- Xiaomi is suing the US Defense and Treasury departments.
- The firm wants to be removed from a US investment blacklist for companies with ties to the Chinese military.
Xiaomi has filed a lawsuit against the US Departments of Defense and Treasury.
In an official announcement signed by Chairman Lei Jun, the firm noted that the US administration’s decision to deem it a “Communist Chinese military company” was “factually incorrect.” It has pleaded to the Columbia district court to declare the decision illegal and reverse it.
The litigation follows Xiaomi’s previous statement on January 15, wherein it said that it complies with all the relevant laws and regulations.
To be clear, Xiaomi hasn’t been added to the same blacklist as Huawei. The latter is on a more damaging US Entity List, barring it from doing business with American companies.
In the case of Xiaomi though, the blacklisting, if upheld, would require US institutional investors to divest their holdings from the company by November.
Xiaomi has also written to Biden-appointed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, saying that the investment restrictions would cause it “immediate and irreparable harm.”
We’ll have to wait and watch how the matter proceeds and if Xiaomi has better luck with the Biden government than it did with the Trump administration.