US adds six companies to trade blacklist

The United States government announced on Tuesday the addition of six companies to its trade restriction list. Four of the listed companies face scrutiny for their alleged links to the training of China’s military forces.

Accused companies include Global Training Solutions Limited and Smartech Future Limited (China) for training Chinese military pilots with Western and NATO resources.

South Africa’s Grace Air (Pty) Ltd and UK-based Livingston Aerospace Limited are also implicated in facilitating the aforementioned training programme.

Two UAE-based companies, Mega Fast Cargo and Mega Technique General Trading, were added to the list for “evasive conduct.” Mega Fast Cargo is accused of shipping US-origin goods to Russia.

Companies included on the Entity List require special licenses to import US goods and technology, licenses that are typically difficult to obtain. This effectively restricts their access to critical American supplies and technology.

Blocking American expertise from training Chinese military pilots and technology from assisting Russia is crucial for US national security, said Matthew Axelrod, a Commerce Department official.

In addition to the Entity List updates, the Commerce Department also added 13 companies, primarily from China, to its Unverified List.

These companies have not had successful on-site inspections by US officials, raising concerns about their reliability in handling US exports. On the other hand, eight companies were removed from the Unverified List after passing inspections.

Attribution: The Nikkei Asia report on Wednesday