Pentagon Adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD to Expanded Section 1260H Military List

Washington’s move echoes the Cold-War-era CoCom embargo lists (1951-1994) that black-listed Soviet-bloc electronics firms such as VEB Robotron, signalling a return to bloc-based technology control. It also extends the precedent set by the 2019 Huawei Entity-List action, underscoring an accelerating shift from tariff disputes to systemic tech bifurcation. By treating consumer champions in EVs, e-commerce and AI as defense suppliers, the U.S. is hard-wiring the idea of ‘civil-military fusion’ into policy, pushing multinationals to pick sides and nudging Beijing toward deeper self-reliance—much as Japan’s 1980s semiconductor squeeze propelled its domestic R&D surge. Over a 100-year horizon this could mark an inflection where supply chains split into parallel ecosystems, diminishing efficiency but hardening security blocs; or, like CoCom’s eventual dissolution, it could be remembered as a temporary phase once geopolitical tides shift.