Xiaomi is celebrating a great victory today, since American justice has just removed the brand from the United States' blacklist. As a reminder, the Chinese firm was declared undesirable on January 15 by Donald Trump. A fate very different from that of Huawei, whose case is much more complicated.
It was one of the last decisions of the Trump administration: to place Xiaomi on the American blacklist , categorizing the brand as a military company, the armed wing of China. The firm has obviously contested the decision and a Washington DC court has just ruled in favor. It is once again possible for him to sell products in Uncle Sam's country and stocks to American investors.
Xiaomi of course welcomed this decision in a press release, pointing to the relentlessness of the former presidential administration towards it:
“Xiaomi believes that the decision to place it as a“ Communist China military company ”(editor's note: the category in which the mark was placed) was arbitrary and the result of a whim, and the judge agrees with this point. Xiaomi intends to continue its fight in court to classify this decision as outlawed and delete it permanently. "
It should in fact be pointed out that this lifting of sanctions is only temporary and that the American justice will have to look more closely at this case to give a final decision. However, this is an encouraging first step for Xiaomi.
XIAOMI, A VERY DIFFERENT CASE FROM HUAWEI
The case of Xiaomi is reminiscent of another: that of Huawei, on the blacklist since 2019. In reality, the situation of the two companies is very different. Firstly, Xiaomi only sells products aimed at the mainstream market, which is not the case with Huawei, which also makes professional products like 5G antennas.
Likewise, Xiaomi is a publicly traded company and its finances are less cloudy than Huawei's. As a reminder, Huawei is suspected of links with the Chinese army, and by extension of espionage on behalf of Beijing. Xiaomi can therefore breathe, but is not out of the woods, the American justice having to rule definitively on his case.