U.S. News: Trump Sons Back New Drone Company --- Powerus is looking to buy technology from Ukraine to sell to the U.S. military

 

 

Are Ukrainians and Powerus company using rare earth magnets purchased illegally according to China's law?

 

China has implemented strict export controls on rare earth magnets and technology, requiring special approvals to prevent their use in foreign military supply chains.

 

While the online information does not contain information verifying that Ukrainians or the Powerus company are using illegally purchased, prohibited, or restricted magnets, it does show that Chinese, EU, and U.S. policies are in a state of intense, ongoing negotiation and change, with significant focus on, as discussed in Al Jazeera and Fox Business.

 

Key details regarding China's restrictions include:

 

    Export Restrictions: As of late 2025, China requires special licenses for exporting products containing more than 0.1% of certain rare earth elements, targeting defense-related users.

 

    Targeted Enforcement: These measures aim to prevent Chinese-origin materials from supporting foreign, particularly U.S., defense supply chains.

 

    Policy Shift: While there were reports of a one-year delay in some restrictions following a trade truce, experts are skeptical that constraints on sensitive materials will be fully relaxed.

 

“Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are backing a new drone company vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon and fill a hole left by the administration's ban on new Chinese drones in the U.S.

 

Powerus, a drone roll-up company based in West Palm Beach, Fla., is merging with a publicly traded golf-course holding company backed by the Trumps, Powerus executives said. The reverse merger will result in Powerus, which was formed last year, trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the coming months.

 

Investors in the deal include one of the Trumps' investment vehicles, American Ventures, and Unusual Machines, a drone parts company where Donald Trump Jr. is a shareholder and advisory board member, the company said. Powerus is also a customer of Unusual Machines.

 

The Trump brothers-backed investment bank Dominari Securities, which has been involved in the family's crypto deals, is also involved in the transaction, the company said. Separately, asset manager the Korea Corporate Governance Improvement Fund has invested $50 million.

 

The deal brings deeper involvement by the Trump family into a multibillion-dollar sector that has opportunities for growth following changes imposed by the White House. Those include the Pentagon's emphasis on large-scale, rapid adoption of small drones, and a national ban on new models of the Chinese drones that have for more than a decade dominated the consumer and commercial markets.

 

Powerus Chief Executive Officer Andrew Fox said the reverse merger for Powerus would provide access to the public capital markets to give the company the funding it needs to scale manufacturing and acquire more companies. Powerus, which sells aerial and maritime drones after acquiring three small companies in the past six months, said it was working toward building more than 10,000 drones monthly. That quantity is more than almost any other U.S. drone maker produces and more than the Defense Department has bought.

 

Initiatives such as the Pentagon's Drone Dominance, an initiative to spend $1.1 billion to procure hundreds of thousands of U.S. systems by 2027, aim to encourage more domestic manufacturing in a sector China has long dominated.

 

Eric Trump is also investing in Israeli drone maker Xtend as part of a $1.5 billion deal to take the company public through a merger with JFB Construction [1].

 

Powerus will become public after merging with Aureus Greenway Holdings, a holding company for golf courses in Florida, whose shareholders include the Trumps' American Ventures and Dominari Securities, according to securities filings. Aureus's stock recently recovered from trading below $1 per share.

 

Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich, a U.S. Army special operations veteran who has advised drone companies in the U.S. and Ukraine and is a commenter on cable news shows, said Powerus is working on deals to acquire Ukrainian drone companies or license their technology and build and white-label it in the U.S. He declined to share details.” [2]

 

1.  Reports indicate that Xtend's drones use Chinese components, including a video transmitter from a Hong Kong-based company, which enables their low cost.

 

2. U.S. News: Trump Sons Back New Drone Company --- Powerus is looking to buy technology from Ukraine to sell to the U.S. military. Somerville, Heather.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 10 Mar 2026: A4.