WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S Commerce Department said Wednesday that new restrictions on 33 Chinese firms and institutions will take effect on Friday after the agency announced last month it was adding them to an economic blacklist for helping Beijing spy on its minority Uighur population or because of ties to weapons of mass destruction and China’s military.
The move marked the Trump administration’s latest efforts to crack down on companies whose goods may support Chinese military activities and to punish Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities. The firms and institutions are being added to the U.S. “entity list,” which restricts sales of U.S. goods shipped to them and some more limited items made abroad with U.S. content or technology. Companies can apply for licenses to make the sales, but they must overcome a presumption of denial.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
