"Don't Come to China"... Companies Heading to CES Face Mass Rejections of US Visas

Chinese Companies Invited to CES 2025 Face Mass US Visa Denials
Chinese Media Urges "Swift Response to Visa Rejections"

Amid escalating tensions between the US and China ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a situation has arisen where Chinese companies invited to attend the world’s largest electronics and IT exhibition, CES 2025, are being collectively denied US entry visas. CES 2025 will be held in Las Vegas, USA, from January 7 to 10 next year.

The 'CES 2024' structure at the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, where the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition CES 2024 was held last January. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 2nd, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that "a significant number of employees from Chinese companies participating in CES, about a month before the opening, are being denied visas by US authorities." Considering that Chinese companies account for about 30% of the approximately 4,000 companies participating in CES, this large-scale visa denial is being regarded as unprecedented.

In response, a CES spokesperson stated, “We are aware that visa applications from CES participants coming from China have been rejected.” However, the US government has not yet issued an official statement on this matter.

Previously, during the presidential campaign, President-elect Trump expressed his intention to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods. After winning the election, on the 25th of last month, he threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on China, citing drug inflow issues. Especially since Senator Mark Rubio, nominated as Secretary of State for Trump’s second administration, and Representative Mike Waltz, nominated as White House National Security Advisor, are both hardliners against China, it is predicted that US-China tensions will intensify further.

During Trump’s first administration in 2019, Huawei and China’s largest semiconductor manufacturer SMIC were placed on a blacklist restricting their access to US hardware and software.

China’s state-run Global Times published an editorial titled “US State Department Must Respond Swiftly to Large-Scale Visa Denials” on the same day, urging, “The US government should lower visa issuance barriers to promote normal human and business exchanges between the two countries.”