DJI banned in US

[eatstoomuchjam]

9 hours ago, Emanuel said:

I was into RED for a while, but the proprietary stuff eventually made me step back.

Then you'd probably like DSMC3.  Standard batteries, standard CF Express cards, etc.

If the CFE card isn't on the compatibility list, you'll get a warning, but then the camera will let you try to record whatever quality you want.

[Emanuel]

On 1/9/2026 at 6:38 PM, eatstoomuchjam said:

Then you'd probably like DSMC3.  Standard batteries, standard CF Express cards, etc.

If the CFE card isn't on the compatibility list, you'll get a warning, but then the camera will let you try to record whatever quality you want.

2021? More than a decade later. Well, too late for me then... :- )

[Yannick Willox]

Just get them delivered to greenland and wait a couple of months ?

[Ilkka Nissila]

1 hour ago, Yannick Willox said:

Just get them delivered to greenland and wait a couple of months ?

Very witty. If WW III starts, photographers with drones can then make films about it, so drones may be very useful. 

I would imagine the operation of unapproved drones can be shut down in the US territory based on GPS data, so IMO it would be pretty risky to invest in equipment that is not approved. 

[eatstoomuchjam]

3 hours ago, Ilkka Nissila said:

I would imagine the operation of unapproved drones can be shut down in the US territory based on GPS data, so IMO it would be pretty risky to invest in equipment that is not approved. 

i'm not sure what the government could do to shut them down, but DJI's app uses/needs GPS and I could see them threatening to fine/sanction DJI if they don't geofence out non-approved drones.

But at this point, I don't think there are any existing DJI products that aren't approved.

[Ilkka Nissila]

3 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

i'm not sure what the government could do to shut them down, but DJI's app uses/needs GPS and I could see them threatening to fine/sanction DJI if they don't geofence out non-approved drones.

But at this point, I don't think there are any existing DJI products that aren't approved.

I don't understand how the US expects to solve potential security problems caused by these products if they allow them to be operated as before. My guess is that there is a longer-yerm perspective and they want to hinder DJI and other manufacturers' sales in order to allow American companies to take the market and a soft transition would mean the customers can fly their drones until they crash them or wear them out, and then replace with new US products. My guess though is that the US companies will never make competitive products for the consumer market and the government policy can change as soon as they realize that. It should be simple enough to verify that the code on the device does not transmit data to China without the user's permission and DJI could easily host any flight log analysis within the US rather than send it overseas. This is about something other than security IMO.

[BTM_Pix]

He will no doubt do some chicanery that feathers his own nest.

Some sort of bogus licensing where DJI have to pay for the use of one of the raft of Chinese held patents that his daughter mysteriously got granted there during his first term.

Of course, vanity will also dictate that they have to change the name from DJI to DJT for which they will also have to pay a licensing fee.

 

[MrSMW]

Have they banned Chinese car imports?

Surely that is a far bigger industry and threatens home grown products like Tesla?

Their car company BYD makes more cars than Tesla now and at much cheaper prices…

[Ilkka Nissila]

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

Have they banned Chinese car imports?

Surely that is a far bigger industry and threatens home grown products like Tesla?

Their car company BYD makes more cars than Tesla now and at much cheaper prices…

There is a 100% tariff on electric vehicles from China, so BYD is not sold in the US. EVs from Europe have a 25% tariff (based on what I could find out). Tesla is being given relatively free reign. I don't think this will actually help Tesla in the long run as it allows them to operate (in the US market) without really being competitive (on the world market).

 

Tariffs can be useful to help some industries grow but Tesla kind of started the EV boom and they should have had enough time to develop their production so that they can compete on the world market without subsidies or tariffs.