US government bans new foreign-made humanoids, robot dogs, and solar inverters, citing risks to national security

The Trump medication is banning the import of caller foreign-made humanoid robots, robot dogs, and powerfulness inverters, citing an “unacceptable” menace to nationalist security. The determination mostly affects imports from China, which presently has the immense bulk of the planetary marketplace share. 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced the ban connected Tuesday, saying that devices made overseas could beryllium remotely controlled oregon utilized for surveillance by overseas governments, oregon different utilized successful cyberattacks.

The FCC said that exceptions would beryllium granted if the authorities finds that a instrumentality does not airs a hazard to U.S. nationalist security.

The U.S. authorities has agelong accused China of hacking into U.S. businesses to bargain data, and preparing to motorboat aboriginal cyberattacks for its ain subject gains, specified arsenic an anticipated penetration of Taiwan. But the U.S. has besides agelong warned that the hazard of Chinese ownership unsocial could let Beijing to unit a institution to spy connected Americans oregon remotely tamper with their products. The U.S. authorities has similar ineligible powers.

Humanoid robots, the people of robots that determination likewise to humans, are acold from mainstream and are still successful aboriginal development. There person been around 15,000 humanoid robots shipped worldwide successful 2025, with each of China’s 2 largest robot makers accounting for the bulk of those shipments.

Power inverters are acold much commonly utilized successful U.S. households that link star and different renewable vigor systems to the wider powerfulness grid. Existing devices successful homes and installations are unaffected by the ban, the FCC said.

The prohibition is the latest successful a bid of actions taken by the U.S. authorities against China successful caller years, including a U.S. authorities prohibition connected TikTok that forced it into the hands of U.S. investors, positive bans connected a wide swath of foreign-made user routers, and Chinese surveillance instrumentality makers Hikvision and Dahua, which person been linked to quality rights abuses.

Beijing rebuffed the FCC’s ban, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson quoted by the Associated Press arsenic saying that China volition usage “all measures necessary” to support China’s businesses. 

Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is expected to conscionable President Donald Trump successful Washington, D.C. during a planned authorities sojourn successful September.