Lawmakers in Washington are seeking to ban new sales of drones from two dominant Chinese manufacturers, arguing they could be used to spy on Americans and that the low-cost models are hurting the U.S. drone industry.

National Defense Authorization Act passed without an amendment effectively banning the China-made drones, but left a door open for a prohibition in 12 months.

The NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) spending bill has just been release and it grants DJI a year's grace before it's potentially banned in the US. Black Friday is usually the best sale of the year on cameras and accessories and this year there are some particularly great deals.

The economic and technological rivalry between the U.S. and China has come to the drone market, where Chinese-made flying devices are a dominant player in America.

DJI and Autel Robotics have one year to convince skeptical national security agencies that their equipment doesn't pose a threat to the U.S.

But DJI isn’t out of the woods yet. The NDAA has started a one-year countdown, during which DJI has to prove that its products are not a national security risk to the United States. If it can’t, all of its devices will be automatically banned in the US, as will those of rival firm Autel Robotics.

It was the role of drones in everyday life that drove Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to get Congress to restrict the purchase of Chinese drones by federal agencies. Those restrictions were included in a bill that Democratic President Joe Biden signed last year.