United States Department of Commerce · Full chronicle and history

The U.S. Department of Commerce's 50% affiliate rule targeting China is scheduled to automatically resume around November 10, overlapping with the timeline of the Huawei case proceedings.

Reuters reported that the US Department of Commerce is preparing to tighten license approvals for exporting aircraft parts and aviation hydraulic fluid to China, using them as leverage in trade negotiations.

On October 1, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that over recent weeks the U.S. Department of Commerce has slowed approvals of export licenses for aviation parts to China, restricting the number of parts that COMAC is allowed to import in order to prevent stockpiling, hoping to trade this for concessions on rare earths and other issues.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng led a business delegation to arrive early in New York, USA, on September 19, holding business and trade barrier-related talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Bessent and other officials. Observers noted that this trip preceded the summit of heads of state by many days, and the official readout made no mention of paving the way for a leaders' summit, which commentators deemed highly unusual.

Republican Senator Jim Banks sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, urging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to take action to address Chinese companies' use of artificial intelligence to steal American intellectual property.

In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce revised its rules, changing exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China to case-by-case review; the Chinese side subsequently still has not approved the purchase.

In 2020, China was designated as a foreign adversary by the U.S. Department of Commerce under an executive order, subjecting transactions involving information and communication technology and services to special scrutiny.

On May 15, 2019 (US Eastern Time), the US Department of Commerce added Huawei and 70 subsidiaries to the Entity List; HiSilicon president He Tingbo subsequently sent an internal letter saying that the "backup" had "become primary."

In 2018, during the Trump administration, the United States began imposing high-tech sector restrictions on China; on April 16, the U.S. Department of Commerce reimposed a seven-year export ban on ZTE.