Approved DeepSeek for its trade blacklist, then sat on it for eight months

The approval to place DeepSeek on the US trade blacklist was granted, yet eight months have passed with the names never published. An interagency committee cleared DeepSeek, CXMT and more than 100 other Chinese firms for inclusion on the Entity List last year, but Commerce withheld the public list. Reuters reported the backlog this week, marking the longest pause since the Entity List became a calibrated tool, with no additions since October. Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler has avoided new listings since late 2025, arguing the pause is strategic, not purely security-driven. Some unlisted firms are tied to Russian drone components recovered in Poland last September, and others sold restricted Nvidia chips to Chinese universities. Industry observers say the pause signals leverage in talks with Beijing, who controls rare earths that U.S. defense and chip firms rely on. Commerce promised to update rules governing global access to US AI chips, then never did, creating a loophole that may move chips to Chinese firms outside China. The lesson for investors and policymakers is simple: export controls now flex with the trade cycle, not the threat cycle.