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WA drone makers sanctioned as China hits back after Trump tariffs

Alex Halverson, The Seattle Times on

Published in Business News

China placed two drone manufacturers with Seattle ties on its “unreliable entity” list, subjecting them to trade sanctions and export controls.

Seattle-based Brinc Drones, which specializes in tactical and emergency response drones, was accused of “military technology cooperation with Taiwan,” which it considers its territory. China accused Boeing-owned Insitu, which produces military-grade quadcopter and airplane-shaped drones, of the same thing.

State-run media reported Friday that the two firms, along with nine others, were prohibited from import and export activities with China. They’re also restricted from new investments in China.

Brinc and Insitu did not respond to requests for comment.

The moves by China were part of a larger retaliation against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs announced on Wednesday. Trump set a baseline 10% tariff rate on all imported goods and added 34% to the 20% rate he already placed on China.

On Friday, China said it would impose a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports starting next Thursday.

Trump responded to China’s announce Friday on Truth Social: “CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO.”

China’s retaliation added more fuel to a meltdown on the stock market that started with Trump’s tariff announcement. The pullbacks have wiped out a record $6.6 trillion in stock market value over the past two days, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Share price declines have shown multiple industries are vulnerable to rising costs from an escalating trade war. Retail stocks were hammered and most of the tech sector has been slipping since Wednesday afternoon.

 

A computer chip exemption is a big one for tech, which could be helping those stocks from falling even further.

The chip exemption is “one of the main things to keep an eye on,” said Philip Bond, a finance professor at the University of Washington. “The exemption on semiconductors is a big deal for tech. All of these companies are running big server farms.”

But three of the Big Tech companies feeling acute pain after China’s retaliation on Friday were Apple, Meta and Amazon, which fell by 7%, 5% and 4%, respectively, on top of Thursday’s losses. Apple fell a further 4% on Monday, while Meta and Amazon each recovered by 2%.

All three companies depend on revenue from suppliers and firms in China. Apple imports its products from overseas, mostly in China. And while it’s diversified its supply chain to countries like Vietnam and India, it can’t escape Trump’s tariffs unless exemptions are carved out.

Amazon also relies heavily on China. The company said in an annual report earlier this year that many of its third-party sellers are either based in China or source their products from the country. More than 60% of Amazon’s e-commerce sales come from third-party sellers.

Meta’s ties to China are less obvious. The company acknowledges in its annual reports that many of its products aren’t generally available in China. However, Chinese firms are spending money on Meta’s services.

Advertising drives most of Meta’s revenue, accounting for about 97% of it last year.

China-based ad resellers, which purchase advertising space from Meta, accounted for 11% of the company’s revenue. The country is a larger source of revenue than Africa, Latin America and the Middle East combined.


©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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