Pentagon blacklists BYD, NIO, and Unitree as Chinese military firms

The U.S. Department of Defense published an updated Section 1260H list on June 8, naming 188 companies it says support China's military-civil fusion strategy - including EV giants BYD and NIO, humanoid-robot maker Unitree, and Alibaba, Baidu, CALB, EVE Energy, RoboSense, and TP-Link. The FY2024 NDAA prohibits DoD from contracting directly with any listed entity starting June 30, 2026 - fewer than three weeks away - with bans on indirect procurement through third parties following a year later; affected companies called the designations baseless and vowed legal action. The list had briefly appeared in the Federal Register in February before being unexpectedly withdrawn, making the June 8 republication official.