The Biden administration on Thursday added 37 companies to a trade blacklist, including subsidiaries of Chinese genetics company BGI and Chinese cloud computing company Inspur, a move expected to further exacerbate Washington's turmoil. Tensions with Beijing.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has included BGI Research and Hong Kong BGI Tech Solutions under the U.S. Department of Commerce’s export control list. The Commerce Department said the companies posed “significant risks” by assisting the Chinese government in surveillance.

"These entities' actions in collecting and analyzing genetic data carry a significant risk of diversion to China's military programs," the Commerce Department said.

Reuters previously reported that BGI was collecting genetic data on millions of women for a comprehensive study of population characteristics and working with the Chinese military.

BGI's forensics subsidiary, forensics Genomics International, is also on the trade blacklist.

The U.S. Commerce Department accused Inspur of buying and attempting to buy U.S. goods to support China’s military modernization efforts.

The companies and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The U.S. Commerce Department also blacklisted 26 other Chinese entities, making it difficult for those blacklisted companies to obtain U.S. goods from suppliers.

The new additions to the blacklist include several entities that are supplying, or attempting to supply, a sanctioned entity in Iran, as well as three companies in Russia, Belarus, and Taiwan, the Commerce Department said. The Commerce Department said the companies provided military assistance to Russia.

The Commerce Department's trade blacklist also targets Chinese and Burmese companies that violate human rights and contribute to worrisome ballistic missile programs, including those in Pakistan.

"When we identify entities that pose a national security or foreign policy concern to the United States, we add them to the Entity list to ensure we can review their transactions."

The latest addition of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist could further inflame the animosity between Washington and Beijing, which has been mired in a technology war for years.

U.S.-China tensions have been particularly high since the Biden administration shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it flew over large swathes of the United States last month.

“We cannot allow our adversaries to misuse and abuse technology to commit human rights abuses and other oppressive practices,” said Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary of commerce for export controls. We are committed to preventing bad actors from misappropriating our technology. We will do everything in our power to counter this threat."

In 2020, the Commerce Department added two units of the world's largest genetics company, BGI Group, to its trade blacklist for conducting genetic analyzes that were used to further repress China's Uyghur minority.

Beijing has denied wrongdoing. BGI also denied allegations of wrongdoing at the time.