A presidential proclamation issued Oct. 28 labels foreign-made factory robots a national security threat and gives U.S. negotiators 180 days to reach import deals with trading partners.
The order follows a Commerce Department investigation that said robot imports weaken the U.S. industrial base, hurt long-term competitiveness and create cybersecurity and safety vulnerabilities.
Industrial robots are widely used by General Motors, Ford, Tesla, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, raising the risk of disruption for manufacturers if talks fail and Trump moves to tariffs, quotas, duties or fees.
The move expands a July 2026 crackdown in which the FCC barred new foreign consumer and mobile robots, while exempting the fixed industrial robot arms now under scrutiny.
If foreign-made factory robots pose cyber and supply-chain risks, why hasn’t Washington said which systems are dangerous and what standards would make them trusted?
Can tariffs on industrial robots rebuild America’s automation base fast enough, or will they slow the very manufacturing expansion they are meant to protect?