President Donald Trump's administration has forced out a Commerce Department official whose office barred nearly all Chinese cars from the US market for national security reasons, reported Reuters.

Elizabeth Cannon resigned as executive director of the Information and Communications Technology and Services office, created in 2022 to investigate supply chain threats from foreign adversaries. Sources said she would have been reassigned had she not stepped down, with a political appointee expected to replace her. Her last day is set for February 20.

Ms Cannon's departure comes after the department withdrew plans to restrict Chinese drones and delayed rules on medium and heavy-duty truck imports. Under President Joe Biden, her office finalized rules that blocked Chinese passenger vehicles over concerns of data collection and manipulation through navigation systems.

A Bureau of Industry and Security said staffing changes would strengthen the ICTS office. Actions restricting imports and exports to China have been paused following a fragile trade truce between Washington and Beijing. The administration recently approved exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China ahead of an April meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping.

Ms Cannon's office previously barred the sale of Russian antivirus software Kaspersky Lab in 2024, citing security risks. Geoffrey Gertz of the Center for New American Security said her expertise would be difficult to replace, warning that lack of risk analysis could harm US interests.

Ms Cannon is the latest senior official to leave the Commerce Department under Trump. Kevin Kurland departed in December, Dan Clutch joined Caterpillar in August, and Matthew Borman moved to law firm Akin Gump last spring. Ms Cannon joined Commerce in 2024 from Microsoft after a decade at the Justice Department, where she prosecuted export control and sanctions cases, including the 2017 ZTE case that resulted in a US$900 million fine.