WASHINGTON—A Chinese smartphone maker won a key legal victory against the U.S. government this spring, which is expected to embolden more Chinese companies with military ties to challenge a Trump-era ban that prohibited U.S. investors from investing in their firms.
The Department of Defense in May officially removed China’s Xiaomi, the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor, from its investment blacklist. Xiaomi was among the 44 companies labeled as “Communist Chinese military companies” (CCMCs) by the Pentagon.