Bush (I can’t remember which one), did the same thing with China North Industries. They were turning out some really neat copies of old Winchesters and also a 1911 which was highly thought of as the base for a race gun.
Actually, it was Clinton that banned Norinco firearms and Chinese-made ammo. Before that, Bush 41 banned imported semi-autos broadly, but used BATFE to use their authority under the ‘68 Gun Control Act, no EO necessary. Importers got around some of those bans by changing some of the firearms’ features.