A report indicates that the Trump administration could be preparing to propose new legislation concerning drones, including limiting drones that are made in China.
The report by The Washington Post suggests that the administration is already drafting several measures concerning drones in the US, including security issues stemming from China-made drones, as well as expanding potential regulations concerning commercial drone flights.
The reported draft legislation takes aim at China-made drones, but in a way that expands on a previous defense bill that required China-based drone companies (such as DJI and Autel) to pass a security review or face a ban in the US.
DJI has repeatedly expressed concerns that the law didn’t state who would be responsible for initiating such a review and that the US government had yet to assign a national security agency to the task.
Earlier this year, DJI said that it “welcomed this scrutiny,” saying it was confident that it would pass such a review after multiple independent firms had validated the security of DJI products.
While legislation proposing a China-made drone restriction may seem like a challenge for DJI, the drafts reportedly accelerate the security review rather than placing a new drone ban.
Based on DJI’s previous statements asking the government to start the review process right away, the manufacturer may welcome the legislation if it starts the review process in time to allow DJI to finish the security review before the deadline.
The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, passed by the previous presidential administration last December, required China-based drone companies to pass a security review within one year or face a ban in the US.
While DJI has already welcomed an accelerated security review process, the report also hints towards some changes that could be beneficial for commercial drone flyers.
According to the report, the legislation could open up commercial flight beyond a line of sight. Under current commercial drone flight laws, the drone is required to remain in sight at all times, either by the pilot or a member of the flight team in constant communication with the pilot.
That limits drone use for deliveries, as well as limiting other types of longer flights to multi-person teams.
Another potential change in the drafts hints at allowing locations like amusement parks to request to be placed in a no-fly zone. The drafts also include measures designed to invest in more US-based drone companies.
As drafts, it’s uncertain if the reported legislation will be signed into effect.
The saga between the US and China-made drones is a long one, with rumors of a potential China-made drone ban stemming back years and DJI drones being banned from military use as early as 2017.
The current administration’s new tariff policy hasn’t appeared to help matters for DJI fans in the US, pushing many models out of stock at DJI’s US store and leaving the latest model, the DJI Mavic Pro 4, not available for sale in the US from DJI’s official store.
(Some retailers, however, still have the drone listed for pre-order, including Moment, which lists a June shipping estimate for the first pre-orders.)
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