The United States Federal Communications Commission has enacted a ban on the import of all new foreign-made consumer routers. The FCC says routers made in countries like China “threaten national security.” It’s one more example of President Trump’s ongoing trade war against China and the rest of the world.
On March 24, the FCC posted a notice that it was updating its official Covered List, a set of tech and communications gear that could pose a risk to security, to include new routers made outside of the United States. In a press release announcing the update to the Covered List, the FCC says this change follows a “determination by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body” that determined internet routers made outside the US “pose unacceptable risks” to the country’s “safety” and the “security” of US citizens.
Before you run into your home office to unplug your (likely) foreign-made router before the police arrive, just know that any router already approved for sale in the U.S. by the FCC is not included in this new Covered List update. This means currently approved routers that were made partially or fully in other nations, which is basically all of them, can still be sold, imported, and used by people normally. What this new update actually sets out to block is new routers not yet approved for sale from being imported into the U.S.
This move is a direct reaction to President Trump’s 2025 national security strategy, which states the United States must “never be dependent on any outside power for core components—from raw materials to parts to finished products—necessary to the nation’s defense or economy.”
In the short term, you likely won’t notice much changing at your local electronics store. But if this order stands—which it might not, as companies like TP Link have already said they will fight back, likely in court—eventually, as tech evolves and a need for new router models grows, many in the United States might find it hard to track down a shiny new internet box and those remaining on shelves might get pricier as supplies dwindle. Combine this with ongoing RAM shortages and tech prices increasing already, and it’s looking grim out there, folks.
The new FCC notice does state that companies can apply for conditional approval to sell and import new routers via the Department of Defense or Homeland Security. But there’s a catch, one which sort of reveals the real aim of all this. To get that exemption, businesses must provide the DOD or DHS with a plan to bring some of their manufacturing to the U.S. Ahh, that’s the reason this is all happening.
