In late December, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced that it would withhold approval for the domestic sale of all new models of foreign-made drones and parts, stating that they posed “unacceptable risks to U.S. national security.” While the measure did not apply to existing models of hobbyist drones, such as the popular Mavic 3 quadcopter made by Chinese manufacturer DJI, it amounted to an effective ban on imports of all new drone systems produced outside the United States.
Just weeks later, however, the FCC announced exemptions for some European-made drones as well as for U.S. companies that manufacture their drones elsewhere. And one day after that, the Commerce Department announced that it had withdrawn a separate proposal that would have barred all Chinese drones—new and existing—from entering the U.S. market, possibly to generate goodwill before President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in April.
The Trump administration’s back-and-forth on restrictions of foreign-made drones is certainly odd and does not look particularly strategic. But the thinking that motivated the original policy has merit—and Europe should consider a similar step. Even if the FCC policy as well as the withdrawn Commerce Department proposal did not spell it out in great detail, foreign-made drones—and specifically Chinese drones—can indeed pose a risk to national security, whether for the U.S. or Europe.