Reuters: The United States may impose restrictions on 89 Chinese companies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is close to declaring 89 Chinese companies in aerospace and other fields to have ties to the military, which would restrict their purchase of a range of U.S. products and technologies, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

If the list is released, it could lead to further tensions in trade relations between China and the United States, and have an impact on American companies and other industries that sell civil aviation parts to China.

The list includes Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd., the leader of China's competition with Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd. (AVIC) and 10 of its affiliated entities.

The list is reportedly included in a draft rule to identify Chinese and Russian companies that the United States considers to be "military end users," requiring U.S. suppliers to obtain a license to sell them a wide range of commercial products.

Under the rule, a permit application is more likely to be denied than approved.

A spokesman for the U.S. Commerce Department declined to comment on the list, which was drawn up by the ministry. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In April, the U.S. Department of Commerce expanded the definition of so-called "military end users" to cover not only the armed forces and police, but also any person or entity that supports or assists in the maintenance or production of military items, even if their business is primarily non-military. The export control areas include computer software such as word processing, scientific equipment such as digital oscilloscopes, and aircraft parts. In the case of aircraft, these items include everything from the brackets for the flight control box to the engine itself.