reuters, criticizing Washington for &#8220;adopting the ridiculous and discriminatory UFLPA to crack down on the drone maker.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Xiang told GT,\u00a0&#8220;By doing so, the Biden government may aim to protect the US dronemaking industry. However, the unreasonable move by the US could spark further concerns worldwide over future China-US relations.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What drone industry is the Biden admin protecting for consumers? We can&#8217;t name one affordable US-based drone company that is as good or exceeds DJI in performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" class=\"username\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Thu, 10\/17\/2024 &#8211; 20:30<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/technology\/us-cbp-agents-halt-some-dji-drone-imports-over-forced-labor-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/technology\/us-cbp-agents-halt-some-dji-drone-imports-over-forced-labor-concerns<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US CBP Agents Halt Some DJI Drone Imports Over &#8216;Forced Labor&#8217; Concerns\u00a0 Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO LTD., commonly known by many pilots&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1496936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1496935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1496935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1496936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1496935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1496935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1496935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}