The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving to bar every Chinese lab from testing electronics for the US market, a sector China dominates. And Chinese media and commentators say that Beijing, having already retaliated with three countermeasures, is ready to strike back again.
The FCC said on October 7 that it will vote on October 29 on a rule barring all labs in China from testing smartphones, cameras, computers and other electronic devices for the US market. The ban, due to take effect on December 1, 2028, will also cover labs in any country that denies reciprocal treatment to US-based labs.
The move follows US tariffs, export controls and Covered List bans. Some observers say it gives Washington’s “China plus one” strategy another push to move production bases outside China.
The impact on manufacturers is likely to be mixed. Some may relocate their production lines to Southeast Asia if they eventually have to test their products there. Others may keep producing in China and absorb higher logistics costs as they ship samples back and forth to overseas labs.
“Less than 4% of all electronic devices are tested in labs located inside the US,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on October 7, noting that 82% were tested in China in 2025. He added that the FCC will demand fair and reciprocal treatment in international commerce.
“President Trump has revolutionized America’s approach to the world by putting reciprocity at the heart of our international commercial relations,” Carr said in April, when the FCC first proposed the rule. “Today, more than 75% of testing occurs in countries that have refused to commit to reciprocal treatment of US-based labs and certification bodies.”
According to Chinese media reports, Beijing announced three countermeasures against the FCC on August 5, and the Ministry of Commerce warned that it would take further action if Washington introduced new restrictions. The launched measures include:
- a rigorous case-by-case review of exports of drones, key drone components and related technologies to the US, with no licensing facilitation;
- a suspension of US-based certification bodies’ authorization to conduct follow-up factory inspections under the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) system; and
- a ban on Chinese organizations and individuals dealing with Compliance Testing LLC, an Arizona-based firm that Beijing said had supported the FCC’s measures.
The planned ban caps a series of FCC moves against Chinese labs and devices since May 2025, when the agency adopted rules barring labs controlled by foreign adversary governments. Starting in September last year, it withdrew or denied recognition of 23 such labs.
Last December, the FCC banned imports of new models of Chinese drones, followed in March 2026 by new models of Chinese-made consumer routers. In April, it proposed phasing out, over two years, labs in countries without mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with the US, a reciprocity requirement it had dropped in 2015.
In June, it banned imports of more equipment from a group of Chinese manufacturers including Huawei and ZTE. In July, it voted to bar US sales of devices containing key hardware from Chinese firms deemed national security risks, and added foreign-made advanced robots and power inverters to its Covered List.
“The rule uses regulation to shut Chinese third-party testing firms out of the US market. It artificially drives up the cost of compliance for Chinese electronics makers selling overseas,” Liu Zhenqi, a former professor at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Logistics Academy, says in an article.
“Washington has banned these firms across the board in the name of national security without offering any concrete evidence. This is really about stretching the idea of security to justify technological protectionism,” he says.
He says that if the rule passes, Chinese electronics makers will have to test their products abroad, which will take longer and cost more. In turn, US companies and consumers will pay through higher prices, fewer choices, and less efficient supply chains.
He adds that, although there is a two-year transition period, China must see the trend that US efforts to contain its technology have moved beyond core sectors such as chipmaking and are now reaching into the rules governing testing, certification and standards.
A Henan-based writer using the pen name “Gummies” says cross-border e-commerce sellers and small electronics factories, whose profit margins are already thin, will feel the pain first. He says the long testing cycles will hurt them even more than the higher fees.
He notes that a basic test costs US$400 to US$1,300 in China but US$3,000 to US$4,000 in a US lab. Shipping samples abroad takes two weeks and, with lab queues and retests, a full round can take more than a month. A month or two of delay can wipe out sales of short-lived consumer gadgets and force some firms out of the US market.
Higher costs for exporters
On September 8, 2025, the FCC took its first action under the “Bad Labs” rules, beginning proceedings to withdraw recognition from seven labs it said the Chinese government owned or controlled, including CVC Testing, TÜV Rheinland-CCIC Ningbo and UL-CCIC. It also said the recognition of four others, including the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, had expired and would not be renewed.
“US media have called the September 8 move a new turning point in the technology cold war. It looks like tighter regulation, but it is actually a targeted strike,” Zhong Chengda, a Guangdong-based columnist and logistics expert, says in an article published after the FCC’s September 2025 decision.
“In the past, Washington sanctioned products and brands. Now it is blocking channels and targeting the whole system. No matter how good your product is, if your certification is not recognized, it is not a legal product and cannot even get through the door,” he says.
He says the move will also drag US supply chains into decoupling, as global manufacturers whose products were certified by Chinese labs will have to retest and reapply, doubling their time and financial costs. He notes that Chinese labs not only issue certificates but also help set rules in sectors from electric vehicles to industrial controls.
He adds that China’s most direct retaliatory measure is to hit back in kind by refusing to recognize US testing bodies, turning a trade war into a war over rules. Such a move would be a disaster for multinationals, which would need two sets of research, testing and paperwork for each product, doubling costs and halving efficiency.
Under US rules, all electronic devices that emit radio frequencies must be certified by an FCC-recognized lab before they can be sold in the American market. As of September 8, China had 175 FCC-recognized labs, more than the number of testing labs in the US, and handled about 75% of FCC-recognized testing, according to China’s STDaily.com.
“Washington is politicizing technical testing services and artificially creating technical barriers to trade. This will not only raise costs and supply chain risks for the US electronics industry but also disrupt the stable operation of the global electronics industry,” Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times.
“The US claims to be upholding the principle of reciprocity. In fact, it is trying to change long-established market practices and stop Chinese testing institutions from serving products bound for the US market,” he said.
He said World Trade Organization (WTO) rules require members to prevent technical barriers from obstructing international trade. He added that by changing testing rules at will and imposing unreasonable burdens, the US would turn testing services into a de facto trade barrier and undermine the stability of international trade.
After the FCC said in April it planned to vote on a proposal to ban all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices used in the US, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China firmly opposed the US overstretching the concept of national security.
She said such moves hurt normal trade between Chinese and US companies and served no one’s interests, including those of American consumers.
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