Russell Hedrick, a North Carolina farmer, flies drones to spray fertilisers on his corn, soybean and wheat fields at a fraction of what it would cost him to use a conventional ground spreader. As a volunteer rescuer, Hedrick uses thermal drones to search for people trapped by mudslides and cargo drones to send water and baby formula to those who are stranded something he did after Hurricane Helene. Now he is fretting that one day he will have to ground his drone fleet. Most commercial drones sold in the United States, including those used by Hedrick, are made in China. They have become a target of US lawmakers, who see the dominance of Chinese drones not only as an espionage threat but as a commercial threat because they make it nearly impossible for American manufacturers to compete. It's another front in the US-China economic and technological competition that's likely to intensify with the return to the White House in January of Republican Donald Trump, who has promised to get .