Drone Stocks Soar On Trump eVTOL Executive Order

President Donald Trump on Friday signed three executive orders aimed at jumpstarting the development, domestic manufacturing, integration, and global export of U.S.-made drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, reversing the previous four years of stalled progress under the Biden-Harris regime, during which China leapfrogged in the sector. Now, the U.S. is in a race to catch up. 

The three orders direct the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expedite rules allowing companies to operate eVTOL aircraft beyond visual line of sight, while also tightening restrictions to address national security threats. U.S. officials have expressed concern over foreign adversaries using drones to surveil military bases and other sensitive locations.

“The United States must accelerate the safe commercialization of drone technologies and fully integrate UAS into the National Airspace System,” one of the orders said. 

It continued, “The time has come to accelerate testing and to enable routine drone operations, scale up domestic production, and expand the export of trusted, American-manufactured drone technologies to global markets.” 

“Building a strong and secure domestic drone sector is vital to reducing reliance on foreign sources, strengthening critical supply chains, and ensuring that the benefits of this technology are delivered to the American people,” the order noted. 

In addition to bolstering safety and security, the new EOs will also spur greater innovation across the aerospace and drone sectors. 

In the markets, air mobility stocks rose early in premarket trading following the EOs.

• Archer Aviation +9%

• Joby Aviation +9%

• Vertical Aerospace +8%

• Blade Air Mobility +2% 

Earlier this year, billionaire investor Marc Andreessen—co-founder of the influential Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz—told Uncommon Knowledge host Peter Robinson (a former Reagan speechwriter) that the Biden-Harris regime had stifled the U.S. drone industry, while China’s eVTOLs soared.

NEW: Marc Andreessen on China’s manufacturing dominance

“There’s three industries that follow phones that the Chinese own the global market at:

1) Drones
Something over 90% of all the consumer drones are made in China. Which is what the US Military also uses. It’s the whole… pic.twitter.com/e94C927MMU

— Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) January 15, 2025

The previous administration’s drone policies sparked serious concern—why throttle a sector so vital to the 2030s economy and national security, especially as China raced ahead?