FCC Flags Foreign‑Built Routers As Security Threat, Tightens Import Rules

The move puts Chinese vendors in the crosshairs, including TP‑Link, but potentially also U.S.-based companies that produce their consumer and small-business routers in foreign countries, such as Netgear.

The Trump administration Monday has banned the import of foreign-made consumer and small-business routers.

The U.S. government in its decision cited supply chain vulnerability and cybersecurity risks with routers manufactured overseas.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau updated its “Covered List” this week to include “routers produced in foreign countries.” The cutoff will have obvious impacts on Chinese players in the consumer and small-business space such as TP-Link, but it will likely also affect U.S.-based vendors that manufacture their devices overseas, including Netgear.

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A Netgear spokesperson told CRN that the company “commends the Administration and the FCC for their action toward a safer digital future for Americans.”

“Home routers and mesh systems are critical to national security and consumer protection, and today’s decision is a step forward. As a U.S.-founded and headquartered company with a legacy of American innovation, NETGEAR has long invested in security‑first design, transparent practices, and adherence to government regulations, and we will continue to do so,” the spokesperson said.

The FCC has determined these foreign-made devices “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” according to the new filing.

“Recently, malicious state and non-state sponsored cyber attackers have increasingly leveraged the vulnerabilities in small and home office routers produced abroad to carry out direct attacks against American civilians in their homes. From disrupting network connectivity to enabling local networking espionage and intellectual property theft, foreign-produced routers present unacceptable risks to Americans. Additionally, routers produced abroad were directly implicated in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks which targeted critical American communications, energy, transportation, and water infrastructure. Routers in the United States must have trusted supply chains so we are not providing foreign actors with a built-in backdoor to American homes, businesses, critical infrastructure, and emergency services," the FCC said in its filing released on Monday.

Embroiled Chinese manufacturer and wired and wireless Gartner Magic Quadrant leader Huawei was banned in the U.S. in 2019 when the Department of Commerce added the company to its Entity List, alongside Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer ZTE Corp.

Wireless networking leader Cisco Systems, which shifted manufacturing beyond Asia to India, Mexico and Brazil after the COVID‑19 pandemic, is less exposed to the latest FCC decision, which largely targets consumer and small-business products rather than enterprise gear.

The FCC said the updated restrictions apply to new device models and that users can continue to use previously purchased routers. Router models and vendors that were previously allowed by the government are still being sold by retailers until stock runs out.