Trump administration orders some US companies to halt sales to China

The Trump administration has effectively cut off some American companies from selling goods to China, a Commerce Department spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.

The Trump administration has effectively cut off some American companies from selling software used to design semiconductors to China, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Impacted companies include Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA, according to the FT’s reporting, which cited people familiar with the matter. CNN was not immediately able to confirm that. Cadence and Synopsys didn’t return requests for comment. The New York Times subsequently reported on Wednesday that sales to China of jet engine technology and certain chemicals were also halted. The Commerce Department told CNN on Wednesday it is “reviewing exports of strategic significance to China.” “In some cases, Commerce has suspended existing export licenses or imposed additional license requirements while the review is pending,” a spokesperson told CNN. However, they didn’t respond to CNN’s inquiry regarding which companies that included. A Siemens spokesperson told CNN that the US government on Friday informed the industry about new export controls on chip designing software to China and Chinese military end users globally. Siemens “will continue to work with our customers globally to mitigate the impact of these new restrictions while operating in compliance with applicable national export control regimes,” the spokesperson said.