[dtquad]

The US "sanctions on Chinese" are limited to US federal agencies not being allowed to use Chinese drones.

China now confidently banning Skydio entirely and also blocking them from getting batteries probably means that China has concluded that it is impossible for the US to make batteries on their own. People will bring up the recent lithium discoveries in the US but has completely forgotten the amount propaganda that has been pushed against "open pit mining" targeting both the left and the right (Joe Rogan, RFK jr.)

https://dronelife.com/2024/09/10/house-passes-countering-ccp...

[jayyhu]

While it might be hard for the US to make lithium batteries that are competitive economically, there are still many countries in the world that can make them economically that are not China, eg. SK, Japan, Taiwan, and the rest of SEA. For Skydio, surviving these sanctions is just a matter of moving their supply chain away from China.

[tartoran]

If no other batteries are as cheap as the ones from China then these sanctions could push up the price of the competitor's drones.

[coliveira]

It is not impossible for the US to develop batteries. The problem is that it will be costly in terms of investment and the resulting product will necessarily be more expensive for consumers. While this happens Chinese companies will dominate their internal market, Asian markets, Africa and South America. The US is trying to start a fight where their consumers will be left with high inflation and a protectionist market with low innovation.