Embargo

The United States Department of State maintains a list of countries under embargo or other trade sanctions by the US. We need to find out which of these countries will not be able to buy the Laptop.

If Taiwanese manufacturers are willing to make and sell the laptop, the US laws may be less important than you think. Since the design of the device is fairly open and mostly based on off-the-shelf components, it will only be a short while before Chinese companies start manufacturing knock-offs for sale to anyone with a buck.

Rather than investigating which countries are under embargo, you might write a statement of principles that you will not support projects in countries currently undergoing armed conflict or which are under embargo by the US State Department. Then state that all projects will be submitted to the state department for review before proceeding beyond the MOU stage. That way, you state your intent to obey the law, and you have a process checkpoint where you make the effort only after a project gets to a certain level of seriousness.