In December, the Federal Communications Commission banned all future foreign-made drones from being imported into the United States, unless their maker gets a waiver. Now, the FCC has. Did exactly that for consumer networking gear, citing “an unacceptable threat to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of the American people.”

If you already have a Wi-Fi or wired router, you can continue to use it – and companies that have already obtained FCC radio authorization for a particular foreign product can continue to import that product.

But because the majority — if not all — of consumer routers are made outside the United States, the majority of future consumer routers are banned. By adding all foreign-made consumer routers to its code list, the FCC is saying it will no longer allow its own radios, banning the importation of new devices into the country.

Now, router manufacturers have to A) Get “Conditional Approval”. Which allows them to keep new products cleared for entry into the U.S. while they work to convince the government that they will open manufacturing in the U.S., or B) decide to stop selling future products in the U.S., as drone maker DJI already did.

Like the foreign drone ban, The FCC has national security determinations. That it says justifies the actions, claiming that “allowing foreign-made routers to dominate the U.S. market creates unacceptable economic, national security, and cybersecurity risks,” and that “foreign-made routers Volt, Flex, and Salt were directly involved in the Typhoon cyberattacks that targeted critical U.S. communications, energy transportation, water structures, and water.”

“Given the importance of routers to the successful operation of our nation’s economy and defense, the United States can no longer rely on foreign countries to manufacture routers,” reads another quote.

It’s true that many router vulnerabilities have been discovered over the years, making them a popular target for hackers and botnets. It is also true that a China-based company, TP-Link, dominates the US consumer market. Due to this dominance and national security concerns, US authorities had previously considered a specific ban on TP-Link. (TP-Link is trying to distance itself from China by splitting from the Chinese entity. In 2022Establishing global headquarters in California In 2024and Sue Netgear in 2025 (to suggest that TP-Link was infiltrated by the Chinese government).

It’s not clear how simply moving routers locally will make them secure. In the Volt Typhoon hack, Chinese state-sponsored hackers primarily targeted Cisco and Netgear routers, which are routers designed by U.S. companies, according to the Justice Department. They were vulnerable because these US companies had stopped providing security updates to certain targeted routers, which had been shut down by these companies.

While FCC Code List It looks like the US is imposing a ban. all “Foreign-made routers,” is defined somewhat more narrowly than that. It specifically bans “consumer-grade routers” as it defines them. NIST Internal Report 8425Awhich refers to “intended for residential use and may be installed by the customer.”

“Virtually all routers are made outside of the United States, including by US-based companies like TP-Link, which manufacture their products in Vietnam,” reads part of a statement from TP-Link through third-party spokeswoman Rika Silverio. “It appears that the entire router industry will be affected by the FCC’s announcement regarding new devices not previously authorized by the FCC.”

Update, March 23: Explained how TP-Link has distanced itself from China., And added a company statement..