US Extends Foreign Gadget Restrictions to Routers, Robots and Test Labs
Companies that want to keep selling new devices in the US now depend on FCC waivers, and some are still waiting for them.
The US has moved from restricting Huawei and ZTE telecom gear to effectively barring new consumer gadgets from abroad, starting with drones in December 2025 and extending to routers, robots, power inverters and robot vacuums. Officials have not published evidence of a specific threat from these devices, and most routers and drones are made overseas, so there are few domestic replacements. Some firms are securing exemptions: Netgear and Asus received blanket approvals, MSI was granted conditional approval for two specific routers, and TP-Link, which says it would spend nearly $1 billion on US router manufacturing, is still waiting. The FCC also plans to bar Chinese test labs from authorising US gadgets from December 2028, with a vote scheduled for October 29, and has pulled credentials from two more labs.
Why it matters
For consumers and buyers, the effect is fewer new imported devices and more reliance on the few firms that have won exemptions. Companies that cannot get approval, or whose test labs lose their accreditation, face delays before their products can be sold. Chinese test labs losing the ability to authorise US gadgets from December 2028 would shift certification work elsewhere, if the vote on October 29 goes ahead.
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