Foreign gadget bans: all the news about the FCC’s clampdown on Chinese tech

What do drones, routers, and Roombas have in common? The US government wants to keep Chinese ones from entering the country. They’re the first consumer gadgets that are facing de facto import bans because of the US government’s xenophobic stance — and they might not be the last.

Originally, the US government was just worried about US networks. It’s been distrustful of Chinese telecom equipment providers Huawei and ZTE for well over a decade, eventually requiring telecom providers to “rip and replace” their gear. (Many telecoms have still failed to do so.) It established an “Entity List” for companies whose gear should be banned from import, marketing, and sale.