Categories: Science

DJI ban: how the world’s biggest dronemaker is getting shoved out of the US

December 23rd, 2025. That’s the day DJI will automatically be banned from the United States — unless Trump steps in.

You’ll still be able to fly your existing DJI drones and film with existing Osmo cameras. But DJI will be barred from importing any new products into the US, and the FCC can retroactively ban imports of old DJI products too, after a waiting period. Not just drones, by the way — anything with a wireless radio.

Why a ban? Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle claim to be worried the Chinese company is spying on us, even though the US government has never publicly provided evidence of that. Some worry China could compel the company to turn over drone data. (DJI has denied it shares any data with China, claims it stores all such data in the US and announced it would delete all US flight logs in September 2024.)

Some also suggest DJI wouldn’t need to be compelled because DJI is allegedly “owned by the Chinese Communist Party,” though a US judge decided there wasn’t enough evidence to back that up in September 2025.

Either way, lawmakers and Trump would clearly prefer that American drones “dominate” the skies rather than Chinese ones, and it’s true that DJI’s drones dominate today. No other company has been able to produce similarly a volume of high-quality, low-cost drones, to the point that some Republican lawmakers finally began to push back against a ban just weeks before the December 2025 deadline.

They argue that DJI drones are important for farmers, energy companies, and rescue workers since no viable alternatives exist. Most of of DJI’s old competitors, like Skydio, have pivoted to enterprise and military — the new Insta360/Antigravity A1 is an unusual exception.

Even without a ban, DJI was already on the rails. US customs has been blocking many of its drone imports for over a year, seemingly claiming that DJI was using forced labor to produce its drones. (DJI denies this.) Between import scrutiny, increased tariffs and the broader political situation, most of its products had disappeared from store shelves; it didn’t even bother to launch its flagship Mavic 4 Pro, Mini 5 Pro, and Neo 2 in the US.

Instead, it appears DJI has been looking to sneak its products into the US under other brand names, like Xtra for cameras, or Skyrover for consumer drones, though the FCC will likely be able to crack down on those as well.

At this point, the ban looks inevitable. To avoid it, “an appropriate national security agency” would need to audit DJI and decide it’s not a threat, but DJI says no agency has taken up the task just weeks before the deadline.

But never say never. Remember the TikTok ban? Trump pressed pause on that one, despite it being signed into law, and those lawmakers seem to have no idea what might happen next. Trump has recently enjoyed shaking down tech companies including Intel, Nvidia, and Apple in exchange for political and financial wins, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him cut a deal with DJI as well.