American regulators’ and politicians’ fear of Chinese tech is hampering business prospects for Chinese flying camera company HOVERAir, its CEO told Semafor.

The company, which doesn’t brand itself as a “drone” company, didn’t specify which American companies it was in the process of partnering with, but said some deals “ended up getting… paused because of regulatory issues or just general concerns,” MQ Wang said on the sidelines of the UN’s AI for Good summit in Geneva.

“It just sucks, to be honest,” Wang said, in an unusually candid assessment of how the distrust between the superpowers impacts how Chinese tech companies do business around the world. “People think of us as drones, and drones are dangerous.”

While prior HOVERAir products can be sold in the US, its latest model — a light-weight camera that can float and land on water and fly autonomously around a swimmer or boater — is barred from the US market under a December FCC rule that blocks new foreign-made drones from being sold in the US. Drones from Chinese giant DJI are blocked under the same FCC action, stemming from national security concerns. Getting approval to sell in the US remains a “work in progress,” Wang said.