A U.S. Commerce official has been barred from leaving China since April after having his passport seized, part of a growing trend affecting American citizens and executives.

The State Department says a U.S. government employee has been banned from leaving China while traveling there in a personal capacity.

China is refusing to let a U.S. Department of Commerce employee and a Wells Fargo banker leave the country, officials say.

The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the Chinese government had blocked a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee visiting the Asian country in a personal capacity from leaving. "We are tracking this case very closely and are engaged with Chinese officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible,

The State Department said that officials are actively engaged with their Chinese counterparts to resolve the situation swiftly.

The man, a U.S. citizen, is barred from leaving China by the Ministry of State Security, the country’s main intelligence and counterintelligence agency.

China is preventing a Chinese American banker for Wells Fargo and, separately, an employee of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from leaving the country.

A 2025 government subsidy scheme for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid purchases ended last month in three districts in the city of Xian, the capital of China's Shaanxi province, local official media Shaanxi Daily reported on Tuesday.

The disclosure of the exit ban on an employee of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office comes after Beijing confirmed imposing similar restrictions on a Wells Fargo banker.

BEIJING: The Chinese government on Saturday proposed the creation of a global artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation organization, tentatively considering its headquarters in Shanghai.